by Terri Osburn
“Poking?” she repeated.
“Yes. Poking. Security stepped in and the next thing I knew, we were outside, where Adam was a complete douche to the bouncer who had to physically remove him.”
I considered adding more details about the bouncer, but something stopped me. I didn’t want to share Jacob with her. I doubted I could talk about him without sounding interested and that was like throwing a bone to a starving dog. My friends would jump on the mystery man narrative and maybe even try to find him.
Jacob would stay my little secret. My knight in a white Buick with the perfect dimples, heart-melting brown eyes, and a knack for healthy debate. The first two were nice bonuses, but the third was the real attraction. Funny that my closest friends couldn’t pair me up with anyone even half as perfect for me, yet the first guy I would willingly spend any time with I’d found totally by accident.
And would likely never see again.
Life liked to toss me little ironies like that. To give and then to take away. Whatever I did in a past life to deserve this particular punishment must have been really bad. Maybe my former self did kick puppies when no one was looking. Or maybe I was a femme fatale who lured men away from their wives. Or I was just a lowly peasant who had it much worse off than I did now.
“Wait a second. Did you say he tried to pick up another woman while you were sitting there?”
“Technically, he only smiled at her. I have no idea what would have happened if she’d been alone.” Setting Milo on the couch, I slid to my feet and crossed to the kitchen, stepping around Josie to reach the fridge. “I honestly don’t know what Donna was thinking. At least Peter was a nice guy.” Filling a glass from my filtered water pitcher, I added, “Have you seen him since Tuesday?”
“Once,” she replied while pouring the egg mixture into the hot pan. “We ran into each other at the copier and he practically ran in the other direction. Oh, and I’m having lunch with Evelyn next week. Turns out she loves Asian dramas as much as we do. We got to talking and I thought about what you said. The next thing I knew I was suggesting we have lunch.”
“Good for you.”
“Becca, what’s in your hair?” Josie leaned closer and touched a curl near my ear. “Why is it sticky?”
I’d forgotten about that. “Oh, yeah. Adam bumped a waitress on our way out and I wore the drinks on her tray. I’m going to take a shower, and then we’re having a little group chat while I eat.”
Eyes wide, she said, “A group chat? About what?”
Years ago we’d established the group chat rule. When one of us was at a breaking point, the rest would stop whatever they were doing to gather by whatever means necessary to deal with the problem. A couple of bad blind dates weren’t necessarily enough to trigger the chat, but with two more dates looming, I was elevating the situation to emergency status.
“The next two dates,” I replied, putting the pitcher back in the fridge. “I trusted you guys to pick these men and so far, you’re oh for two. Unless I hear something real damn convincing, I’m pulling the plug on the rest.”
“But you agreed to this,” she argued. “How are you going to find the right one if you aren’t willing to endure some not great ones along the way?”
I lifted my bangs and pointed at my head. “Not great?” I repeated. “This is more than not great, Josie. This is a massive contusion currently being covered by vodka-soaked hair.”
“Fine,” she conceded. “But I’m sure Megan and Lindsey’s picks are better. What if one of them is the guy and you miss your chance to meet him?”
The odds of that were so slim I didn’t justify the question with a response. “Just round up the troops. I won’t be long.”
As I collected the clothes I needed to take into the bathroom, exhaustion nearly took me down, but I was determined to push through to get this date thing straightened out. Unless Megan and Lindsey were absolutely certain that the men they’d picked were reasonably sane, nonviolent, and not on the rebound, my blind dating days were over.
Hair still wet from my shower, I finished off my eggs as the girls pled their cases on why the rest of the dates weren’t a waste of my time. Josie and I were on my laptop while Megan, Donna, and Lindsey were each on their phones. Thanks to modern technology, we no longer had to gather at someone’s house—or dorm room—like in the earlier days.
“You can’t give up after two blind dates,” Megan argued. Her dark hair was held back by a blue headband sporting a unicorn horn, and gray goop covered her face. The emergency chat had interrupted her pampering time. “There are still two more to go, and I’m sure these will be better.”
If I believed that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“I agree,” Lindsey said, waving a cheese puff as she spoke. Lindsey Pavolski was my oldest and closest friend, and responsible for choosing date number four. That poor guy would be the literal embodiment of a last-ditch effort. That was if the date happened at all, which was unlikely unless they changed my mind. “You can’t call off our picks just because Josie and Donna have awful taste.”
“Hey!” Josie and Donna said in unison.
“Hey, what?” Lindsey snapped back. “Am I wrong?” Neither woman had a defense so Lindsey continued. “That’s what I thought. Becca, I get that the first two weren’t for you, and that sucks, but you agreed to four dates. I don’t know about Megan’s pick, but I promise that my guy is perfect for you.”
“My guys is pretty great, too,” Megan claimed.
I’d heard them out, but now it was time for the cross-examination.
“Megan, I’ll start with you. How do you know him and what is so great about him?”
She blinked as if I’d suggested she recite the Russian alphabet. “Well…” she hedged. “He’s a writer who comes to the book group I run at the library. He’s very smart. And he’s sweet. Just the other day he brought cupcakes to our book club meeting, and despite the fact that we couldn’t eat them because food isn’t allowed in the library, it was still a nice thought.”
Generous with desserts was a plus, but not enough to make him worth the date.
“What else?”
“What else?” she repeated, lips pursed. “He always has great insight into the books we read. Last month we read Pride and Prejudice and he pointed out how Darcy forgiving Elizabeth for her crush on Willoughby proved how much he cared about her. No one else in the group even thought of that.”
This was not a point in his favor. Everyone knew there was no forgiveness necessary since Darcy understood firsthand how conniving and manipulative Willoughby could be. Plus, once Elizabeth knew the other man’s true nature, her feelings completely changed. But fine. The potential date was entitled to his own erroneous opinion.
“Has he recently broken up with anyone?” I queried, not wanting a repeat of date number one. Looking to avoid another version of date number two as well, I added, “And does he have more muscles than manners?”
“Why would I pick a guy with muscles?” she asked. “You don’t even like that.” Donna rolled her eyes but embraced her right to remain silent. “There are no recent girlfriends that I know of,” Megan continued. “He’s been coming to the book club for about six months and has never mentioned anyone. Oh, and he’s a total gentleman. Holds the door. Always helps stack the chairs after meetings. That sort of thing.”
He did sound better than the previous options. Not good enough to make me consider taking the date seriously, but an evening talking about books would be a vast improvement on my week so far.
“You’re certain you can’t think of any reason why this date could go south? Anything at all?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, I promise.” Scrunching up her nose, Megan leaned closer to her camera. “I need to go wash off this mask before it gets any drier. I’ll be right back.” She promptly disappeared, leaving us staring at the Squirtle plushy on her headboard. A love of everything Pokémon was Megan’s one unexpected quirk.
“Now
it’s your turn, Lindsey.” I gathered the last of my eggs onto my fork. “Same questions. Go.”
Closing the cheese puff bag, she licked her orange fingertips before answering. “I know him from school.” Lindsey taught English at our former high school. “He’s in the social studies department and teaches mostly AP classes. I can’t claim to know his entire dating history, but I do know that he hasn’t been in a relationship for as long as I’ve known him and that’s two years.” Carrying her phone, she took us with her into her kitchen. “He has impeccable manners, and the kids don’t just love him, they respect him. That’s a feat few of us achieve.”
We got a shot of her ear as she shoved the puffs bag into her pantry. “He has this easy air about him. Like, you just feel… comfortable with him. It’s hard to explain but I’m telling you, your personalities are a perfect fit.”
He actually sounded kind of nice. Dang it, this conversation was supposed to end with me calling off these dates. I hadn’t expected my friends to make such solid arguments.
When I didn’t say anything, Josie bumped my shoulder. “I think you girls convinced her.”
Megan returned at that moment and said, “What? What did I miss?”
“She’s going on the dates,” Donna said, leaning back on her couch and holding the phone above her head. “Am I ever going to live down picking this neighbor? I had no idea he was such a jerk.”
“No,” the four of us said.
She huffed. “Fair enough. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll move before I see him in the hall again.”
“What are you going to say when you do see him?” Josie asked.
“I have no idea, but it won’t be nice.”
Sitting up again, Donna rose to her feet, showing only her forehead on the screen. “I have more pictures to edit so I’m getting off here. Becca, I really am sorry.”
I couldn’t blame her if Adam never showed his douchey side while chatting at the mailboxes. “It’s okay, Donna.” Trying to lighten the mood, I added, “But I probably won’t ever agree to let you set me up again.”
“No worries there. I am out of the matchmaking business.” Showing her face once more, she said, “Sweet dreams, ladies.”
Everyone returned the sentiment and Donna disappeared.
Chapter Seven
“We shouldn’t have been so mean,” Megan mumbled, ever the sensitive heart.
“The dude tried to hit on another woman, and then picked a fight with a bouncer,” Lindsey reiterated, as if Megan had just tuned in. “Becca let her off way easier than I would have.”
Lindsey could best be described as the hard-ass of the group. She held others to a high standard, but was harder on herself than anyone else. She did not tolerate fools, hated small talk, and could hold a grudge for decades. Mention of the bouncer made me think of Jacob and I realized if I hadn’t agreed to these dates, I might never have met him. Not that meeting him was anything monumental, but our brief encounters were the only positives to come out of these things.
“Josie is right,” I cut in. “I’ll go on the next date, but if anything crazy happens, I get an out on date number four.”
“Absolutely not.” Lindsey dropped her phone on something, giving us a shot of the fluorescent light on her kitchen ceiling. “I’ve wanted to set you up with this guy for a year, but I knew you weren’t ready. Now you are and I’m not letting you out of this.” We heard her fridge open and close before she continued. “If I’m wrong, I’ll clean your apartment for the next six months.”
Seconds passed in silence before Megan said, “Wow. She must really be sure about this.”
We all knew Lindsey hated to clean. Even on her meager teaching salary, she found a way to pay for a cleaning service twice a month. She did the bare minimum in between—ran the dishwasher and did laundry—but if it weren’t for the service, none of us would willingly visit her apartment. We’d even held a group chat two years ago as a cleaning intervention.
“Are you serious?” I asked. Because I fully planned to hold her to that promise.
“Absolutely,” she said, picking the phone back up and taking us with her across her living room. “I have thirty papers to grade before morning so I need to go. Is this settled?”
The other two held silent, waiting for me to answer. “I’ll go on the dates,” I conceded.
“Good.” Holding the phone high enough for us to see her face, she said, “Love you, all. Good night.”
As Lindsey left the chat, Josie put her arm around my shoulders and said, “So, Megan, what are you going to promise if your date screws up?”
“Hey,” she whined. “Your guy nearly gave her a concussion. What are you doing to make up for that?”
“No need to keep this going.” Josie waved at the screen. “Talk to you later, Meg.” She closed the window before our friend had the chance to push for an answer. I turned her way, not ready to let her off the hook. “What?” Josie said, attempting to look innocent. “You said the tree thing wasn’t his fault.”
“If he hadn’t gotten so drunk that I had to get him home, I never would have run into the tree in the first place.”
“I said I was sorry. At least you got an actual meal with my guy. That’s better than Donna did, right?”
Good point. Of the two, Peter had at least been a decent guy. If he hadn’t been pining over Evelyn, we might even have ended the date as friends.
“Yes, that’s better than the Adam fiasco.” I closed the laptop and got to my feet. “I need to go in early in the morning, and there are still a few files to review before bed. Think good thoughts about tomorrow, because regardless of what I told Lindsey, if this date is as bad as the first two, I really am putting my foot down about Saturday.”
I’d never put my foot down about anything, but even I had a limit, and these dates were pushing me right up to that line.
“It doesn’t sound like Lindsey will take no for an answer,” Josie said.
“She’s going to have to. This is still my life, regardless of what everyone else seems to think.”
Following me to the kitchen, where I put my plate in the sink, she said, “We just want you to be happy again.”
Ironic, since I was willingly making myself miserable just to make them happy. “I don’t need a man to be happy, Josie. I like my life the way it is. I have a job I love, a great family, and four dear friends who I really wish would trust me when I say that I’m fine.”
Tucking a wet lock behind my ear, Josie shook her head. “You aren’t fine, Becks.” When I opened my mouth to argue, she silenced me with a finger pressed against my lips. “You haven’t been fine for two years. No one knows you like we do, remember? We want to see that light in your eyes again. I agree that you don’t need a man to be happy, but you do need to move on, and we just want to show you that love can happen again. Don’t give up yet, okay?”
I had no idea what light she was talking about, but there was a side of me that believed love was part of my past not my future. Imagining myself with someone new felt… wrong.
“We push because we love you,” she added.
I sighed. “I love you guys, too, but I really am fine.”
Josie tapped my cheek. “Oh, girlfriend, you are so far from fine. And when you realize that fact for yourself, I promise not to say I told you so.”
Rolling my eyes, I shoved her toward the exit. “When these dates are over, I promise to remind you guys at every opportunity what you put me through. Now be gone. I have work to do.”
She blew me a kiss from the hallway. “You’re going to thank us if Lindsey’s pick is as good as she makes him sound.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
I closed the door and turned the deadbolt, then grabbed my bag of files and shuffled into my bedroom. Crawling onto my bed, I scattered a stack of folders onto my comforter and arranged them in the order the meetings took place the next day. This required accommodating Milo in the center of the mattress. Flipping the first one open, I tried
to concentrate on reviewing the status report inside, but Lindsey’s words kept playing in my head.
…you just feel… comfortable with him.
I’d already met someone recently who fit that description. Too bad he wasn’t the date. Jacob’s dimples danced through my mind and I shook the image away. I didn’t even know the man, and the chances of ever seeing him again were slim to none. These files weren’t going to review themselves so I forced myself to focus.
In two days this would be over. Just two more days.
We didn’t normally open the office until eight, but I went in at seven to knock out some emails before my day started. Before Amanda’s news, I’d had three meetings scheduled but now I had five. Not a high number, but due to the distance between them, I’d have no time to return to the office.
I also came in early so I could update Marquette. I wasn’t happy to be the bearer of bad news and I had no idea how he would take it. He wouldn’t be happy, of course, but this situation created a lot of uncertainty surrounding the business. What if her clients didn’t want to work with someone else? What if the treatment didn’t work and she had to be away longer? Or worse yet, never came back? I couldn’t imagine Three Rivers Events without Amanda at the helm. Then again, if the worst did happen, the business would likely be dissolved or sold. Then where would Marquette and I be?
I felt selfish even thinking such a thing, but if she’d shared a few more details, my mind wouldn’t be racing through every possible scenario. What-ifs were still spinning through my head when an odd noise caught my attention. It sounded like a tire with a slow leak.
“Psssst.” My fingers hovered above the keyboard as the sound was followed by, “Is she here?”
“No, Marquette, Amanda isn’t here, but we need to talk.”