Page 50 of Holiday Home 4

How come?He was almost shocked when her response included a proper answer to his question. Other than during arare event last Christmas Eve, he was used to seeing Victoria as a very reserved, closed-off person. She was the human version of an airtight vault, so she didn’t swing open the hatch very often. In her following message, he’d really just expected a pretty vague claim that things simply didn’t work out. Instead, she gifted him a rather open explanation.

He ended up just being a little uninteresting, unfortunately, she explained. He’s one of the newer, younger professors at Bellmore, and it’d been evident for months that he’d probably eventually work up the courage to ask me out. But it didn’t seem his courage went any further than that. The night was pleasant enough, and the food at the place we went to was excellent, but we mainly discussed work, which I’m alright with as an opener—I like career-minded men. However, once that topic fizzled, nothing worked to reignite the conversation. I’m still uncertain about what hobbies and interests he has, or if there’s anything outside of work that he’s passionate about. He seemed indecisive and a little timid. He was friendly enough and pleasant, but there wasn’t any chemistry to grab hold of.

Ithadto be the longest text she’d ever sent to him, and that made it as precious as gold. Not to mention the fact that, selfishly, Liam was kind of thrilled to hear that there hadn’t been any chemistry between Victoria and this other guy. Again, ridiculous. Now, also selfish.

I’m sorry to hear that, he typed out.Would I be off the mark if I assumed you’ve had more than a few dates that turned out like that?

Because you are so intimidating,Liam thought, though he didn’t bother adding that to the message. It was pretty easily inferred.

You wouldn’t be. It’s the most common variety of my “bad” dates, which, because of Avril’s prodding, you would know has been going on for a while.

He did. In the final round of their poker tournament, Avril had, in very Avril fashion, introduced a new rule. One where a player could avoid going broke by answering a question. And shockingly, when asked how long it’d been since she’d had sex, Victoria had answered.

Six years. Six whole years. For a woman of her nearly unparalleled allure, it was clearly by choice. Though, as he found out through the rest of their conversation, there had been chances for it. Just… no one had measured up, apparently.

Liam continued reading Victoria’s extended response.

The other, which is thankfully less frequent, because it is far, far worse, involves the exact opposite occurring. A man who’s only eager to compliment my outfit because he’s hoping I’ll start stripping out of it while we’re waiting for our appetizers. I usually prefer to pay for my dinner. I don’t when I accidentally stumble into a date with one of those types.

So, either too timid and bland or way too forward and gross?

Unfortunately,came Victoria’s reply. She added a second part, which further highlighted just how unusually open she was being with him.Nuance seems to get lost somewhere between balking at looking me in the eyes and drooling at the chance to ogle my breasts. It’s either a frozen zero or a searing hot ten. A simmering six or seven would do them all much better, but finding that seems to be like happening upon a unicorn in Times Square.

Liam chewed on her words, realizing that Victoria was clearly frustrated with how her evening had gone—with howmanyevenings had gone. If this had been a Saturday night, not a Sunday one, he wondered if these words would have been forTess, not him. But Tess was asleep, and he was awake. So, he was given the chance to learn more about Victoria over a few minutes than he had since that one conversation they’d shared on Christmas Eve.

“Now, what do I say to all that, though?” Liam asked himself, crowding his mouth to the left. Now, he also wished that Tess was still up so he could get some advice on how to proceed.

Sorry to hear that this guy missed the mark,he arrived at, feeling slightly like he should have a little more to say.Small consolation being that he wasn’t one of the worst sorts, I suppose.

A small enough one, yes,Victoria replied. And then she tacked on a curious addition.If Avril were the one listening to my complaining, she’d claim it was no surprise I struck out, that I’ve always had terrible taste in men.

Because of her brother? That was ages ago, though.

Yes,Victoria wrote.I’m just “paying my dues” for having ever been so blind as to become ensnared by Casey’s less-than-adequate charms. At this point, it could be that she’s right, and I’ve stumbled into an ancient Greek story, forever doomed to wade through the boring and the brazen.

It’s been that bad for a long time?he asked.

Relatively speaking, yes, though not as long as Avril might claim. These bad dates have only somewhat recently strung themselves together. A year ago, specifically, after I finally lifted a self-restriction on my dating life. I got my PhD at twenty-eight and decided I wanted to be taken seriously—no romance until I was established and happy with my career. It was a silly thing to do, probably an overreaction to how close I was to ruining my life by marrying Casey Knight. As such, I’ve only somewhat recently reentered the dating pool, yet I’m already finding myself wanting to head back to my chair.

Given that he was already very much a betting man, Liam gathered that the odds were good that Victoria wasn’t in bed, fighting yawns. Instead, he envisioned her in her kitchen, regularly refilling her glass with a variety of wine that wasnotof the non-alcoholic variety. He didn’t think she was drunk, but if she was, he was impressed, as her texting hadn’t slipped even a little.

That can’t be right,he eventually wrote.Even Helen of Troy herself would be jealous of you, so you’re bound to sift your way to a diamond eventually.

Liam,Victoria wrote, and he could almost feel a rare appearance of sarcasm emanating from his screen.Aphrodite forced Helen of Troy to fall for a man who is rather often depicted as fair beyond belief but also hedonistic and cowardly.A pause of only a few seconds delayed further lamenting. Her next text arrived, and it almost sounded self-pitying.If anything, I see some parallels between us there, given how I nearly married my own Paris. If that’s the case, I’m in the sad and miserable post-Iliad part of my life.

There hasn’t been a war over you yet,Liam noted.So, can’t be.

A silver lining, that,Victoria responded. There was another brief pause before her following response.Thank you for listening to me as I grouse about something so meaningless as a single boring date.

It clearly wasn’t just one bad date, and Liam silently commiserated for a woman who really was capable of the upheaval of a Greek heroine of famed beauty and allure. Her reality and his expectations couldn’t have been more distant. How exactly could someone of Victoria Moreno’s caliber not be picking the plumpest grapes from the vine? It felt as absurd as… well, as absurd as Tess Williams marrying the unpleasant manshe’d ended up with. So, he supposed he had a real-life example of her woes. Quality didn’t always guarantee quality, it seemed.

I’m sorry it was a boring date, he texted. It’s kind of crazy that the other guy would fumble things so badly. He really couldn’t tell that you weren’t very interested in talking about his work the whole time?

Unfortunately, no. I tried to inquire about his interests, if he’d done anything interesting over winter break, or if he had made any plans for the upcoming spring break, but they were brief stints of wind in the doldrums.

That’s a shame,Liam said, though a noticeable part of him knew he wasn’t quite so torn up about it as he was acting. He at least had the decency to feel a little ashamed about his internal response.

Yes, but we’ve gone very far from why I messaged you. I apologize for that.

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