Craig fumbled for his wallet and hastily tapped a credit card, then ushered the slightly subdued woman out of the pub—never once looking back at the table where Jenny sat.
‘Are you okay?’
Jenny stared up at Nick, mortified. She was an adulterer. No better than Austin and Christy.
‘Hey, it’s okay.’
‘It’s not. I was just on a date with a cheating husband.’ Her head suddenly began to feel light.
‘I take it you didn’t know he was married when you accepted?’
Jenny sent him a withering glare. ‘Of course I didn’t. I’d never do something like that.’ Her anger had at least momentarily pushed aside her dizziness.
‘Then it wasn’t your fault, was it? This was all on him.’
‘How did you know what was going on?’ she asked as he started clearing the plates from the table.
‘I’ve seen my share of cheating men getting caught out and I didn’t want a scene going down and scaring off my customers.’
Jenny squeezed her eyes shut as she imagined what would have happened if the woman had worked out who Craig had been sitting with. Her cheeks flared with heat. She would have had to have left town—there would be no other way to deal with the embarrassment, she thought, as she imagined being accused of sneaking around with a married man in front of the whole town. She’d never live it down. The humiliation of what could have happened made her feel nauseous once more.
‘Hey,’ Nick said, ‘you didn’t know.’
‘I feel so stupid,’ Jenny said, pressing her hands against her hot cheeks. She’d thought for a moment Craig might even be the one who could change her opinion of online dating.
‘Least I made the bastard pay for it—and all the drinks. Maybe he’ll think twice before he sneaks off again and does it to someone else. You okay out here?’
‘Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,’ she said with a distracted air as she searched through her handbag and pulled out her phone. ‘I have a call to make,’ she said in a low voice as she listened to it ring.
‘Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be on date number three?’ Beth asked when she answered.
‘It’s over. I want you to get on that app and delete me,’ Jenny said, ‘right now.’
‘Why? What happened?’
‘He was married, Beth.’
‘Married? What? No way.’
‘Did anyone bother to check that out?’
‘How could we have possibly checked that out?’
‘Exactly!’ Jenny snapped. ‘You don’t know anything about these people. They could be axe murderers.’
‘I don’t actually think that’s a thing anymore … I mean, when was the last time you actually heard on the news of anyone being murdered with an axe?’
‘Beth! I’m serious.’
‘Sorry. Yeah, that would have been a shock. Are you safe there?’
‘What? Oh. Yeah. It’s fine. He left.’
‘You want me to come down?’
‘No. I want you to make sure that’s the end of all this stupid dating business. I’m done. I mean it, Beth.’
‘Okay, Fair enough. We’ll stay out of it.’
