Author’s Note: Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve worked on this one. Thought I’d give it another try and continue. I had to change the category though. It’s no longer a fantasy. Hopefully, it won’t be so long in between chapters from now on. I hope to work steadily on several of my stories now that life has settled down a bit here. Please, enjoy the story and let me know if you find anything wrong with it. Until next time…..

THE BLIND DATE

CHAPTER TWO

As the door swung open, it creaked on its hinges and admitted a cold gust of wind into the smoky bar. It shut quickly again after the man stepped across the threshold. Sarah studied him from her table. He wasn’t flashy, dressed in black jeans and an oversized t-shirt that couldn’t hide his belly much. A thick mustache covered his upper lip and his salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back. Sarah swallowed hard as she prayed he was not the one. He seemed much too old for her, anyway. She briefly wondered if she had too many hang-ups about men as she watched him like a hawk.

Do not come over here, she thought, wanting to project it telepathically. She felt a bit shallow that she was only considering his physical appearance, but she just found it hard to like a man that she was not physically attracted to in the first place. If this was the guy her friends set her up with, then maybe he was alright, but it would just take a lot of conversation to prove that. She couldn’t make apologies for it. It was the way she was. Her anxiety faded, though, when the older man took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer and proceeded to chat with the bartender about his unsatisfying home life. It became clear to Sarah that this was not her blind date, after all. With that realization, came relief.

“Excuse me,” she heard suddenly from her left. She hadn’t been paying attention and the unexpected voice startled her. “Are you waiting for someone?”

She turned her head quickly to glimpse the owner of the friendly voice, and found a man leaning partially on the back of the booth she was seated at. He was a brunet of average height, perhaps around six feet, with a slightly above average-looking face. He was not drop dead gorgeous, but attractive to a certain extent. Although, she only looked him over for a few seconds, he appeared to have a medium build and a tanned complexion, which was fine by her.

“Yes, actually,” she answered. Was he the one? “Are you…Tony?”

She asked cautiously, studying him to see if he noticed it. When she said the name, he perked up, his face breaking into a smile. It was friendly and charming in a jester-like way.

“Yeah,” he answered, offering his hand, “hi, how are you?”

Sara accepted his hand and shook it politely. She was still a bit wary of the whole blind date scene, but he seemed pleasant enough. Besides that, she trusted the judgment of her friends much more than she trusted her own when it came to men.

“Fine, and yourself?” she asked, going through the normal introductions.

“Not too bad,” he replied after releasing her hand and gesturing to the other side of the booth. “May I sit?”

“Sure,” she permitted, nervously tapping her fingers on her empty glass, hearing the ice inside rattle. “I’m Sarah, by the way.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He moved to sit across from her and Sarah took this opportunity to get a better look at him without him noticing it. He was dressed in a navy blue button down shirt, black slacks and jacket, no belt. Not bad, she thought, at least he puts some thought into what he wears. The small chandelier hanging above the table cast some new light on him as he scooted in. It revealed his hair to be a dark brown with a few golden slivers throughout the top. Perhaps he spent a lot of time in the sun. He was not as tan as she had previously thought, though. His complexion now appeared quite pale, sallow even. It didn’t matter much to her, however. She had to stop studying him because he was sure to catch her staring at him soon enough if she didn’t.

“So,” she began to start things off, “I hear that you are an X-Ray technician. How’s that business?”

His expression went blank for a split second, as if he didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about. Sarah waited for his answer, wondering if he was an X-Ray technician. Perhaps her friends had lied to her about his occupation, merely to impress her. I wouldn’t put it past them, she thought. If Beth and Jaime made it up just to get me here, I’m going to kill them for helping me make an ass out of myself.

“It’s complicated,” she finally heard him reply. “As the name implies, it deals with a lot of technical junk. Not that interesting, really. It’s a decent living but nothing to spark up a conversation about.”

“Oh,” she said, a bit flabbergasted. “I thought it would be fascinating, seeing everyone’s bones like that. I had an X-Ray before when I broke my ankle. It was strange looking at it in the hospital. The picture showed that I had a hairline fracture and there was some splintering of the bone in my…lower tibia, I believe.”

“Wow, how’d that happen?” He asked, arching his brow in a surprised manner.

“I was skiing up in Mammoth a few years ago, back when I was still a teen. I thought I was going to be a daredevil and do a little jump off one of the smaller slopes. I’d been skiing before; I thought I could do it, no problem. I landed wrong, though, twisted my ankle,” she explained.

“That sucks,” he replied. “It’s all better for you now, though?”

Sarah nodded, “Haven’t gone skiing since, though.”

“Too scared to jump back on the horse?” He questioned.

“I’m just that way, I guess. I became a little more cautious after that. I didn’t want to try anything risky.”

“You don’t consider a blind date risky?” he inquired with a tiny smile. It revealed stark white teeth, all straight and seemingly perfect.

Sarah admiringly noted it, adding another positive mark to her little checklist of pros and cons concerning Mr. Right. To her, there were certain little things that she looked for in a person. Some of them may seem insignificant to other people, but she used them to judge what kind of a person that individual was. She’d heard that some people say that you can tell a lot about someone from their shoes or their car. Supposedly, those material possessions could pinpoint certain things about one’s personality and way of life. She wasn’t much concerned about either one. She was concerned, however, with good personal and dental hygiene. To her, cars and shoes come and go, being replaced after they have worn out. A person’s body and teeth must stay with them, so they are the most important possession a person must care for. She didn’t want someone with bad body odor or stained, decaying teeth. It suggested that the person did not care about themselves enough to prevent that. If they did not care properly for themselves, how could they care for her the way she wanted? She viewed it as a simple philosophy.

“Well, maybe a little,” she admitted, returning herself to the conversation. She fingered her glass, running her index finger over the moistened rim while watching the ice slowly melt. “But since Beth and Jaime set it up, I’m not as nervous as I would be under different circumstances.”

“They good friends of yours?” he inquired.

“The closest ones I have,” she revealed, “I’ve known Beth since grade school and Jaime and I became friends during our junior year of college.”

“Must be nice,” he pondered, “most of my friends are back in Chicago.”

“Is that where you’re from?” Sarah asked.

“Not originally. I was born in New York, up in Buffalo. We moved to Illinois when I was ten. I grew up in Springfield but moved to Chicago when I started college,” he explained.

“Did you always want to work in the medical field, or was it just something you fell into along the way?” She probed, wanting to learn some background about this guy.

“No, actually, I wanted to study law,” he answered. “My mom’s an attorney so it was kind of like going into the family business, ya know?”

“Yeah, it seems that it’s a popular choice these days,” Sarah agreed. “I suppose it opens a lot of possibilities to branch out.”

“It does,” he confirmed, “you can either go for criminal investigating and profiling or you can keep on going and practice law after passing the bar.”

“What made you change your mind?”

He scratched his ear as he sighed in an exasperated manner, seemingly trying to wrack his brain for a good enough answer.

“Well…I decided I didn’t want to be a carbon-copy of my parent,” he finally answered. “It was like I was expected to follow in her footsteps. I realized that I was going to have her shadow over me my entire career if I went on to become a lawyer. I didn’t handle that too well.”

“Well, it’s good to see that you have individuality,” she complimented with a smile.

“Thanks,” he went on, “it’s just that I was never much a rebel in my younger years. I suppose that it built up in me for too long. I just had to release it, so I dropped out of law school after the first year. I’d always gotten good enough grades in high school to convince me that I could do quite a few things in my career. So, I used that belief to get up the courage to leave and start over. I moved away, down here, and applied to a couple colleges. Now, here I am.”

“I’m glad things have worked out for you,” Sarah stated. Okay, so he may have a bit of a rebellious streak but who doesn’t? At least he’s goal-oriented.

He smiled a tight-lipped smile and gave a quick nod but said nothing for a moment or two. Sarah wondered what he thought of her. She always wanted to know what people were thinking. It was a bad habit of hers that had lost her quite a few relationships along the way. She couldn’t help it, though. She didn’t like rejection and she sometimes worried that people were judging her or assessing her weak points as they conversed.

“So, what do you do?” He asked, seemingly interested.

“I’m a teacher. Didn’t they tell you?”

“Oh, that’s right,” he replied, “I forgot, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, no harm done. I wasn’t sure how much those two struggling matchmakers revealed about me,” she laughed, a bit nervously. She was more at ease than she thought she’d be, but there was still some underlying anxiety accompanying this situation.

“Not much, actually,” he informed her, “only your name, where I’d meet you and that you are a friend of Beth’s. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I’m a guy and we don’t need a whole lot of background info to show up. Beth showed me a picture of you and said you were single, that’s all I needed.”

He snickered softly and wore a disarming smile. That, combined with the air of slight charm and casualty surrounding him, made her think that he meant it more as a compliment than a sexist insult.

“Did that sound as shallow as I think it did?” he queried, appearing to sense her slight disconcertion.

“Just a little bit,” she confirmed. “But, I won’t hold it against you.”

“That’s good, I was afraid there for a second that I scared you off,” he said.

“You didn’t.”

“I’m actually quite a humble guy,” he said by way of apology, “despite some strong ambitions surrounding some of my little quirks.”

“Aren’t you going to have a drink?” Sarah asked.

“No, I don’t like to drink and drive,” he replied, folding his hands on the table and adopting a serious tone. “You know what, though, I’m a bit hungry. I haven’t had dinner yet and I’m used to eating by five or so. Do you want to get something to eat with me?”

He looked at her hopefully and Sarah was glad that everything was going well and he seemed to like her. She was a little hesitant, though. She had planned to be home by seven to feed her cat and work on grading some papers that had to be returned the next day.

“Come on, it’ll be my treat,” he offered, tilting his head to catch her eye since she had focused her attention on the table.

She thought it over and realized that she could use some food, especially if it wasn’t going to cost her anything. What harm can it do? I’ll go and eat and if it doesn’t work out, at least I’ll get a free meal. If it turns into something more, then great. Maybe I can get out of this slump I’ve been in.

“Yeah, okay. What did you have in mind?” She responded.

“Oh, I know a great place downtown. It’s a little brasserie. I go there a lot ‘cause it’s nice and quiet. There’s even a little fireplace in the lower level. We can talk without interruptions,” he said as he began getting up from his seat.

“Sounds good,” Sarah commented as she rose to join him, grabbing her purse. “So, do I just follow you or what?”

“Well, I was kind of thinking that you could just ride with me,” he suggested. “I mean, you have been drinking and all.”

He gestured to her empty glass on the table, “I really feel strongly about not letting friends drive drunk.”

He was right, she had been drinking. There were times when she’d driven home after having a glass of wine or a beer with her friends, even though she knew most people looked down on that. She had always felt sober enough to drive, though. However, she also realized that most people pulled over for a DUI or DWI probably say the same thing to the cop.

“I can just drive you back here afterward and you can pick up your car then. You’ll be alright to drive after a couple of hours,” he reasoned. “The food will help absorb the alcohol.”

Again, she was hesitant. She normally did not get into cars with strangers. Even though, he wasn’t a total stranger, they had just met and she didn’t know much about him. However, the fact that her closest friends knew him and approved caused her to bend her rules a bit. Therefore, she agreed to ride with him and excused herself to the ladies room. The liquor was going straight through her. It always had that effect.

She quickly fixed her makeup, reapplying her light pink lip-gloss and a bit of powder to the shiny spots around her nose and forehead. She brushed her hair, making note to redo her roots in the next couple of days. She could see the darkness sprouting out of her scalp along her side part, a horrible accent to her platinum locks. She’d been lightening her hair from its original caramel color for several years, even though it had drained her pocket money one more than one occasion. After giving herself a quick once-over in the mirror, she was satisfied, despite the horrible lighting in the restroom. She smoothed her sateen shirtdress, which buttoned all the way down to her knees in a perfect fit, and fixed her belt. Then, she exited the restroom and met him near the entrance door.

“Ready to go?” He asked, opening the door.

“Yes,” she answered and they walked out into the cool evening air of early March.

She looked at her watch. It was 5:45 pm. She was glad that it wasn’t too late, after all. Perhaps she would get home in time to do those papers.

“Where are you parked?” She asked as he walked next to her.

“Right over here,” he answered, vaguely pointing over to his left.

He led her to a light-colored SUV and used the keyless entry to unlock the doors before opening the passenger side for her. She smiled graciously and got in. She noticed the new-car smell as soon as she slipped inside. It was clean, no clutter or dust settling on the dashboard, yet. She was impressed. She watched him as he headed to the driver’s side. He was looking around the parking lot as he went, glancing left and right. Then, he got in and started the ignition, locking the doors as he did so.

“Force of habit,” he explained, giving a fleeting smile when she looked at him curiously.

She was used to leaving the doors unlocked when she drove. She was always afraid that she would get in an accident and the rescuers would not be able to open the doors to get her out because of a jammed lock. She shrugged it off, though, knowing she couldn’t be paranoid all of the time.

He threw the car into drive and they left the parking lot, passing a dark sedan as it was pulling in. Sarah didn’t pay much attention to it, though. She was busy checking her messages on her cell phone. There wasn’t anything important to be heard, though. Just a message from a fellow teacher at the high school she taught at, reminding her that they had a crucial meeting in two days to discuss plans for this year’s graduation. She had volunteered to be on the committee. Afterwards, she hung up the phone and placed it back in her purse.

“So, how far is this place?” she asked.

“About fifteen to twenty minutes away, depending on traffic,” he answered absently. “You can turn on the radio, if you want.”

“Any particular station you listen to?” she asked as she switched it on.

“No, I barely listen to it. Put on whatever you want,” he replied, staring straight ahead.

She did just that and within seconds was completely absorbed in the new tune from a musical newcomer who’d been skyrocketing up the pop charts for the past week. She never even heard her phone ring inside of her purse as she moved her body slightly to the music and sang softly to herself.

---

Meanwhile, the dark sedan had found a parking space in the parking lot of Jose’s Cantina and the occupant hurriedly made his way to the front door. He was late and he knew it. Tony Forte had been unexpectedly been delayed at work because the technician for the night shift had not shown up on time and he had to deal with an emergency patient just admitted because of a skateboarding accident.

He had just hoped his “date” would understand what it takes to deal with a medical job and a social life. Before opening the entrance door to the bar, he blew a puff of air out of his mouth to dispel his frustration and take on a calmer demeanor. This is starting out great, isn’t it? He asked himself cynically.

Deciding to just go for it and put up with the apologies when he got to them, he opened the door and stepped inside. He’d seen a picture of the girl, so he looked around for her. Disappointedly, she was not anywhere in sight. He decided to ask the bartender if he’d seen her. Pulling out the photo Beth had given him, he showed it to the older man.

“Has she been here? Have you noticed her?” Tony asked.

The bartender, a man in his late forties with a pudgy face and an even pudgier belly, took the photo in his hand to study it.

“No, I haven’t seen her,” he replied after looking at it. “Maybe someone else has. Tina!”

“Yeah,” a Latino woman said from the table she was waiting on.

“Has this girl been here?” the bartender asked, holding the photo out.

The waitress walked over, her hair pulled tightly into a high ponytail and her jean shorts cut way too high for Tony’s tastes. She looked at it and nodded.

“Yeah, she was here,” she answered. “Right over there.”

She pointed to a table near the wall. It was empty.

“Left a few minutes ago,” she continued.

“Damn it,” Tony said under his breath. “Alone?”

“No, she was with a guy,” the waitress corrected. “She didn’t come in with him, though.”

Tony thought that was a bit odd. The way Sarah had been described to him, she didn’t sound like the type of girl to get picked up in a bar by someone. He got out his cell phone and dialed Beth Logan’s number.

“Thanks,” he said to the waitress and turned away.

Beth picked up after two rings.

“Hello, Beth,” Tony said. “I’m at the bar, but Sarah isn’t here. Did she call you?”

“No, I haven’t heard from her.”

“Well, the waitress said she left with some guy. I just didn’t know what to make of it. Does it sound like something she’d do?” Tony inquired, wondering if she was doing it because she was upset that he hadn’t shown up or if she was just easier than he’d been told.

“Not at all,” Beth answered. “She’s been wary as hell of men since she broke up with Paul. It was like pulling teeth to get her to meet you.”

“Well, I don’t know what’s going on, then,” Tony said. “Can you give me her number so I can call her real quick and find out? If she met someone, then I need to know so I don’t waste anymore time.”

“Yeah sure,” Beth replied and gave him the number.

“Thanks, bye,” Tony said and hung up.

He dialed Sarah’s number, but only got an answering service. He left a message and then put his phone into his pocket, waiting to hear a reply. He sat at the bar for a few moments to cool off and the minutes began ticking by. He ordered a beer, hoping his phone would ring and he’d get an explanation. As he sat there, however, his phone sat silently in his pocket and his hopes diminished. His phone did not ring and a reply never came.