Page 11 of The Fallback

Rosie shot him a filthy look which he pretended not to notice. Being open to different types of people was going to be a challenge, as Rosie wasn’t sure what her usual typewas, so how she was supposed to avoid it? Whereas for Mitch it was obvious what his type was and he seemed to find it impossible to avoid.

Mitch continued, ‘We need to open our minds a little, give people a second chance when maybe we would have dismissed them on the first date. Perhaps be a little less picky.’ He said the last part in a faux whisper which Rosie couldn’t help but laugh at.

‘I’m not talking about settling down with terrible people,’ he insisted in response to her laugh. ‘I just mean I feel likeyou– sorry,we– sometimes dismiss people before we have even met them. Or—’ he looked at her meaningfully ‘—because they say the wrong thing once on a date.’

‘If you’re talking about some of my dates,’ Rosie declared loudly, ‘I can tell you that it’s not justonewrong thing they say.’ Mitch raised his eyebrow at her. ‘I sat through an entire evening where a guy thought he could mansplain immunology to me, just because he once watched a documentary on National Geographic,’ she said defensively. ‘I can be tolerant, OK, butmy god,’ she huffed.

‘OK,’ he replied appeasingly. ‘You shouldn’t have had to listen to him. But you know what I mean?’

Rosie glowered across the table at him. ‘And then what?’ she uttered confrontationally. ‘What happens at Christmas, a wholefourmonths from now, if we’re notengaged to be married?’

Mitch laughed ‘Ah,’ he said in what Rosie felt was an annoyingly self-satisfied manner. ‘That’s where this gets interesting. I think if we don’t meet anyone by then we should agree to be each other’s fallback.’

Rosie felt herself relax immediately. ‘Oh, OK sure,’ she readily agreed, taking a drink of her wine in relief. She and Mitch always ended up going to her work Christmas party together so really this didn’t seem such a bad plan. And if Mitch was dating someone serious by that time then Rosie was sure she could stomach hanging out with her colleagues instead of him for once.

‘Sounds good,’ she confirmed, raising her glass to him.

Mitch watched her carefully across the table, suddenly seeming nervous. ‘No, Rosie, I don’t think you understand…’ He wavered for a moment, as if weighing up exactly how to say what he planned to say next.

‘I don’t mean we should just go to the party together. I mean we should be each other’s fallback…in life.’

Rosie took a gulp of wine, the realisation of what Mitch was suggesting beginning to dawn on her.

‘You hear about it all the time,’ he continued.

‘You do?’ Rosie queried.

‘Yes! Friends who have been friends for years and when they don’t meet someone by a certain age they have an agreement to settle down together and have a baby.’

If they hadn’t been in such a public place Rosie would have spat her wine all over the table. It was a testament to her good manners that she didn’t. She did however splutter her wine into her napkin and turn a very dark shade of red, putting her glass down with a plonk on the table.

‘What?’ she eventually managed when she could breathe again. ‘I must have misheard you, I thought you said…’ She tried to make herself say it with a chuckle just to underline the ridiculousness of her mistake. ‘That if we don’t bring a date to the Christmas party then we should have a baby together.’

The illogical leap from one fact to the next seemed even more insane when she said it out loud but Mitch’s beautiful face split into a grin and he nodded wildly at her.

‘Exactly!’ he declared triumphantly.

‘I’m sorry, what?’ Rosie replied. ‘That has got to be the weirdest and franklystupidestidea I’ve ever heard!’

Mitch looked briefly hurt before quickly regaining his stride. ‘Why? It’s brilliant!’

‘Brilliant?’ Rosie asked incredulously.

‘Yes!’ Mitch exclaimed. ‘Both of us want to meet someone, both of us want to settle down.’

‘Do we?’ Rosie asked, bewildered.

Mitch ignored her and ploughed on. ‘This is the perfect solution!’

‘It is?’ asked Rosie.

‘Yes!’ he exclaimed again. ‘We’ve got four months to really crack this dating business. To stop messing around and to really try to meet The One. And if we don’t…’

‘If we don’t…?’ echoed Rosie weakly wondering whether now was the time to take issue with Mitch’s repeated use of ‘The One’ which made her feel a little sick and mad. But she decided she had bigger issues to address.

‘If we don’t, we’ll have each other, and hopefully a baby!’ he declared agreeably, as though he hadn’t just turned her life upside down.

Rosie stared at him. The dawning horror of what he was suggesting and just how much he didn’t know about her feelings rolled over her. Not just about her dislike for internet dating, not only her lukewarm approach to men over the last few years, but fundamentally misunderstandingwhoandwhatactually made her happy. She picked up her wine glass and took a large swig, giving herself time to think.

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