The stern expression on his face told her he did not find her joke funny at all.
‘What’s your favourite planet?’ she asked quickly.
‘Saturn,’ he said without hesitation.
‘Why Saturn?’ she asked, somehow suspecting he had a ready-made list on the subject that wouldn’t require any kind of participation from her—hopefully long enough that she could finish her meal and just nod at appropriate times.
She was right.
‘You probably should have worn a helmet for this one,’ the bartender commented dryly as he brought over their post-dinner coffees and Alan excused himself to go to the gents briefly.
‘Sorry?’
‘I would never have suspected a fork could fly that far across a room until I saw it happen tonight.’
Jenny bit back an unexpected chuckle as she recalled Alan’s earlier incident when he’d somehow managed to hit his fork with an elbow and send it hurtling off the table, narrowly missing her and causing a surprisingly loud clatter as it disappeared under what sounded like several tables. More than a few heads had turned in their direction.
‘Yes. Well, he’s a little bit nervous.’
‘Just a tad. Although I can’t see how you’d be considered so terrifying.’
‘I think it’s the situation,’ she said.
‘I’m Nick, by the way.’
She almost preferred it when she hadn’t known his name—the entire situation seemed even more humiliating now they were introduced. ‘Jenny,’ she said, almost grudgingly.
‘I know.’
Of course he did.
‘Well, keep your head down,’ he advised as her date appeared in the distance. He walked back to the bar.
If only she could.
This time when Jenny arrived home, she ignored the curious faces waiting up for her and headed for the kitchen to retrieve the ice cream from the freezer.
‘I seriously think you’re doing this for some kind of evil payback,’ Jenny said to the girls, who had followed her to the kitchen. She propped her hip against the kitchen bench as she dug into the mint-flavoured dessert she’d been thinking about all the way home as a reward for surviving date number two.
‘We’re doing this because we care about you,’ Savannah said.
‘I find that very hard to believe after what I’ve sat through. You all suck at picking dates.’
‘We’re only working with what we’ve got,’ Chloe replied, evoking a stern glance from her two older sisters. ‘Well, it’s true! Between the age group, location and weeding out the creepers, it narrows down the field considerably.’
‘And what’s with the pub? I’ve been there with two different men in twenty-four hours. They’re going to think I’m some kind of—’
‘Lucky woman who’s playing the field,’ Brittany cut in.
‘Isn’t that a bad thing?’ She eyed her daughters curiously.
Savannah took a scoop of ice cream from the container with a spoon of her own before giving an offhand shrug. ‘Guys do it all the time. Why can’t women have a bit of fun?’
‘But it’s not fun,’ Jenny pointed out.
‘You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette,’ Brittany said wisely.
‘I really don’t think that saying applies here.’
