“You had a date with the wrong Ryan?” People glanced over, and Jules lowered her voice. “How the fuck is that possible?”
Elissa pointed an accusatory finger, trying to keep the smile off her face. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t. “You told me to turn off my phone!”
“I have a God-awful dating life. Why would you listen to me?”
“At least you have a dating life. I haven’t dated anyone since Victor.”
“I know, lady.” Jules squeezed her shoulder. “Stick around for a bit, and I’ll see you out. Make sure the asshole isn’t lurking in the shadows.”
“Thanks, Jules. You’re the best.”
“Better believe it!”
An hour later, Jules took a short break and walked Elissa to her car. Stewing in her anger, she was home before she realized it.
“How was your date?” her mom asked as Elissa walked down the hall.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled, desperately longing for nothing more than to crawl into bed and pretend this whole evening had never happened. That way, she would never have to admit she was as disappointed as she was angry.
“Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad. I’ve met Ryan. He seems very nice.”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” She sounded a lot like her sister Ami, and heat spread across her cheeks.
“Oh. Okay, sweetie.”
The regret in her mother’s voice stopped Elissa dead in her tracks outside her bedroom door. It wasn’t long ago her mom hadn’t been well enough for Elissa to pour her heart out to her, and she’d missed those moments. A lot. She turned around, slunk into the room, and plopped onto the sofa.
“I’m sorry, Mom. It was a rough night.”
“Tell me about it.”
Elissa told her the whole story. Her mother was trying hard not to laugh. Elissa had been on a date with a complete stranger. The guy could’ve been a serial killer. But the way he’d looked at her sparked a smoldering fire in her.
“Then I told him to look at himself in the mirror and ask if he was the…” Elissa caught herself before what she’d actually said slipped out. “Um, the jerk.”
Dana lost the battle with her sense of the absurd. Her peals of laughter rang through the house, drawing her father out of his office and her brother out of his room. Throwing a disgusted look at her mom, Elissa stalked out of the living room, leaving her mother to explain to the rest of her family her embarrassing evening. She stomped down the hall, yanked open her bedroom door, and threw herself on her bed. Elissa screamed into her pillow.
This was bad. She’d made a connection with a jerk while a nice guy, who only ditched her because his nibling may have broken an arm, had politely informed her he couldn’t show. What did that say about her? And why hadn’t she felt something was off?
His eyes. They sparked with intelligence. And those full lips, always turned up at the corners as though he found the whole world amusing. His hair falling softly over one eye, only to be pushed back into place by a firm hand. His deep voice had a rumble to it that reminded her of the purr from the chubby tuxedo cat Jules had when they were kids. Only an hour with him, and the worst ending to a date she’d ever had, and she was all sorts of bothered.
“Nuts!” she said to no one in particular. She could only hope she’d left him in as much a state as she now found herself.
Okay, it was funny. A little. Or she was having a nervous reaction to a bad situation. Elissa pulled out her phone and decided she’d put Jerk-Ryan out of her mind by texting Nice-guy Ryan. She didn’t need any more jerks in her life, not even ones as drool-worthy as this one had been.
E: Thank you for letting me know. I’m sorry to hear about your sister’s kid. I hope everything is OK. Would you like to reschedule? Maybe Thursday or next Tuesday?
She should postpone this new dating endeavor. Her mom hadn’t gotten the all-clear from her doctor yet, and Elissa had little time to spare between work and helping her family. Tax season was around the corner, and she still lived with her parents. The whole idea of facing the twenty-something-and-single dating scene filled her with existential dread.
No, fear and dread had controlled her life last year. This year needed to be different. She wouldn’t postpone the date with Nice-Ryan. He’d made the effort to contact her, and she promised her mother to go on a date with him. She hit send.
She might have a lot of frogs to kiss before she found the one who turned into a prince. Wasn’t it better to start the kissing now? She couldn’t let her perfectionist tendencies interfere with a happily ever after.
Elissa readied for bed, checking her phone again before plugging it in for the night. She had a reply from Nice-Ryan.
R: Tuesday sounds great. Same place and time?
Elissa refused to repeat tonight in the exact same place, even if Jules would be there to hold her hand after. She shot off a suggestion to Nice-Ryan. He confirmed a moment later, and Elissa made an event in her calendar.
