‘There’smoremen I’m supposed to be seeing?’ she finally managed. Who the hell did that, lined up multiple dates with different people all weekend?
‘Well, they all responded to your profile and we didn’t want to risk turning any of them away in case they were, you know, “the one”,’ Savannah told her, making little quotation marks in the air.
‘“The one” …’ Jenny shook her head, trying to dislodge the absolute insanity she was hearing. ‘This stops now. I’m not some piece of … meat you get to hold out as bait to catch a bunch of crocodiles with.’
‘Seriously, Mum,’ Savannah said, eyeing her pityingly. ‘This is why you needed a push. You have no idea how the world of dating works. You’ll thank us for stepping in and navigating all this for you so you didn’t stuff it up.’
A knock on the door cut short her scathing reply, which was partially a relief since she wasn’t sure she could keep to the ‘no swearing out loud’ rule, as panic quickly settled in.
‘It’ll be fine. His name’s Derrick and he’s an accountant,’ Beth said in a pacifying tone as she walked—or rather frogmarched—Jenny to the front door. ‘He lives in Hamwell. And smile,’ Beth ordered in a sugary sweet tone, as Brittany opened the door to a man who looked to be in his late fifties. He was dressed in a pair of impeccably ironed navy trousers and a crisp white shirt.
‘Jenny?’ he asked, as his gaze shifted between the five women smiling at him—well, four smiling and one frozen in a terrified, caught-in-the-headlights kind of expression.
‘This is Jenny,’ Beth said, thrusting her forward so that she almost staggered into the poor man’s chest.
His face did a quick change from surprise to delight before he stuck out his hand. ‘Derrick,’ he said, as Jenny automaticallyshook it. They stood there staring at each other awkwardly until Beth stepped in again.
‘Well, you two kids have a great time,’ she chirped, pointedly ignoring Jenny’s dangerous glare.
