Page 123 of The Blind Date

"Why does it matter that Penny is a Wheeler? It's not like she picked Barry and Jenny to be her parents."

"She never told me,” he grumbled.

"Did you ask?" I asked, quirking a questioning brow at him.

"No, but she knew that our parents were competing in the golf competition together, and she didn't say anything. Why would she hide that from me?"

"I don't know, Cillian," I murmured, reaching out to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “That's something you're going to have to ask Penny."

A brief moment of silence passed between us. One where Cillian grumbled under his breath, and I continued staring at him, wondering what he was still doing here.

"Cillian?" I called out to him again.

He hummed and turned to glance at me, the question clear in his eyes.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at how oblivious he was. "Go out there and find Penny. You two have a lot to talk about."

"That's the only good idea you've had all day,” Cillian chuckled as he stood up. I watched as he moved to head to the door but paused to glance over his shoulder at us one last time. "You two are over-complicating things. Have you thought of sticking them in a room without their phones and forcing them to talk to each other? They'll sort their problems out themselves, and you guys can grab a drink at the bar in the meantime. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Cedric and I gaped as we turned to face each other, matching bewildered expressions on our faces.

"That won't work, will it?" Cedric asked in a low murmur, moving to sit next to me and knocking his knee against mine in the process.

"No.” I frowned and shook my head, though I wasn't completely convinced. "It's far too simple to work?”

"I've been doing some thinking while you two were talking, and I think we should play the manipulation game," he said.

"Keep talking."

"We send a box of chocolates and an apology note to our parents, pretending they're from each other. That way, they’ll both think that the other couple has apologised. They’ll make up, and everything will go back to normal in time for tomorrow.”

I considered his idea for a moment. “That's just sneaky enough that it might work."

"And if it doesn't, then we have Cillian's terrible plan to fall back on."

"It really is quite terrible, isn't it?" I chuckled.

Cedric and I wasted no time in ordering two of the grandest boxes of chocolates we could get a hold of through the hotel, and we began on the notes. I wrote the note for his parents, and Cedric wrote the note for my parents. That way, they wouldn't be able to recognise our handwriting.

Mine read:

Dear Alfie and Yasmin,

Please accept our sincerest apologies for our behaviour recently. We've been under a lot of pressure with the golf competition, but that is no excuse.

Let's get lunch tomorrow before the competition.

Looking forward to playing with you,

Clarke and Donovan x

"I'm done," I murmured as I capped the pen and glanced over his shoulder to read his note.

Cedric's read:

Clarke and Don,

Here's a box of chocolates to make up for our fight today.

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