Page 11 of Swiping Right (and other disasters)

This was the first time Kiera had had to explain her situation to anyone new. It was the one thing she had been dreading. When she’d dated in her youth, she’d been a clean sheet, or at least clean of any statutory entanglements.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Well, it was the most obvious choice, given your age. Oh God, sorry, that’s so rude of me.” There was something refreshing about the way in which Hannah said what was on her mind, although the constant apologising was a bit grating. Kiera decided it was down to nerves and attempted to be forgiving.

“Hey, it’s fine,” said Kiera, “you’re right, yes. I was married.”

“A woman?”

“Yes. How about you? Have you done much of this?” Kiera suspected not, given how jumpy Hannah seemed.

“Oh, loads. Well, not loads, but a bit. I was married too – to a man though, sorry.”

“Oh, no need to apologise, your history is your own affair and doesn’t require explanation or excuse.” She paused. “And, really, let’s have a moratorium on apologising, you’re not doing anything wrong,” she added, with what she hoped was a warm smile.

Hannah laughed. “Point taken. Sor… no, not saying it. Good. Ok, pressing the reset button,” she mimed pressing a button on her side. Kiera stifled a giggle. Hannah took an experimental sip of her coffee. “Ah, that’s better. Well, I wasn’t married for long. We were in our twenties. I didn’t know myself well enough to realise that what we had was friendship. Since we separated, I’ve only dated women. I was with someone for a while until a few years ago, but now, here I am, single.”

“I guess it comes to us all, one way or the other. Or at least, to a lot of us,” said Kiera. “What I don’t get is the number of people who seem to scowl into the lens of the camera, or add bunny features to their faces on these dating apps.”

Hannah nodded, sagely, seeming to relax a bit more. “Yes, I learnt early on to avoid them. Also, the ones who have their children in their profile pictures. I mean, boundaries! So why did you get divorced?” The words seemed to erupt unbidden from Hannah’s lips.

“Well now, I think that’s a story for another day,” replied Kiera, slightly taken aback. She gripped the handle of her coffee cup. “I will say that we were happy together for a while. But one day, she wasn’t happy anymore. So, she left.”

“Oh my God,” said Hannah, her mouth opening like a capital ‘O’. “That’s just awful. How on earth did you cope? The betrayal, the isolation, the upheaval?” Hannah appeared to be auditioning for a role in Crossroads.

“I muddled through,” Kiera replied, well aware that she was heavily diluting what had really happened. The truth would have blown Hannah’s mind, and she already seemed rather shocked. “So, no children or wives for you then, presumably?”

“No, but I have three dogs. They are my world,” said Hannah, already scrolling through her phone to find pictures of them.

Chapter Nine

Once Hannah had left, Seymour poured Kiera an Irish coffee. “I think you need this,” she said, with a grin. “Just watching her made me feel nervous.”

“Yes, she was a bit of a jumping bean, wasn’t she?” said Kiera, grateful for the debrief.

“My favourite bit was when you gently explained that given your allergy to dogs, it might not be worth pursuing a follow-up date.” Seymour was putting the large latte mugs on shelves by the counter, curls of her hair coming undone from her messy bun. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have been listening.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I revealed any major secrets, and it’s a tiny café. You probably hear no end of gossip through the day. I’m not sure I could ever have enough energy for someone who just says everything they’re thinking like that, though,” said Kiera, gazing out of the window.

“Well, I’m sure there will be others,” Seymour told her, with a smile. Kiera raised her eyebrows and looked into her drink, keen to change the subject.

“What about you? How long have you been running this place?”

“Me and Jack, we run this place together. We’ve been here for about a year, we took over last spring. It’s been quite the adventure,” she said.

“I can well imagine,” said Kiera, recalling the man who sometimes served her, who must be the boyfriend – Jack. “It must be a really huge undertaking. I’m very impressed you’ve been able to make the business work, especially in these uncertain times. Wow, is that Tia Maria? I think it’s gone straight to my head.”

“Yes,” said Seymour, with a glint in her eye.

“Perhaps I should have had that before the date, to take the edge off the nerves,” said Kiera, with a smile.

“If anyone needed one of these, I think it was Hannah,” Seymour pointed out, drily.

“That’s a fair point, although I think it’s frowned upon to insist a date calms themselves down by self-medicating before meeting,” said Kiera. Seymour laughed. “And it’s back to the swiping for me.”

“May God bless you, and all who sail in you,” said Seymour.

Chapter Ten

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