Page 2 of Memories with Fire

I stare at Quinn, shaking my head. Nothing good can come of this. She glances at me, teal colored eyes—contacts she switches for new colors every day—dancing with amusement, not bothering to hide her enjoyment of the situation, and entertainment my mother provides.

My mom is banging around in the kitchen, and I wonder if I was wrong in my initial assessment about her having her coffee at the table already. It sounds like she’s getting herself one now, waiting me out until I ask her why she’s glad.

With a sigh of resignation, I finally ask, “Why are you glad, mom?”

“Well, there’s this new woman at book club,” she launches into her explanation with the sound of hope and excitement tinging the words. “Darlene. She showed me a picture of her son, and Hailey, is he ever cute.”

I mutter an expletive. “You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Oh, Hailey, please just think about it! I think you’d really like this one.”

“You said that about all of them!” I cry, throwing my hands up in frustration. “Mom! I don’t want to go on any more blind dates!”

“Well I don’t see you going on any of your own volition,” she retorts.

Beside me, in my peripheral vision, I see Quinn nod her head, and I reach over to flick her shoulder. Then I take a deep breath, count to five, and let it out.

Is this how Nate, a friend, and my lieutenant at the firehouse, felt when everyone ganged up on him and his dating life? Or rather, his lack of one? Of course, that was before he met Savanna, his girlfriend, who became one of my closest friends. I’d venture a guess she’s about to become more to him, if she says yes when he pops the question next week. Which she will. The two of them can’t get enough of each other. It’s so sweet, it’s almost sickening. They deserve it, though, after everything they went through with her psycho ex.

If I were blissfully happy like them, I wouldn’t be having this dumb conversation with my mom.

“I don’t want to go on any more blind dates, mom,” I repeat with more ire than the first time. “I’m done with them. No more. Finito. Closed for business. That’s it.”

“Hailey…”

It’s her tone. I know that damn tone. Through clenched teeth, I growl, “You already said I would do it, didn’t you?”

“Honey, just think about it. Please? I swear this one is better looking than the last.”

My eyes dart to the phone, my jaw slackening. Anger is seeping into my blood, and I take a breath. “You told me you didn’t see a picture of George.”

“Well,” she hesitates, clearing her throat. “Not a good one.”

“Mom!” I exclaim, hitting the side of the door with the heel of my hand.

I can’t believe she saw a picture and still let me go out with him. She’s more out of her mind than I thought. This whole blind date thing has to end once and for all; it’s been exhausting. At this point, I don’t care if I end up the crazy cat lady on the block. I’d prefer it over these awful, awkward dates.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I tell her, looking out the window at the mountains to the east that lead up to my home in Bear Creek. I don’t live right in Santa Rosé, a town outside of San José, California, where I work; I live half an hour away in a little town with one four-way stop, where I grew up and my mom still lives. A community that has all the charm of a little mountain village. “I will consider this blind date if you promise to never, ever, set me up on a date again. Any kind of date.”

“Hailey, you can’t be?—”

“Okay, the answer is no.”

“Wait!” There’s a heavy sigh on the other end of the line, and it sounds like her hands smack the table or counter. “If you go on the date, I’ll never ask again.”

“Nope. Key word was consider. I will consider it.” For the first time this morning, I feel a grin forming.

There’s a rustling in the background on the phone, and then she sighs again. “Hailey, I just want you to find something like your dad and I had. I’m only trying to help because you don’t seem to help yourself.”

My heart twinges at the mention of my dad. I didn’t know their love because he died when I was only a year and a half old, but my mom always made sure that I knew how deep it ran. Once, many years ago, I thought I had found a love like it, but I was young and naïve back then. Now I know better.

“You’re in no position to negotiate, and you know it,” I respond, ignoring the little stab in my heart for my dad. While I love my mom, I know that she can be manipulative at times, even if her heart is in the right place. Normally I let her, but today I’m taking a stand for myself. No more blind dates. “Take it or leave it.”

There’s a long pause. I don’t need to be there in person to see the scowl she’s casting me through the phone. Finally, she grumbles. “Fine. Deal.”

“Do you promise?” I ask, wanting to ensure she knows I will hold her to this.

“If you truly promise to consider it, then I promise this is the last time I’ll set you up,” she concedes.

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