‘I know, Quinn just told me. Cleo, you should have asked me, not sprung this on me as a fait accompli. I’m just not ready to date right now.’
‘I promise you, this man is absolutely perfect, I would never have set this up if I didn’t know him and know that he’s so completely perfect for you. He’s tall, dark hair, deep blue eyes, he’s big and muscular and looks amazing in a suit.’
‘Cleo, I don’t care what he looks like. If you’ve set me up with a guy just because he’s attractive then you’re barking up the wrong tree.’
‘No, no, no. His looks are just a bonus. He is kind, gentle, patient, great with kids. He’s funny, intelligent, willing to drop everything to help a friend. He’s just a really lovely guy. And my sister dated him brieflyaround five or six years ago and said he was amazing in bed.’
Alex shook her head. ‘I’m sorry Cleo, I’m sure he’s great but I just don’t want to date anyone right now.’
‘But he’s here, he’s come a really long way. He will be gutted if you came in, took one look at him and did a runner. Look, you don’t have to spend the whole night with him, just meet him for one drink, that’s all I ask.’
Alex looked at Quinn who shrugged as if to say it was up to her, but she knew he was annoyed with all this. But Cleo was right, she couldn’t hurt the man’s feelings by leaving before even meeting him. If she was in his shoes and showed up for a date and the man arrived and walked straight back out again, she would be devastated. Doing that would make her no better than those other two losers she’d dated. Regardless of the fact it wasn’t going to go anywhere, not least because she was head over heels in love with Quinn, if the man had come all this way to meet her, she at least owed him a drink. But she knew Quinn would be hurt if she agreed to this, and quite rightly so. Even though he would be there to see that nothing romantic was happening, she couldn’t ask him to sit there while she was on a date with another man. While she didn’t want to hurt the man’s feelings, Quinn was more important to her than some random man she’d never met. The only way out of this was to tell Cleo she was seeing Quinn so couldn’t date anyone else. The other man would be hurt but at least he’d understand why.
‘Cleo, I have something I need to tell you.’
Quinn moved forward, a hand on her back. ‘It’s just one drink. There’s no harm in it.’
‘What?’
‘I know you, I know you don’t want to do this, but you’ll feel horribly guilty for weeks after if you refuse to meet him. So let’s have a drink with him,’ Quinn said.
She nodded reluctantly.
‘Yay!’ Cleo cheered. ‘Look, go and sit down over there and I’ll come and make the introductions in a minute.’
Alex walked over to the small circular booth and Quinn followed. ‘Why did you say yes to this?’ she asked.
‘Because you’re a good, kind person and I could see you didn’t want to leave the man hanging or hurt his feelings.’
‘But I don’t want to hurt your feelings either by agreeing to date another man. I promised we were exclusive and I meant that.’
‘You were going to tell Cleo about us to get out of it and I didn’t want that.’
‘You didn’t?’
‘Of course not. I want you to be ready for that, not be forced into it.’
Her heart filled with love for him; he was being so gracious about this.
‘Sit down,’ Quinn said. ‘And try to smile. That scowl is not the kind of first impression you want to make on this perfect man.’
She sat down and Quinn sat diagonally opposite her,leaving a space for this apparently perfect man to sit opposite her. ‘For the record, I don’t want to impress him.’
‘But I know you don’t want to be rude to him either, that’s not who you are and none of this is his fault.’
Alex sighed. He was right. And he was being a lot more magnanimous about this than she was.
‘I’m not going to kiss him or hold hands with him or anything.’
‘I know.’
‘I’ll shake his hand when he comes over.’
‘That’s fine.’
‘And then I’ll pick my nose, that will scare him away. Maybe throw in a loud fart to really put him off.’
The smile spread on his face. ‘I bloody love you.’
