I stared at myself in the mirror of the ladies room. The restaurant was packed, and women filed into and out of the stalls behind me, but I didn't pay any attention to them. I had the water running, and was pretending to wash my hands so I looked occupied when, in reality, I was just standing there staring.

I was currently on a blind date. It was my third unsuccessful one lately, and as far as I was concerned, three strikes and I was out—done with blind dates forever. I'd broken up with my last real boyfriend over a year ago, and it seemed as if one of my friends was always trying to fix me up, but now I was done. After tonight, there would be no more of this business.

I was not cut out for getting set up with random guys, and tonight's catastrophe made that all too obvious. What's worse was that Barb, my friend and colleague, was going to be highly disappointed to hear that Sean and I weren't riding off into the sunset together. She had been so excited about our date that she called me three times earlier in the afternoon to get me pumped about it. She seemed positive that we'd hit it off.

She was right about the initial attraction, I'll give her that. I was relieved and maybe even a little excited when I first laid eyes on Sean. He was textbook handsome—light eyes, medium-brown hair, a nice smile, and a good sense of style. I'd seen a few pictures of him before we met, and he was even more handsome in person than he was in photos. He had a good job, a nice car, and didn't live with his parents. Barb was probably thinking I'd fall head over heels for this guy. It should have been a sure thing.

There was a problem, though. It wasn't a small problem either—it was gigantic. Sean was perhaps one of the most negative people I'd ever met. He did it in a sarcastic way that I could tell he thought was cute, but just about everything that came out of his mouth was negative. In the hour I'd been in his presence, he'd managed to complain about his job, friends, family, and life in general so much that I felt like bursting into tears and running out of the restaurant.

His outlook on life was terrible, and I caught myself wondering how someone could end up like that. I assumed it was the way he was raised, and tried to forgive him for it instead of just being frustrated about wasting my time, but as a rule, I tried not to hang out with negative people, and from now on, Sean Nixon would be on the list of people I'd like to never see nor talk to again. I was exhausted, and we hadn't even ordered dessert.

I was normally an upbeat person, but I stared at myself in the mirror feeling empty, as if all positive energy had been zapped from me. Taking in my own reflection brought to mind one of the first things Sean had asked when we first met earlier. I was a natural redhead with my fair share of freckles, and I normally got compliments on them, but that was from people who had social skills. Thankfully, the people who didn't like freckles usually kept their comments to themselves.

Sean's question about my freckles wasn't necessarily negative as mush as it was just odd. One of the first things out of his mouth when we first sat down was to ask me how often I got called "freckle face". I informed him that it hadn't happened since I was a little kid, and, even then, it was only a few times when another kid was rude or didn't know any better. He laughed awkwardly as if he was surprised that it didn't happen more. That set the tone for what would be one of the worst dinners of my life.

I was trying to work up the nerve to go back out there and sit across from him again when I felt my phone vibrate. I dried my hands and reached into my purse to fish it out. I blinked as I stared down at the screen. It was a text from Sean. I didn't have his name programed into my phone, but I'd been in contact with him while planning this evening, and I recognized his number. I stared down at the screen slack jawed, and unable to believe what I was reading.

Sean: "Did you fall in?"

I dropped the phone back into my purse, took one last glance in the mirror, plastered on a fake smile, and headed out the door.

"I sent you a text," he said as I sat down across from him.

"Oh," I said, acting like I hadn't seen it. "You did?" I settled into my chair, and smiled as I looked across the table at him.

He was smiling too. Dang. He was handsome. It was too bad he had the personality of a wet towel.

"I asked if you fell in," he said.

"What's that mean?" I asked, still smiling and doing my best to seem genuinely curious.

"In the bathroom," he said, gesturing in that direction.

There was an awkward silence where I did my best to maintain my smile.

"You know, because you were taking forever."

"Oh, really?" I asked. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize it had been that long."

"The waiter came by to see what we wanted for dessert," he said.

I had already told him what I wanted before I went to the restroom. "I figured he would," I said, casually. "That's why I told you what I wanted before I left."

"Well, they were out of the chocolate cake, so I ordered you bananas foster."

"Perfect," I said with a smile even though I hated bananas. I didn't even know why we were eating dessert anyway. I told him I was full from dinner and was content to skip it altogether, but he insisted on ordering some, and I didn't want to be rude for Barb's sake.

"So tell me about your ex," he said after another long minute of silence.

I stared at him with a confused expression. It had been over year since I'd called anyone my boyfriend, and even then, he and I weren't together for very long. The longest relationship I'd been in was my freshman and sophomore years of college, but that seemed like a lifetime ago.

"What ex?" I said.

"Barb said you dated a physical therapist."

"We broke up over a year ago," I said, "and we weren't that serious."

"What happened?" he asked.

I glanced at him for a second before answering. I wondered how someone so handsome had absolutely no social skills whatsoever.
Didn't he know that girls didn't want to be questioned about ex boyfriends on the first date?
My first instinct was to tell him it was none of his business, but I decided to answer his question, if for nothing else than to pass the time.

"His name was Shane. He was a good guy, but his brother moved in with him after getting out of the military, and he was always hanging around."

Sean scoffed. "Third wheel," he said, assuming that was the problem.

"Something like that," I said. "But that wasn't really an issue." I paused, but he just stared at me like he wanted me to continue.

The server sat our desserts in front of us. I assumed there'd be a big presentation where they lit the bananas on fire right in front of us and was relieved when that wasn't the case. I stared at my plate. There was a cake-like substance and some ice cream in addition to the pre-fired bananas, and I hoped I could get away with eating enough of it to get by without being questioned about whether or not I liked it. I took a bite and was relieved to find that it wasn't that bad.

"Did you cheat on him with his brother or something?" Sean asked, with a mouth full of red velvet cake.

"No!" I said, defensively. I looked at him, wondering why his mother never taught him manners. "His brother, Brock, was part of some super secret group in the Navy. I don't know much about it, but apparently, there was some mission that went wrong. He got hurt and a bunch of his friends died." I paused, thinking about it, and feeling slightly guilty that I was talking about it to this random guy I didn't even like. "Anyway, I think he was sort of messed up from it. He kept to himself and had problems being in crowded situations. He would just stare off into space sometimes like he was reliving the whole incident."

"So you broke up with the physical therapist because his psycho brother was your third wheel?"

"I don't think he was psycho, and that wasn't the only reason I broke up with him."

Sean shrugged as if asking me to continue before shoving the rest of the cake into his mouth. "What's the other reason?" he asked with so much cake in his mouth that his words were almost inaudible. I gawked at him, wondering when this night would ever be over.

"My grandmother's ring went missing one night when they were hanging out at my house."

Sean's eyes went huge as if it were the most shocking thing he'd ever heard. "They stole your grandmother's ring?" he asked, still chewing.

"I don't know who did it," I said. "Shane's brother had one of his Navy friends with them when we were all hanging out, but he swore his friend would never do anything like that." I shrugged. "All I know is that my grandmother's ring went missing one night after they were all hanging out at my house."

"That is so messed up," he said, sitting back and tossing his napkin onto the table. "Was it real?" he asked.

"Was what real?"

"The ring."

I nodded. "It was the only piece of jewelry I had worth anything. I have thirteen cousins and all of them got mad at me when they found out Gram promised it to me before she died. It was her signature piece—something she wore all the time. All of us wanted it, including my aunts and uncles, but I happened to be with her at the right time on the right day, and she promised it to me."

"You should have called the cops," Sean said.

"I almost did. I wanted to, but Shane promised up and down that his brother didn't take it."

"What about that other guy?"

"Shane didn't really know him, but Brock gave his word that his friend didn't do it either. He said he trusted him with his life after everything they'd been through together."

"And you lost your ring and your boyfriend out of the deal." Sean stated dryly. He let out a little laugh. "Sounds like that was a bad day."

I breathed a humorless laugh to match his. "It wasn't my best day," I agreed.

"Life sucks," he said.

"I like to hope those sorts of days are few and far between," I said, trying to remain positive.

"You said for yourself it had been over a year since that happened," he said.

I nodded slightly, but narrowed my eyes curiously as if to ask what he meant by that.

"You broke up with him over a year ago, and here you are."

"Yep, here I am," I said.

"Obviously you haven't found Mr. Right if you're willing to have a total stranger buy you dinner." He let out a little laugh after he spoke like it was meant to be cute or charming.

He was absolutely right.
What in the world was I doing?
I knew after the first five minutes that it was a total waste of time being there, and yet, I stayed. I was utterly revolted by his statement. The mouthful of banana I had just choked down threatened to come back up as my stomach turned.

"You don't need to buy my dinner," I said, setting my fork down calmly.

"Aw, come on. I didn't mean to make you mad," he said. "I'm just saying the bad days must not be few and far between if—"

I cut him off before he could say any more. "I know what you were saying," I said. "And just because I'm not dating anyone doesn’t mean I'm having bad days. I agreed to come tonight because I like Barb, and she wanted me to meet you. I'm not desperate for a date, and I certainly don't need you to buy my dinner."

"We'll it's too late for that because I already gave the waiter my credit card when you were in the restroom."

Blood started rising to my face as I opened my purse, and began to dig in it. "I'll just give you cash," I said.

He had the decency to refuse the first time I offered, but when I said for the second time that I'd rather pay my own way, he reached out his hand and took the cash I was offering. Not only did he take it, but he also thumbed through it to see how much it was before putting it into his pocket.

I couldn't get out of there quickly enough. I tried for Barb's sake to be as cordial as possible, but it was extremely difficult. I couldn't wait to get out of his presence, and I was sure it showed. My cheeks and ears were hot as we made our way from the table to the coat check at the front of the restaurant. I was so agitated and overheated that I didn't even bother putting on my coat despite the fact that it was a cold February evening.

I hardly remembered saying goodbye to Sean. He said something about calling me, and I halfway agreed before we parted ways in the parking lot with no more than a handshake.

BOOK: Finally My Happy Ending (Meant for Me Book 3)

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