Page 16 of The Blind Date

“Don’t worry. I get it all the time.” My lips curled up into a small smile. “Sometimes, even I’m surprised that I’m the offspring of my parents. We couldn’t be any more different if we tried.” And that was putting it mildly.

While I worked in tech and couldn't imagine ever working in another field, both my parents worked in various sectors–tech being one of the few that they hadn't explored–throughout their respective careers before early retirement a few years ago. If things went as planned, I would stay at M. L. Keaney for as long as possible. I craved stability, but I also wasn't a doormat. Once things stopped working in my favour or I grew unhappy, I would consider switching to another employer, but for now, I was content where I was.

“I didn’t want to be the one to state the obvious.”

“You kind of did,” I pointed out. “What are you doing meeting my parents anyway? Isn’t that working in the wrong order?”

“Wrong order?”

“Aren’t you supposed to meet the woman, go on a few amazing dates that sweep her off her feet and then discuss meeting her parents?” This was the part where my inner romantic came out. Even though I was a career-driven woman who had achieved the difficult goal of making VP before the age of thirty, that didn’t mean that my career was the only important thing in my life.

I loved my parents and loved the idea of having a family of my own one day–hopefully a bigger family than the small family of three I grew up in. I always knew that my parents had wanted more children, maybe three or four, but after complications after my birth, Mum couldn’t have any more. That’s probably why they were always so intense with me, wanting me to meet someone, settle down and have a family of my own. They meant well, but I wished they weren’t so intense about it.

“Is that the order it goes in your head?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

"Well, it wasn't my fault." He took a sip from the white wine he had ordered.

I found his choice of drink for the night to be a little pretentious, but I found wine, in general, to be rather pretentious. And this was coming from the woman who had downed a glass of red wine not even fifteen minutes ago. I much preferred a beer or a fruity cocktail.

“How so?”

“I called up my parents to have dinner with them this past weekend. They agreed, but they conveniently failed to tell me that they already had dinner plans and I would be tagging along.”

“That’s a little sad, don’t you think?” I snickered.

“What? Having lunch with my parents? That’s a little judgemental of you, don’t you think?” Cedric shot back at me, matching my snicker.

“No,” I clarified. “Having lunch with your parents is great. Fifth wheeling on a double date with your parents is not so great.”

"That's not sad." He was quick to deny it, but when I sent him a pointed look, he paused and sighed, giving in. "Okay, it is a little sad, but it’s not like I knew what I was getting myself into. They didn’t tell me they already had plans.”

“You said you tagged along on this double date. What else did they have you do?" I asked, far too invested in this peculiar story than I should be.

"I wouldn't call it a double date." Cedric shook his head, though he didn't sound all that convinced. "But we went golfing. Naturally, they played in teams of two, so it was just me on a team."

“Let me guess. You didn’t win?”

“Where’s the faith?” His face twisted into a mock hurt expression. “I’ll have you know that I came first.”

“It sounds like you had an amazing time,” I snickered.

"I promise it's not as sad as it sounds," he chuckled. "Anyway, we were all having lunch, and your mum started talking you up. She kept going on and on about how beautiful, smart, and amazing you are, so when she offered to set us both up, I thought, why not? That, and my parents were egging me on…Now that I think about it, no, I didn’t really have an option. I just didn’t realise it until now.”

“Very funny,” I replied dryly. “You should have said no. It would have saved us both our Friday evenings."

“You’re not having a good time?” He teased, a knowing smirk on his face.

“Are you having a good time?” I countered, sending him a pointed look.

“I asked you first.”

"Without the risk of sounding rude, let's just say I'm not having the best time. I’ve had worse dates start better than this one,” I groaned and glanced around the restaurant, wondering when Logan would return with our meals. The salad and halloumi I had at my desk for lunch had long worn off and now I was starving. With the way tonight was going, it wouldn’t be long until I turned hangry.

Cedric set his accusatory eyes on me even though his lips stretched into his signature insufferable smirk. "Wow! I didn’t think you would actually admit it.”

“What? You want me to lie about how terrible this date is going?”

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