Irony oh, Dear Irony

I have so many wonderous things to say about this birthday weekend's events. But, n'est-ce pas, they'll have to wait.

As you might have guessed, Handsome Man and I have stopped dating. It wasn't so much a break-up as a ... peetering out. We're still awesome friends and still talk all the time. We just don't kiss or do what amounted to being intimate. (I won't go into extensive details, but I'm in my 30's and he's in his 50's and he doesn't believe in Viagra.......).

That said, I'm still Farmers' Market girl and he's Farmers' Market Guy. What's awesome is that I have found a way to be paid for being farmers' market girl by pimping Alfalfa Farm Winery products. In said activity, I have come into contact with "Chef Man." (he might be renamed later, but what the hell.)

There has been some serious flirtage. Actually overt flirtage. Not so much that either of us has asked the other out, but I sense that is immenent.

Here's the awkard part. He works with Handsome Man. Not only at the set-up/tear-down of the market, but also works FOR him. Handsome Man, in his wonderful and philanthropic nature, offered Chef Man an opportunity to paint with him...

So, this morning, in the interest of transparency, I mentioned the flirtage, emphasizing the points that 1) it may come to absolutely nothing and that 2) his friendship meant more than a potential relationship with a guy I barely knew.

HERE'S THE KICKER: Handsome Man seemed overtly jealous. To the point of pointing out flaws and shortcomings of Chef Man. Which leaves me to wonder - is he just looking out for me? Or feeling a little "to have loved and lost..."?

I told him I'm (now) 36 and can make my own decisions, but he didn't seem to buy that.

Oh what tangled webs we weave...