Page 48 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

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JARED

Ibounced my leg in impatience. I was supposed to meet someone tonight, they were already half an hour late and I was already two glasses of wine into the evening. I glanced at my watch for the tenth time in the last three minutes. Nothing to indicate that she had canceled on me. Jessica would have contacted me to let me know.

"Would you like some water, sir?" the waitress asked. She shifted in place when I unfairly directed my anger toward her, "Sorry, I can come back--"

"No!" I snapped. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my watch, "Sure, get me a glass of water. I'll probably leave here soon anyway."

The waitress scurried off to the kitchen. I wanted to feel bad for mistreating her, but I could only imagine the whispers from the staff. I was supposedly one of the most successful businessmen in the area and making a name for myself in the news, and yet I was being stood up by a blind date.

I turned my attention to my phone and tapped on the calendar. Nothing else was scheduled for the evening and I had no excuses to call it a night because I had some early morning meeting either. Jessica had made sure I was completely open.

"Fuck," I growled.

Someone walked into the restaurant finally and I perked up to see who it was. I didn't know what my blind date looked like. All I knew was that her name was Danielle.

The woman who came in wore an off-brand red dress with a high waist slit on both sides. It clashed with her appearance. Maybe a purple dress would have complimented her looks better, but I wasn't going to say anything. I knew better than to tell a woman she looked bad when I was trying to impress them. She was closer to me in age with laugh lines and crow's feet that gave off an eternal look of joy on her face. I was almost envious of how the woman could look so happy in this world.

She immediately spotted me and waved. I lifted my hand in a half-hearted wave back as she hurried over.

"Are you Jared?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am," I stood up so she could take a seat with me at the table.

She gave me a big grin and settled into her chair, immediately reaching for the menu. No apology for being late, and she was already looking at what to eat. This wasn't off to a good start.

"Oh my, these meals are pricey... and it only covers the entree?" she screeched the last part loudly, causing everyone to turn and look at us.

"My assistant gave you the location. Did you not know the price?"

I wasn't planning on paying for her meal as a first-date experience, but with how she had just reacted to the entree prices, I knew I was going to have to cover the entire tab.

She blushed and stared at her menu, "Yes... I mean no... I knew it was expensive, but I wasn't expecting it to be this much." She bit her lip and gave me a sheepish grin, "You'll cover it for me, right? I mean that's what a gentleman does."

I grumbled and nodded my head.

Danielle clapped her hands together and jumped in place, "Oh goody! I was worried for a moment." She winked at me, "Don't worry. I'll make sure I pay you for this in other ways."

I didn't want to say anything to make the situation more awkward than it already was. While she was closer in age to me, something about her reminded me of a teenager trying to act older. Even though Kim was younger, she didn't act like a child in front of me. She had a bit more maturity in how she presented herself.

"Anyway," I sighed heavily to change the subject. "Jessica said you are interested in the stock market?"

Danielle beamed and pulled out her phone. "Well, not the stock market. But I love all these nifty NFTs and crypto-whatsits." She tapped on an app and turned it around to show a picture of a chihuahua, "That's my baby boy, Dodge. I made a photo I took of him into an NFT!"

I groaned and leaned back in the booth. While cryptocurrency and NFTs were something that caught my eye and I could talk to her about, there was no opening to talk about actual details on the matter.

"Ok... so what about family? Do you have kids?"

She shook her head and made an exaggerated gasp, "Do I look like I could be a mother? No, I hate children. Especially smaller children. What about you?"

"I have a daughter."

"Oh, tell me she's out of the house? I don't want to be a stepmom," she made a grimace. "I don't want to deal with teenagers either."

The conversation was getting us nowhere. While she wasn't at an age to have kids anymore, I also wasn't a fan of someone who disliked children or wanted my child out of the house. There were plenty of times Mandi came to see me and if Danielle was around, I could only imagine what would happen between the two of them.

Danielle leaned forward and interlocked her fingers under her chin, "So why did you decide to come on this blind date?"

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