Devlin contemplated for most of the day as he made plans for the table tennis tournament, talking and emailing back and forth with Gerri. He lingered on the faint hope that something beautiful and precious was going to come out of agreeing to put himself out there, even a little bit.
TWO
KATE
Kate Reese sat in a tight, curve-hugging mini dress with one of her heels bouncing incessantly over her knee. She had dolled herself up that night, trying out a new smokey eye look to further enhance her green eyes, with thicker lines of mascara to match the dark, sexy vampire look. She even lined her luscious lips with a bold, blood-red lipstick, something she often didn’t dare to try out of fear of standing out too much.
She had been set up on the blind date by her coworker, who had heard about the extraordinary details of Kate’s horrific dating life. It wasn’t for lack of trying, of course, because she always put herself together and really tried. But the chump across the table from her was the captain of loser-ville.
It was terrible, dumb luck to her that she constantly found the men who came into her life wouldn’t appreciate her.Couldn’tappreciate her. Somehow, this often implanted the notion in her head that it was her fault, her lack of personality and attractiveness that attracted the absolute bottom of the barrel when it came to dating options.
She was irritated as she sat there in the luxurious downtown restaurant, thinking about all of the hours she had wasted getting ready to look like a smoke show. This particular loser’s name was Jason, and he was more interested in the scores of the latest hockey game than anything she had to offer.
“Red or white?” Kate asked.
The idiot looked up from his phone, flashing her a furrowed brow that was usually reserved for longer-term relationships. “Huh?”
“For the wine?” Kate replied, raising an eyebrow sarcastically.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, placing his phone down for a moment and glancing at the menu. “Whatever you want, babe. It’s on me.”
They had barely spoken after meeting at the bar twenty minutes before, with Jason the Dope placing a preliminary kiss on her cheek that lingered too long for her liking. He had looked her up and down, of course, remarking that she was “looking good for a girl that sold used furniture.”
Kate, like most women, had a sixth sense about men and their intentions. It was a means of survival, and she knew the second he’d shown up with his tie loosened from an apparent “long day at the tech company he runs, honey” that she was going to require a means of escape.
So Kate ordered the most expensive vintage wine sold in the establishment, as well as the most expensive steak option she could find. He told the server that he would have the same, barely looking up at her long enough to even know what the hell she had ordered.
The waitress gave Kate a knowing glance, a mutual understanding of suffering.
Kate essentially ate alone, while Jason would intermittently go into excruciating detail about his work, insert a half-hearted compliment about her appearance, and take a look at his phone about the latest score for his fantasy team.
She tried to focus on the concept of a free meal rather than starting on her downward spiral earlier than usual. When they ordered dessert, Kate took the chance to text Dana for an emergency extract.This guy is a dick, she wrote.Call me and say my grandma is sick or something.
Dana immediately called her, like the good friend she was, putting on the voice of an older woman and informing Kate that she needed to come home ASAP.
Kate shoved the last of the dessert into her mouth, apologizing profusely, as Jason tried to get a final, sloppy kiss in at the last minute. He just missed her mouth and smeared her neatly applied lipstick.
She almost ran out of the restaurant with the phone pressed to her ear. Her heels clicked against the sidewalk as the rain began to mist in front of her, causing her to groan and hold her clutch over her head for brief relief.
She walked into a coffee shop across the street in her sleek, sexy outfit, causing a few confused heads to turn. She ignored them and sat in a corner hidden away from nosy eyes.
“Who the hell was that guy?” Dana was still on the other end of the phone with Kate, sounding like she was doing the dishes.
“I don’t know,” she replied with a chuckle. “He was a coworker of this girl I used to work with. I thought he was kinda cute and worth a shot.”
Kate let out a long sigh, shaking her clutch purse to let the droplets of water drip off onto the hardwood floor.
“That clearly doesn’t make a difference,” Kate replied. “The guy was more in love with his phone. I felt like I was coming in on a three-way.”
Dana burst out laughing. It was a nice, pleasant sound, which made Kate smile despite the circumstances.
“Dana, am I a lost cause?”
Dana stopped laughing abruptly, getting serious with her good friend. “What are you talking about? You haven’t met the right person, and you know that is hard to find. There’s nothing wrong with you at all. You’re a babe with a brain. What’s not to like?”
Kate wanted to believe her friend, but doubt was sneaky and poisonous. Sitting in the cafe with a dreadful feeling, she said goodbye and called a cab.
She then remembered something her second stepmother had told her about a matchmaker she’d been friends with through charity events. Kate had initially thought the idea was ridiculous, but she was in dire straits. She just wanted to have someone to come home to, to have consistent sex with, and to trust with her entire heart and soul.