Page 87 of The Blind Date

“I hope this isn’t a bad time.”

My eyebrows furrowed together in surprise as I turned to glance over my shoulder. Behind me stood a tall man who looked somewhat nervous to be here. He was dressed in dark trousers, his crisp white shirt sloppily tucked into them. His hair was a light blonde, his eyes a dark brown and overall, his face was friendly.

“No,” Mum was quick to deny, a large, welcoming smile on her face. “Thanks for coming, Richard. Please take a seat. We’re excited for you to join us.”

My eyebrows shot up and it took everything I had not to scoot over to put as much distance between me and this stranger as I possibly could.

Of course, the only seat left at the table was next to me.

Nervously gnawing on his bottom lip, he extended his hand toward me. I would have liked nothing more than to ignore him, mostly because I knew it was my parents who had set this up, but I couldn’t bring myself to be that rude. Not when neither he nor his behaviour had warranted such hostility from me.

If anyone deserved to be on the receiving end of my frustration, it was my parents.

With no other choice, I was forced to take his hand and offer him a tight, fake smile–as if I was happy that he was here. For a moment, I felt bad for him as I could tell that my behaviour was only making him more nervous than he already was, but then I remembered that my parents were the masterminds behind all of this. If anyone should be concerned about the well-being of this man, it should be them. They were the ones that invited him here, after all.

Speaking of masterminds, they decided this was the moment they would make their sneaky getaway from the table. As if they weren't sitting right in front of us and we wouldn’t notice them trying to leave.

“Wait,” I called out in alarm when they stood up and reached for their coats. “What’s going on? Where are you guys going?”

“Something has suddenly come up. I’m sorry, honey, but we have to go.” Mum didn’t look the least bit apologetic. “Don’t worry about dinner. It’s on us. Get whatever you want and enjoy yourselves.”

I opened my mouth to insist they don't leave me alone with this stranger they were clearly trying to set me up with, but before I could say anything, they had already escaped the table.

“Do you know what you want to order?” Richard asked, staring at the menu.

“I’ll be back in a second,” I deflected his question and pushed back my chair to rush after my parents who had already stepped out of the restaurant.

"Where are you going?" I asked, managing to catch up to them in the car park. "Why are you leaving me with that guy?"

“Home. Something’s come up,” Mum tried to excuse themselves, but I saw right through the act.

“Let me come with you,” I insisted.

“Nonsense,” she chuckled and dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “There’s no need for you to come with us, honey. You should stay here and enjoy dinner with Richard. He’s a lovely man. Don’t let us ruin your evening.”

“If it’s an emergency, I should come with you. Maybe I can help.”

Mum’s eyes widened. “No! That’s not necessary.”

My frown deepened. “I don’t like what’s going on here.”

“Head back inside the restaurant, honey. Go and enjoy your evening. Richard is a lovely man.”

"I'm sure he is, but I'd rather have dinner with you guys."

"We don't have anything cooked, so we'll probably just end up ordering takeout.” She continued to make excuses, turning to Dad for help, but he merely chuckled and shrugged.

“I like takeout,” I said, refusing to back down. When Dad burst out laughing, and Mum looked miffed at him for giving them up, I knew I had them just where I wanted them. “You’re clearly trying to set me up with Richard. Why? I thought we agreed to stop doing this.”

“It’s your first blind date of the month,” Mum said.

What? Had November begun already? It took me a moment to realise that it had, and then another moment to realise that the counter reset at the beginning of the month. That meant I had another ten blind dates to look forward to. Great.

“Try to have fun and don’t overthink it, Saff,” she assured me, pulling me into a hug before returning to the car. I watched as they waved at me before pulling out of the parking spot and driving away.

With no other option, I dragged my feet and hung my head dejectedly as I headed back into the restaurant. The idea of sneaking away after my parents left played on my mind, but I knew they would eventually find out and claim it didn’t count toward the ten blind dates.

Something felt different about this particular date.

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