“Do I really want to know?” I was beginning to dread the thought of meeting Felicity.
“She wants her to get out and about in the real world. Says she’s been spending too much time with computer games. Now, what type of potatoes did you want to plant this year?”
And just like that, the conversation was at an end. It did leave me wondering what this woman was going to be like. From what I’d heard from Toby, I wasn’t certain I wanted to meet her.
* * *
Felicity
It was bad enough that I had to move in with my Aunt Dolly until she was up and about after her hip operation. The real pain in my ass was having to go and work on her allotment. I had no idea what the difference was between a plant and a weed. And I could see my well-manicured nails meeting an untimely end.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my aunt, but we had completely different ideas on how to live our lives.
I loved my job. I could wear pjs all day, eat whatever the hell I wanted, and never have to interact with any other human beings face-to-face. Designing video games was the perfect career for me. The only time I dealt with the real world was when one of my co-workers had a work-related question for me. I’d always been socially awkward, from my teenage years, anyway, and liked to keep human interaction to a minimum.
That had all gone sailing out the window with my aunt’s op. She could’ve gone into respite care—we had no other living relatives—but after all she’d done for me in the past, it would’ve been mean and selfish.
“Don’t overthink things, dear. You’ll be fine.”
“You say that now, Aunt Doll, but one thing you know is that I’m not green fingered. Are you sure your mates at the lottie can’t do it without me?” I complained.
Lottie was the nickname everyone called the allotment. I was tempted to rename it hell.
“Come here.” She patted the space beside her on the sofa. “It’ll do you good to mix with other people.”
“But you know how much a hate peopling.”
“I know you do, love. But you should meet others in the real world, not via computers. I think you’ll like Luke especially. He’s thirty, so a year older than you, and he’s single.”
I did a huge eye roll as I faced my aunt. “I don’t date. You know that. Way too many disasters. I’m safer living in my flat. Alone.”
This was what worried me the most about this allotment thing. My aunt had mentioned Luke on way too many occasions. I could almost see her brain working overtime trying to fix the two of us up. Not. Interested. Not. Ever. And when I met this guy in person, I’d let him know that.
A warm hand patted mine. I studied my aunt’s eyes. Yep, there was concern in them, maybe a pinch of pity too. I knew she only wanted to see me happy, but relationships and I didn’t work. The whole online dating thing freaked me out, and the only other guys I spoke to were my colleagues via Zoom meetings. The last guy I’d dated was over three years ago. It had gone badly. Never again.
“Right, what time do I need to go there tomorrow?”
And as she rattled off the tasks I needed to do from the list she’d compiled, I was beginning to think I’d lost my ever-loving mind agreeing to this.