Match Me

Chapter 23- END

TWENTY-THREE

“Me?” I’m pretty sure my voice squeaked.

He slid into the seat next to me. “Yes. You.”

Had he followed me down? Did he think I was just driving to Minneapolis for an evening out by myself? That had to be it. Perfect Paul to the rescue, always at the ready to take care of me.

I panicked. “You can’t be. I mean, it would be fun to have dinner with you but I'm actually meeting someone.”

He looked around. “Oh. Who?”

I hesitated. “Um, I don’t really know.”

“What?”

“It’s sort of a date,” I said lamely. “A blind date.”

He grinned. “Oh, really? Another stellar specimen from Match Me?”

I’d told him about the disastrous dates in the Dairy Queen parking lot. After I’d told him about Chase’s proposition.

“No. Someone Jill set me up with.”

He played with the silverware that was on the table. “A friend of hers, then?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really know. I don’t know much of anything about him.”

Except that he was going to be there any minute. And I was sitting at a table with another guy, who under any other circumstance, I would’ve chosen to sit with.

“I’m surprised you agreed to it,” he said. “You know, considering your recent track record.”

“Well, Jill can be pretty persuasive.” I smiled. “And she did say he would be perfect for me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I trust her judgment. I think.”

He picked up the knife and twirled it between his fingers.

“So,” I said. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. But you really need to go. I don’t want to be rude to whoever this guy is.”

He nodded. “OK. But I have a feeling Jill is going to be a little disappointed.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not perfect.”

“What?”

He hesitated. “The person she set you up with is me.”