Dear Anita,

Wow, what great insight you have given me. I thought that I was overreacting in my thoughts in regards to not wanting to date him. I felt that I was just looking for excuses to deny him.

I certainly don’t want to be his cook or maid, which I certainly got the impression of. I am not traditional in the sense that a man should expect that of me if we ever got together which is why I felt so disturbed and bothered by it.

From what I know, he hasn’t been dating anyone in at least the past year (Michelle told me this a long time ago). From what I also know, Ava seems to be very close to her brother Richard, as well as to her other brother. After what you told me, I figured that maybe she wants us to date because she figures I might be easy to manipulate.

I actually had lunch with my mom and Ava twice last month, and wow was it awkward. We spoke a little, and that’s stretching things because it was minimal random things, and this was after her initial prompt.

Honestly, her interest seems to have picked up after the first time we had lunch during which one of their male workers are with us as well. He made a comment to her around the lines of, “hey, Aislynn’s very pretty don’t you think, it’s such a shame that I don’t come from money and that I am married.” Of course said coworker said it to Ava in private, after which she told my mother. By no means would I encourage his behavior. However, I’m thinking that it might have sparked her interest a little more.

Now that I think about it, there was actually a third time in which I saw Richard. However, during this one occasion, his sister Margaret came up to greet us when she got there, and then Richard also came to shake my hand. So in my opinion, if I were to spark his interest it would have been in that initial greeting, don’t you think?

As it is now, I don’t know how to turn down the request, because it’s basically only been a conversation between Richard, Ava, and my mom. I haven’t even been asked for input. My mother actually thought I should give it a try, she said that despite how different we might be that we might have fun since he has a few good things going for him. So again, now he’s being the one objectified based on his looks and what Ava has told my mom about him. Ugh.

I don’t even want to bring it up that I’m not interested because I am worried that it’ll only make Ava more resolved to get us to meet.