I (22F) work at a microbrewery, and I like it a lot. I've been there for 4 months so far, and in that time I've gotten to know the head brewer and we get along quite well. Recently I started suspecting he may have a crush on me, and I started to find myself thinking about him a lot as well. Then one night about two weeks ago, while I was closing up and we were the only two people at the brewery, he confessed over a beer that he was in love with me.
Now normally this would have been great, but this is actually quite conflicting for a few reasons…
First, he's the backbone of the brewery, so if we were to date and it didn't work out I would likely have to quit, and I love my job! People at work have already been asking questions.
Second, and likely more importantly, he's 40. That's an 18 year age difference.
He's taking care of my cat while I'm out of town this week, and I feel like when I come back he'll want to revisit the conversation we had before and I don't know where I stand on the whole thing. He seems very certain of his feelings for me, but I'm still unsure of my feelings for him.
I would love to know people's perspectives on this.
TLDR; head brewer (40M) at the microbrewery where I work confessed his love to me (22F), and I don't know what to do.
Edit: I think I've realized my fears of this being somewhat manipulative and an abuse of power on his part have been confirmed, and I need to pump the breaks on this. The age gap is definitely too substantial and not appropriate.
People have suggested that my professional reputation is somehow tainted because of this and I should just quit, but that seems like a massive over reaction. I'd like to clarify that he is in no way my boss, has no power over me, and my actual bosses have a great working relationship with me and would not fire me because a coworker had feelings for me which I never acted on. Quitting over this is so dramatic and unnecessary.