The Date (Single Wide Female in Love #1) (9 page)

“Right.” He finished his drink. “So you decided you’re done with him?”
 

“Well.” I sighed. “I should be.”
 

“But?”
 

“I don’t know. I just can’t seem to stop thinking about him.”

Chapter 20

Max ran his hands across the top of the bar. “Maybe it’s worth giving Blue another shot.”
 

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to say that. You think Spence is a jerk. Blue stood me up—again—and you think I owe him another chance?”
 

“I didn’t say that. You don’t owe him anything. I just mean if you can’t stop thinking about him, maybe there’s something there.”
 

“Maybe.” I thought about it for a moment. Max always knew what I was really feeling even when I didn’t know myself.
 

“Think about it.” He shrugged. “Now, about Spence.”
 

“I have another date with him. We’ll see how it goes.”
 

“And Ben?”
 

“Ben really seems pretty perfect. I have another date with him too. I’m looking forward to it. I just hope that I can connect with him.”

“Hm.” Max signaled for another drink. I looked at him with surprise. He was drinking more than usual.
 

“Thirsty tonight?”
 

“A bit.”
 

“Oh, Maxy Poo, are you drowning your sorrows?” I fluttered my eyes at him.
 

He turned to look at me and laughed. “Unless you’ve got a raft.”
 

“I can be your raft.” I winked at him. “I come equipped with floatation devices.”
 

The moment the words came out of my mouth, I realized I might have had too much to drink.
 

Max laughed even louder. “Hm, I feel so much safer now. Shall we go for a swim?”
 

“Might want to check for leaks first.” I nearly choked on my drink as I laughed around my words.
 

“Is that an invitation?” Max leaned toward me, flexing his hands.
 

“Max!” I leaned back in reaction to his approaching hands.

Of course I’d forgotten that my feet were on the rung of his bar stool. I tipped the whole thing over and Max landed in the arms of the woman sitting on the other side of him.
 

“Oops, sorry!” Max grinned at her.
 

“Oh no!” I tried to be horrified, but I was laughing too hard.
 

“I think your girlfriend is drunk.” The woman shook her head.
 

“She’s not my girlfriend, she’s my floatation device!”
 

The woman shook her head again and moved to another seat.
 

“Max, shush, you’re going to get us in trouble!”
 

“Me?” Max laughed. “I think you just proved to me that Spence could easily end up with a bloody nose. You’re pretty good at protecting your personal space.”
 

I laughed too and the natural comfortable energy ignited between us again. Whatever was going on with Max that made him act a little weird, I was okay with it. Just like he was okay with me knocking him off his bar stool. We understood each other in a way that not many friends seemed to.
 

I woke up the next morning feeling a little gun-shy after my date with Spence. Sure, he had gotten me fired up in a way that I hadn’t been lately, but there were also some qualities that I didn’t enjoy.

On Sunday I had an adventure date lined up. I was a little surprised when Kevin selected me as a match on MatchMe. He was extremely fit and active. Most of the time, it seemed that men who were very physically fit tended to want the same thing in a mate. Still, I figured it was worth a shot.

Kevin offered to take me to his favorite rock-climbing wall. It was not exactly my cup of tea, but I always liked to challenge myself. Rock climbing was one thing that hadn’t even made my bucket list.
 

Sunday morning I woke up with a hint of dread. So many things could go wrong. I started to wonder why I’d agreed to the date in the first place. Then I remembered. Blue. I needed to get him out of my head.

I picked out some workout clothes and tried to make my hair look cute, although I knew as soon as I started sweating it would be a mess. I ate a very light breakfast and then headed out to meet Kevin.

Kevin’s profile was full of pictures of his abdominal muscles and his chest, and there was even one that showed off his hipbones and nearly everything else. There was no question that he was in perfect shape. I suspected that maybe his pictures had been altered—or that they were old pictures.

Why would a man like Kevin need to go on MatchMe? It just didn’t make sense to me.

So half out of curiosity and half out of interest, I showed up at the rock-climbing building.

When I stepped inside, I was greeted by the scent of sweat and disinfectant. The building was as big as a warehouse, with an assortment of walls to climb. There were also other obstacles to overcome and a course in the middle of the structure.

I looked around for any sign of Kevin. There were plenty of people in spandex, but none looked like Kevin to me.
 

“Samantha! Up here!”
 

I looked up to the ceiling. Kevin was at the very top of the tallest rock wall in the building. “I’ll be right down!”
 

I cringed as he rappelled down to the ground. Once his harness was off he jogged over to me. He was every bit as solid as his profile picture had indicated.
 

“What do you say, Samantha, are you ready to change your life?” His smile was so eager that I could almost count all of his teeth.

Chapter 21

I looked up at the towering rock wall. “Uh, sure.”
 

“Wow, great enthusiasm.” He clapped his hands.

The sound was so sharp and unexpected that I jumped. It was clear to me that Kevin was passionate about rock climbing.

“I’ll get JoJo to get you all set up.”
 

JoJo was almost identical to Kevin, aside from having brown hair instead of blond. The two high-fived as Kevin walked up to him.
 

“JoJo, this is the girl I’ve been telling you about.”

I raised an eyebrow. We barely knew one another, so I had no idea what he would have told JoJo about me.
 

“Hi.” JoJo beamed at me. “Are you ready to change your life?”
 

I looked between the two of them. I didn’t see any indications of religious belief, so I guessed they didn’t intend to convert me.
 

“I’m ready to try rock climbing if that’s what you mean.”
 

“Right!” Kevin slapped me rather roughly on the back.

I shot a glare in his direction. “Watch it!”
 

“Oh, sorry—don’t know my own strength.” Kevin laughed and flexed his arm to show me his muscle.

I tried not to be impressed. I really did, but it looked like a little mountain on his arm.

“You can touch it.” He smiled.
 

“That’s okay, I’m good.” I tried not to laugh.

Kevin’s behavior was strange to me but he appeared to be quite pleased with himself. Maybe his fitness obsession was the reason he was on a dating site.

JoJo began to help me get into a harness. When he tightened it there wasn’t much room left for air.
 

“Are you okay?” Kevin looked into my eyes. “Are you ready for this?”
 

“I guess.” The harness felt pretty uncomfortable in places that I didn’t want to point out.
 

“Great! Great attitude! Up high!” He raised his hand into the air.

I stared at him for a minute before I realized he was expecting me to high-five him. Was this guy serious? I didn’t want to be rude, so I slapped his hand. Then I pretended that it didn’t hurt. Even his palm was rock solid.
 

“Let’s go, Samantha! This is the first day of your new life!”
 

As he started to climb up the wall I suspected that he hadn’t selected me for a date at all. He quite possibly had selected me to be his own personal project.

I tried to follow him up the wall, but getting my toes not to slip off the rocks was harder than I expected.
 

“You can do it, Samantha!” JoJo coached me. “Just stay focused and remember, nothing will feel as good as getting to the top!”
 

“Let’s go, Samantha, get moving!” Kevin tried to motivate me, but he only inspired more annoyance.

I managed to climb up a few feet. My body trembled from using muscles that I didn’t normally use. I felt the intensity of having the ground so far beneath me. I really didn’t think I was going to make it to the top.
 

“Go, Samantha, go!” JoJo called out from below me.
 

“I’m going!” I snarled. All of the cheering was wearing on my patience.
 

“That’s right, Samantha, use that anger!” Kevin plowed right up to the top of the rock wall.

I spent the rest of my journey to the top staring at his rear end. It wasn’t exactly an unpleasant sight. However, his persistent encouragement ruined it for me.
 

“Oh, you’re going to see some anger alright.” My mind filled with visions of swinging him around on his harness like a tetherball.

I pushed myself harder to get to the top—the main reason being so that I could then get myself back down to end this ridiculous date.

By the time I reached the top, I was covered in sweat. The one positive thing so far was the fact that I’d gotten my workout in.
 

“Look at you! You should be so proud! I’m proud! Are you proud?”
 

I don’t know what he might have seen on my face, but whatever it was made him get very pale and quiet very fast.
 

“Alright, Samantha, come back down!” JoJo waved from the bottom of the rock wall.

I hadn’t really thought about the going-down process. Going up seemed like the hard part. But when I looked down from the height of the ceiling my stomach lurched. I was glad I hadn’t eaten too much for breakfast.
 

“You can do it—”
 

“Stop it!” I scowled at Kevin. “Just stop.”
 

Kevin looked a bit like a smacked puppy.

I gritted my teeth and began to make my way slowly down the rock wall.
 

You can do this, Samantha. All you have to do is get to the bottom. Everything is going to be fine—just a little rough patch—and then you’ll be back on your feet.
 

Except I didn’t feel anything under my feet. In fact, my feet were no longer on the rock wall and I was falling. JoJo pulled on the harness to slow my descent, and the harness got a little too familiar with my nether regions.
 

“Ouch!” I grimaced. Kevin, who’d climbed down alongside me, reached out and grabbed my hand. I was actually glad he did. He eased me to the ground.
 

“You okay?” he frowned.
 

“Get this thing off of me!” I tugged at the straps of the harness.

JoJo went to work unbuckling. I was a little concerned that I might need a surgical removal.

Once the harness was off, I actually did feel proud. When I looked up at the rock wall I’d just climbed, I was impressed that I’d done it.
 

“You’re pretty strong.” Kevin patted my back.

I tried not to bark at him. “Thanks. So are you.” I pretended not to be having visions of him being tossed off the side of a rock wall.
 

“I know that it’s customary on a date to go out for a meal, but I want to introduce you to something even better.”
 

I was covered in sweat and sore in unmentionable places. I didn’t have the will left in me to argue with him.
 

“Okay.”

Chapter 22

Kevin led me over to the juice bar at the other side of the building. I didn’t mind that too much. I’d gone through a juicing phase and some of the concoctions could be really delicious. I looked over the menu and was about to select a drink when he ordered for me.
 

“We’ll both have the Green Machine.”
 

“Oh, what’s in that?”
 

“Only the most nutritious experience of your life!”
 

I looked at the glass of green sludge that was placed on the counter in front of me. “Oh.”
 

“Drink up! The texture is a little hard to get past, but try to think about what it’s doing for your body and how it will transform you from the inside out!”
 

“Look, Kevin, I’m all about trying new things, but this is not going anywhere near my mouth.” I frowned and met his eyes. “I appreciate what you’re doing here, but if you’re going to ask a girl out you really shouldn’t be doing it to boost your personal training experience.”
 

“I just thought we could get fit together!” He was still quite enthusiastic.
 

“Right—except you already have zero percent body fat. So really I’d be the one getting fit.”
 

“Is something wrong with that?”
 

“Not at all. But I’m not interested in a man who wants to change me. Either you take me for who I am right in this moment—not who you think I might one day be—or you don’t.”
 

“But, Samantha, you have so much potential.”
 

“I know I do. I’m working on my health and I will continue to, but not for any man. For me. Kevin, I’m sure you’ll find someone who is interested in your version of dating, but it isn’t me.”
 

“I’m sorry to hear that. I thought you were ready for transformation.”
 

“What I’m ready for is a shower and an ice pack to sit on. I’m not forcing my transformation. I’m letting it happen naturally. It may take longer than your brand, but in the long run, I’m transforming my life, not just my body.”