Excerpt:
“Serena?” A deep voice wakes me from my thoughts.
I look up and see a man standing next to my table, holding his hand
out. He has jet black hair and deep brown eyes and he’s smiling at me. But
since my name isn’t Serena, I’m guessing he’s meeting a blind date here and
thinks I’m her.
I take a moment to consider my options. What if I just pretended to be
this Serena girl? Doing so would certainly qualify as being adventurous. But
then Serena wouldn’t have a date. But I’m sure she could find another one. With
a name like Serena, I bet she gets tons of dates. Serena sounds exotic. The
name alone would draw a man in. Morgan, on the other hand, sounds like a last
name. Or the name of a company. It’s dull, practical, and not the least bit
exotic.
“Excuse me. Are you Serena?” He asks it again.
“Um, yes. Have a seat.” The words come out of my mouth before I can
stop them.
“I’m Luke.” He smiles and sits in the chair next to me. “It’s nice to
meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
“Can I get you a drink?” He’s still smiling, his teeth sparkling
white.
“No, thank you. Water’s fine.”
“So Jackie said you work at the agency?”
Agency? What agency? I stare at him, not sure how to answer. And then
I come to my senses.
What the hell I am doing? This is crazy! I can’t pretend to be someone
else. Steal someone’s date. I really need to get a life. And a date. A real
date, not someone else’s.
“I’m sorry. I’m not Serena.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I’m not Serena. I’m not your date.”
“I don’t understand.” He sits back in his chair, trying to get some
distance from me now that he knows I’m insane.
“I was just pretending to be. Sorry. You just surprised me when you
came up to my table and—”
“Yeah, okay.” He stands up and shoves his chair back in place. He
almost seems mad or maybe he’s afraid of me. “Good luck with everything.”
He takes off to the hostess stand.
Good luck with everything? What does that
mean? Good luck ever finding a date? A man? A life?
I watch as a tall brunette approaches him. She’s wearing a red dress
and three-inch heels. She’s gorgeous. And exotic-looking, just as I
thought.
The waiter comes back to my table. “Are you ready to order?”
“Yes, I’ll have a vodka tonic.”
“Um, okay.” He seems surprised, given that I turned down the wine
earlier. Now I’ve skipped straight to the hard liquor. “Would you like anything
to eat?”
My eyes are still on Luke and Serena. They even sound like a couple.
Like one of those couples on a soap opera who are rich and always look perfect
and have sex all the time.
Luke escorts her to the bar, his hand on her lower back as he whispers
something in her ear.
“Ma’am?” The waiter’s still standing there. “Are you going to order?”
I sigh and look back at my menu. “Do you have burgers here?”
“We have a prime rib burger with a portobello mushroom sauce.”
“I’ll have that.” As he turns to leave, I say, “And bring TWO
vodka tonics.”
“So someone IS joining you?”
I scowl at him.
“Oh. Sorry.” He scurries off to the kitchen.
This is the last time I eat alone at a restaurant. Okay, maybe it’s
not the last time, but I’m never going to a date restaurant again.
I should’ve stayed home and eaten one of the meals in my freezer in
front of the TV.
Maybe I’m not ready to be adventurous.
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