Celebrity

Jon Gosselin's Double Date with New Kate – and Jill Zarin!

Find out what the Real Housewife had to say about the reality TV dad and his young companion Kate Major

Published on July 23, 2009 08:30 AM

What does a dad of eight do when hitting the tony Hamptons? Hang out with a real housewife, of course.

Jon Gosselin and his increasingly frequent companion, tabloid reporter Kate Major, continued their high-profile visit to the Hamptons over dinner Wednesday with their host Michael Lohan and two other couples: Real Housewives of New York City‘s Jill Zarin and husband Bobby Zarin, as well as Southampton Mayor Mark Epley and his wife, Marianne.

Despite the heavy socializing, “I miss my kids,” Gosselin told PEOPLE.

Asked if his houseguests were enjoying each other’s company, Lohan told PEOPLE, “Absolutely, they’re getting along very well.”

Said Major, “I love the Hamptons.”

Pressed for details about the relationship between Gosselin and Major – who claims she is dating the estranged father of eight – Lohan said, “They’re friends and they had to get away. Kate actually went to Pennsylvania to do an interview with Jon. I guess they became friends. And then he had to get out, and she had to get out. So they ran together.”

But Lohan, father of Lindsay Lohan, also noted that Gosselin is lonesome for his children. “He talks about them. He’s on the phone with them all the time,” said Lohan. “But unfortunately, as I well know, being a father in a divorce, it’s really hard on the kids. And you just want to be with them all the time. But sometimes our exes don’t make it that easy.”

The Dinner Date

Arriving at Southampton’s Red Bar at 8 p.m. and taking up a large, round table in a back corner of the quiet restaurant for the next 2½ hours, Gosselin wore his white shirttails out, while Major sported a revealingly low-cut leopard-print top. Throughout the meal, she stroked his arm and even stayed close to his side when they went outside for a smoke.

Still, according to Jill Zarin, “He didn’t seem smitten. They weren’t all over each other. But they’re definitely dating. It came up in conversation. She had her hands on him. But she’s young. This is a girl who is going to want to have babies. Does he really want to go out with another young girl and have kids?”

Zarin did add, “He seems like a great dad.”

The group congregated after Lohan, Gosselin and Major ran into Jill Zarin on the street late in the day Wednesday. The mayor is an old pal of Lohan’s and also happens to be executive director of Seafield, a rehab facility in Westhampton, where Lohan has been a patient, he tells PEOPLE.