Unforgettable Embrace (6 page)

“
Voilà!” she said, rather dramatically. Rachel looked rather tentatively in the mirror. She couldn't believe the face and the hair that was staring back at her in the mirror.

“
Oh my goodness,” she breathed. Her hair was cut into a very symmetrical, dark blonde bob, interspersed with platinum highlights.

“
Is that me?” she asked disbelieving her own eyes.

“
It sure is,” Lorraine laughed, holding the mirror behind her head so she could get a three hundred and sixty degree view of her new hairstyle.

“
What do you think?”

“
I love it!” Rachel couldn't stop beaming at herself in the mirror. “Wait 'til the girls see me.”

“
Speaking of the girls, here they are, right on queue,” Lorraine said as Liz and Jen pushed the door open.

They looked around the salon, not recognising Rachel at first, and then they squealed in unison “Rachel! Is that you?!”

“
I can't believe it's me,” Rachel said, still staring at herself in the mirror. “Wow, you look fabulous!” Liz said, “fabulous enough to hopefully meet an equally fabulous man at the blind date evening they're having at The Boardwalk café tonight.”

“
We're all going, by the way missy, and we're not taking no for an answer,” Jen interjected. “I'll be there,” Rachel smiled at her friends, “I'm really looking forward to it.”

She was genuinely looking forward to meeting new people, and of course to flaunting her hair and clothes at The Boardwalk. She felt full of confidence and was very much liking what she was seeing in the mirror, for the first time in a long time. Amazing what a
new hairstyle and clothes can do for a girl, she thought, as she admired herself in the mirror for the hundredth time.

Chapter 7

The girls' evening at The Boardwalk turned out to be a roaring success. Rachel and even the usually confident Jen were in a little trepidation at the thought of talking to random strangers, in the hopes of finding love, but it had turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Liz was a bit of a veteran at blind dating, so she reassured the girls to just look on the experience as an opportunity to meet new people.

“
The key is to think that it's just a date. Look on it as fun, practice your flirting technique, especially you Rach,” Liz advised.

“
Hey, I'm not that bad, am I?” Rachel asked.

“
You are that bad,” Liz and Jen replied vehemently.

“
I'm just out of practice with all this flirting.”

“
Waaay out of practice!” Liz and Jen chorused in unison.

“
OK, OK, no need to give me a complex,” Rachel retaliated defensively, “so how does this blind date evening work then?”

“
Well, it's based on an American concept,” Liz explained, “whereby men sit in one row and women in another row. You have three minutes to sit at each table and when the gong sounds you move on to the next table. Everyone has a pen and paper and if you like each other you can exchange details.”

“
Three minutes doesn't seem like nearly enough time to know if you might want to go on a date with someone,” Rachel exclaimed.

“
It's plenty long enough,” Jen said, “trust me, three minutes can often feel like a life time.” “Besides,” Liz continued, “it doesn't take long to make a first impression-good or bad.”

“
Try everything once, that's my new philosophy,” Rachel sighed apprehensively, “so I'll give this blind date malarkey my best bash.”

“
That's my girl,” Liz said, taking her friend's arm as they made their way into The Boardwalk.

There was a great buzz in the café. Everyone was standing around in small groups, chatting happily. There were two rows of ten tables located in the middle of the room, with a big bronze gong placed rather dramatically in the centre. A very dapper looking man suddenly began speaking.

“
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are all well this fine evening. Welcome to our Blind Date Bonanza, the first of its kind at The Boardwalk Café. If all you lovely ladies would queue in an orderly fashion on the left hand side and gents to the right, we'll let the fun begin.”

There was a slight scuffle while everyone got in line, but before long the seats were full and the gong was busily resounding every three minutes.

Soon, it was Rachel's turn to take a seat. Her first encounter was with Brian, a tall, rather attractive man. He was quite nervous, as was Rachel, but the gong chimed before they became too nervous and Rachel quickly and with much relief moved on to the next table.

Her second encounter was with Frank, a loud-mouthed American, who completely dominated the conversation. Rachel just found herself smiling and nodding at Frank, who was still talking about himself when the gong chimed.

The evening picked up when she got chatting with Jonas, a very handsome Swedish man. She even found herself flirting with him and not too awkwardly, much to her own surprise. She was getting the hang of blind dating.

An hour later and the three girls were at the end of the table, their blind date evening at an end. “Well, how did you get on Rach?” Liz asked.

“
I got a few numbers and a couple of email addresses,” Rachel smiled.

“
Excellent,” Jen said, “I got a few numbers myself.”

“
Me too,” said Liz, “some decent prospects there.”

“
I wonder if they'll call,” Rachel pondered her list. “Course they'll call,” Jen said.

“
Yeah, and there's nothing to stop you calling them, Rach,” Liz said, “this is the twenty first century after all, women can initiate contact.”

“
Oh, I don't know, “Rachel worried, “won't that send the wrong message?”

“
Don't be daft,” Jen said, “most men would be delighted if a woman asked him out, especially a woman as gorgeous as you, Rach.”

Rachel blushed at her friends kind words. “I suppose I could ask a man out on a date.”

“
Course you can,” Liz encouraged, “it's not a marriage proposal, just a date, an opportunity to get to know someone better. Maybe it will lead to further dates, maybe not, but it's good fun and good practice along the way to meeting Mr. Right. Who knows, you might even make some new friends.”

“
It's all a learning experience,” Jen chimed in, “enjoy yourself and have fun.”

“
But not too much fun, especially on a first date,” Liz grinned mischievously, making Rachel blush again.

Chapter 8

“
Good morning, may I speak with Rachel please?” a very posh male voice greeted Rachel down the phone.

It was a week after The Boardwalk Blind Date Bonanza.

“
Yes, this is Rachel speaking,” she responded, wondering which bill she'd forgotten to pay this time.

It wasn't that she purposely avoided paying her bills; it was just that she invariably forgot. She kept meaning to set up standing orders and direct debits for the electricity, refuse collection and credit card payments, but all the paperwork and internet passwords seemed very tedious to her. Tony had always taken care of the utility bills and it was a new chore to which she was yet to become accustomed. They always send a letter to remind me when a bill is overdue anyway, she thought, and I always pay it then.

“
This is Brian O' Dowd,” the posh male voice continued on the line.

“
Oh, yes?” Rachel replied, still wondering who was speaking while she carried on typing on her computer.

“
We met at The Boardwalk Café last Thursday evening, at the Blind Date Bonanza, to be precise,” there was a hint of impatience in Brian's voice now.

“
Of course, Brian!” Rachel exclaimed.

She frantically racked her brain, trying desperately to put a face to the voice and the name.

“
I thoroughly enjoyed our rather brief encounter that evening and I was wondering if you might like to meet for dinner on Saturday night?” Brian asked.

“
Hmm, yes, that would be lovely,” Rachel responded, still wondering what Brian looked like.

Most of the evening at The Boardwalk Café had been a blur of new faces and nervousness for Rachel. She wasn't used to having to make a good first impression on so many people in such a short period of time. She remembered meeting several interesting men at the Blind Date Bonanza and she fervently hoped Brian was one of them. However, there were also a few men who she didn't find remotely interesting or attractive and she fervently hoped that Brian wasn't one of them.

“
Excellent,” Brian sounded pleased with her acceptance to his dinner invitation, “I'll make dinner reservations for eight o' clock at The Vicary restaurant. Shall I pick you up at your house or would you prefer to meet at The Vicary?”

“
Let's meet at the bar around half seven,” Rachel said, thinking she didn't particularly want him knowing where she lived at this early stage.

“
See you then, Rachel, I'm looking forward to it already,” and with that Brian rang off.

Rachel sat looking at her mobile phone for a few minutes, wondering how on earth she would recognise Brian on Saturday night. She'd been too embarrassed to admit to him that she couldn't quite remember him. She saved his number on her mobile and started to panic a little. What would she wear? What would they talk about? What if they didn't like each other? She suddenly and overwhelmingly wanted to text him to cancel their date.

Instead, she decided to text Jen and Liz to let them know she had a date for Saturday night and that she was already considering cancelling.

Jen texted back in no uncertain terms that she should stop being a wimp and start worrying about more important issues; like what to wear.

Liz was less harsh in her text and said that she and Jen would go with her incognito and watch the date from a corner of the bar, if she really felt that worried, which was of some small comfort to Rachel.

****

“
There is something just so wonderfully decadent about red wine?” Brian said as he theatrically swirled the dark burgundy liquid in the crystal glass.

“
Yes, indeed there is,” Rachel agreed, taking a rather large gulp of wine from her glass.

She had already decided that she most certainly did not like Brian; romantically or platonically. The performance he had made of tasting and sniffing and gurgling the wine had absolutely mortified her. He'd sent back the first bottle of wine, saying it was too “corky”, and had spent what seemed like forever savouring the first sip of the second bottle.

Then with a flourish of his hand, he'd said to the waiter “I suppose this will have to do.” “Of course this is nothing like the Opus One I had in California last year,” he'd said to her and had proceeded to ramble on about his rich friends.

She realised early in the evening that Brian was what she would later describe to her friends as “a pompous ass.” She had purposely arrived ten minutes late to their date on Saturday evening as she hated waiting in bars on her own. She always felt that everyone was looking at her, thinking she'd been stood up or had no friends when she arrived early.

She had contemplated arriving half an hour early to see if she could suss out who Brian was, but as Jen had pointed out, Brian clearly knew what Rachel looked like, so she couldn't really escape without him realising.

So, she had walked rather tentatively into the bar at The Vicary to be greeted quite loudly by a tall, dark-haired man in a suit and tie.

“
Rachel, how lovely to see you again,” Brian had said, kissing her dramatically on both cheeks, and almost accidentally brushing lips on the second kiss before Rachel quite knew what was happening.

“
Oh, Brian, nice to see you too,” Rachel replied politely, quite taken aback by his boisterous greeting.

It took a few minutes before she could gather herself together enough to get a proper look at him. He was tall, with dark hair, features which Rachel liked in a man. He was quite attractive in a Clarke Kent/ Superman way. He had glasses which framed hazel eyes and his dark hair was perfectly combed to a right side parting. He looked immaculately clean, which was another positive, but that's about where the positives ended and the negatives began.

It turned out that Brian was a touch too obsessive about cleanliness, as they had barely taken their seats in the restaurant before he produced hand-sanitising spray from his pocket, and started spraying it profusely on his hands, before rubbing it in systematically all the way up to his wrists. “One can never be too careful, Rachel, my dear, germs everywhere,” he'd said, even offering her a few sprays, which she'd declined.

The over-powering smell of the hand sanitiser started to make her feel nauseous. She seized the opportunity to excuse herself to the bathroom, where she found herself searching for exit points that lead out of the building and that would hide her departure from Brian.

She carefully reapplied her lipstick in the mirror and slowly brushed her hair, trying to delay as long as possible before having to resume her tedious date with Mr. Pomposity in the restaurant. She decided it would be rather rude to do a runner on the date, and thought at least it would be good practice for any future dates she might have; not with Brian, of course. So she took a deep breath and rejoined her date in the restaurant. He stood up at her return and made a fuss of pulling out her chair. All part of his pretentious act, she thought.