Mia's Blind Date Read online

  Mia’s Blind Date

  By

  Patrizia Murray

  Eternal Press

  A division of Damnation Books, LLC.

  P.O. Box 3931

  Santa Rosa, CA 95402-9998

  www.eternalpress.biz

  Mia’s Blind Date

  by Patrizia Murray

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-61572-576-2

  Print ISBN: 978-1-61572-577-9

  Cover art by: Dawné Dominique

  Edited by: Isaac Milner

  Copyedited by: Carrie Richardson-Orosz

  Copyright 2012 Patrizia Murray

  Printed in the United States of America

  Worldwide Electronic & Digital Rights

  1st North American, Australian and UK Print Rights

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  To my husband. He knows why.

  Acknowledgements:

  Valley of the Sun Romance Writers of America for help and encouragement, Mom, the Wind Beneath My Wings, and The ladies who shop and lunch.

  Chapter One

  Calgary, Alberta, at the foot of the Canadian Rockies

  “No, no, no, no,” cried Mia to her friend Ava, as she angrily shredded her muffin into crumbs. “I’ve been on so many blind dates in the last two years. I never want to see another one as long as I live!” Mia Sindling looked around the Starbuck’s to see if anyone had noticed her angry outburst, embarrassed at a few coffee drinkers glancing her way.

  “Mia,” Ava calmly took a sip from her latte, as if Mia hadn’t spoken, “Rob’s great, has a college degree, a good job with an oil company and his family is nice too.”

  “Yeah, I know, and next you’ll be telling me the ‘curse of the blind date’—that he has a great personality.”

  “Well, he does have a great personality, Mia. What do you mean, the ‘curse of the blind date’?”

  “You know, whenever someone tries to set you up with a blind date, and he’s a cross between Attila the Hun and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, they tell you he has a great personality,” explained Mia.

  “Would Noah and I try to fix you up with someone who was as bad as that? Honestly Mia, we’re your friends, and we want you to have a life,” said Ava.

  Mia sighed. “When I went away to college, my mother told me to go out with the creeps and look over the crop. There were some really bad ones that I met in my dorm, but I thought back then that going out was better than staying home and studying all the time. Every one of those disasters made me want to stay home studying even more. I was pretty shy back then, and I never felt comfortable telling men what I wanted from them.”

  “Well, I don’t agree with your mom’s advice,” Ava said. “That’s just ridiculous. It’s likely that’s why you are so dead set against fix-ups now.”

  “I’m sure I’ve told you about some of my worst fix-ups. You know Buck, the guy I go out with whenever either of us needs an “acceptable” date. We go to a few nice dances and dinners where a cocktail gown and a tuxedo are required, but there aren’t any fireworks there.”

  “Yeah, you brought him to our Christmas party last year. He’s certainly presentable enough,” Ava said.

  “Back in second year college, I met Buck when one of his frat brothers asked me to date him. We were both avid skiers, but Buck got falling down drunk at the annual ski club Christmas party, and I ended up walking home through the snow and slush, ruining my new shoes, and wearing a skirt so short my knees froze. That’s not all either, it was so cold I froze my ears, toes, and nose before I finally reached the dorm. Then I had to endure three days of prickling pain from frostbite” she finished.

  “Okay, maybe that one wasn’t so good, but don’t tar all the men with the same brush,” Ava told her. “Oops, it’s 8:30. Time to get back and get a good start at the day. Let’s meet up for lunch. How about sushi?”

  “Great. I think I’ll be free by 12:30.” Mia waited while Ava got into her own car, and then both of them drove back to the office, around the corner, where another hectic day of work awaited them at the government’s Social Services Department.

  * * * *

  Later, Mia managed to actually take a real lunch break, which didn’t happen often. Ava was on office duty that day, so she was relieved on desk by another worker, and Mia picked her up at the front of the office for lunch at Sushi Ahi, one of their favorite haunts.

  As they exited their cars in the parking lot, Ava sighed, looking heavenward, “Mmm. Just feel that sun. Thank heavens it’s finally spring, and we can keep the top down on your car. If I didn’t have the kids, I could have a red convertible too.”

  Between bites of the tempura sushi that was Mia’s favorite, and Ava’s California rolls, they continued the conversation, as if it hadn’t been interrupted by several hours of work.

  Mia said, “I figure that car is just my little island of calm in the ocean of bedlam at the office. “Sometimes I wonder why I ever wanted to be a social worker anyhow.”

  “I hate it when I’m on call 24/7. At least you get to share the on-call time with other general welfare workers. We child protection people have no such luck,” complained Ava.

  “Back to our friend Rob,” Ava said. Abruptly changing the subject as she often did. “Won’t you even consider this guy, even for a barbecue at our house some weekend?”

  “I can’t think of anything that you could say that would entice me to try even one more blind date,” said Mia, facing Ava’s onslaught.

  In an effort to convince Ava to let it go, she said, “Listen, I’m going to tell you about a couple more of my disasters with blind dates…

  “You didn’t know me when I went out with this Rod guy that some acquaintances set me up with. Four of us went to the Martini Ranch—that dance and martini place where they have 228 different kinds of martinis? You know how much I love to dance. Well this Rod guy sat out the first dozen dances, didn’t even offer me a drink, and finally admitted he hated dancing. He told me he didn’t even want to come on the date, and only came because his “friend” had decided he should get out more, and had told him I was just the person to bring him out of his shell. In fact, Rod didn’t talk to me at all, and look, I’m no miracle worker.”

  “Well, maybe he was just shy,” Ava offered.

  Mia made a disgusted sound, and continued “This next one was a real prize. He was a policeman I call “Octopus”. On our second date, Octopus had showed up at my place with a woody, muscled his way in to my apartment, and said it was time for me to pay back the dinner he’d bought on our first date, with a good screw. I told him, ‘I don’t screw. I make love’. Octopus actually snorted, ‘Call it whatever you want, girlie, but once you try me, you’ll never be satisfied with another man.’”

  “Some guys are just so lewd and crude,” sympathized Ava, “but this Rob friend of ours isn’t like that at all, you’ll see.”

  “Oh, my God, Ava. What does it take to convince you? Don’t you remember how upset I was just last fall, when I went out with that gorilla football ‘hero’? That was absolutely the last straw. He had a beer in his lap as he tried to st
eer the car, and at the same time, he locked all the car doors, so I couldn’t get out and run at a stop light. He pinched and pulled on my breasts till I cried with the pain, and I thought for sure we would crash as he tried to get my T-shirt off while he was driving.

  “He thought my struggling and crying were just for show. He laughed and said ’Wrestling matches are my specialty. See, I’m a linebacker, and you’re just a little bitty thing.’ I finally managed to get through to him I didn’t want to have sex with him, I’d go to the police and he’d never get another football job. I think it must have been the job part that got to him, because $500,000 a year football contracts don’t grow on trees. He verbally and sexually harassed me for miles, till I finally convinced him to open the door, and I ran for my virginity, and my life. I have never been so terrified in all my days”.

  Ava cried, “My God, you never told me that last part. Why didn’t you go to the police?”

  Mia said, “There was no harm done, except to my ego, and I did write an anonymous letter to the football coach, He got traded, shortly after that.”

  Mia looked at her friend, “Honestly, I have no idea why I have such terrible luck with men. I’ve been pretty good at setting up other people on dates.”

  Mia recalled one couple who were celebrating their ten year anniversary after Mia had introduced them. “Think about Buddy, my divorced friend from college. I got him and Kathy together—she’s the one who was divorced with a son. They got engaged in less than six months, married last Christmas, and now she’s pregnant. He has a daughter by his first marriage, and now they’re like that old movie called, Yours, Mine and Ours.

  “Don’t forget Gary and Carly that I introduced when he broke his leg last ski season. She helped him out with shopping, took him to ski meetings, and they’re now planning a fall wedding.”

  Ava looked at her friend sympathetically. “You’re a good person, Mia, and I just know the right guy will come along. Just keep an open mind, and trust your friends.”

  “I’m beginning to get a complex. Am I too picky? Am I just unlucky? Are my friends just not very good at picking out men for me? Help me out here, Ava.” Ava just smiled and Mia knew just what her answer would be—go out with Rob. Ava was just biding her time that Mia eventually would have to give in. All their friends knew better than to challenge Ava so she decided to change the subject.

  “I love my job and I’ve always wanted to be a social worker. I wouldn’t even want to quit if I ever got married, I love it so much, even on the frustrating days. What do you think about taking night classes for my master’s degree in marriage counseling?”

  “I think you should certainly try it. It might even help you find out why you’ve never been able to find the right guy. Even so, at least it will help you increase your salary and move you up the ladder.”

  Mia said, “I envy you and Noah your good marriage, and even though I love my career, I’d love to be married, and have children of my own. All my friends are married and starting families. I’m just the beloved ‘Auntie’ who brings candy and toys, and gets down on the floor to play dolls, tea parties, crashing trucks, and singing nonsense songs.”

  Ava fussed with her hair, and put on new lipstick. “There’s nothing wrong with being the good Auntie, Mia, but I can understand how you feel. It’s sort of like you’re waiting for the rest of your life to start, isn’t it?” commented Ava.

  Mia nodded, pulling out her own lipstick. “I’m just not very good at picking out men myself, either. I’ve never gone out with a man longer than seven or eight months, and none of the ones I’ve managed to make it that long seemed like someone I could spend the rest of my life with. There were no fireworks, or thunder and lightning when they kissed me. I’m not sure that kind of love even exists.”

  “Oh, it exists, all right,” said Ava. “You’ll feel it when the right guy comes along.”

  “There’s always something wrong with the ones who make it for any length of time in my life. Kevin wanted to go back to university, and didn’t want to get serious.” Mia began counting off on her fingers.

  “Worst of all was Colin who decided to follow his ‘calling’ and enter the priesthood. The priesthood? I just hated people knowing that sexy Colin decided on a life of celibacy, rather than a life of unbridled sex with me! He’s still my friend, and he said he was grateful—grateful, my ass—that I had allowed him the freedom to choose his God with a clear conscience.

  “What if I’m just not sexy?” she asked Ava. “What if I never find the one who will ‘set my soul aflame’ as they say in the movies and romance novels? Guys always notice the big boobs, but never seem to get beyond that.”

  Mia could almost see the wheels turning in Ava’s brain. She knew Ava was looking for just the right amount of pressure to get her to agree to meet Rob.

  Hmm, I might have to change my strategy here, Ava thought. She looked critically at her friend. “Not sexy? Man, the woman must be blind when she looks in the mirror.”

  Ava and Mia were about the same age, twenty-seven, and as Ava cast a critical eye over her friend, she saw a well-dressed woman of average height, with a lush figure that she despaired over. Mia wanted to be model thin, and was always on some diet or another. She had these ‘family jewels’ that she called her breasts and figured if her brothers could refer to their privates as jewels, she could do the same. She had told Ava all the women in her family had them—and all her aunts had told her they’d been teased about them all their lives. Mia had started wearing a bra when she was ten, and was often embarrassed about her generous body. She told Ava most men loved her breasts and couldn’t keep their hands off them. Even her friends’ boyfriends and husbands teased Mia, saying that they loved their mates’ small boobs—‘any more than a handful’s a waste’ they would say while ogling Mia’s ‘family jewels’.

  Ava envied Mia her long, dark, glossy hair that glinted golden in the sunlight slanting down on the two women who were now back in the red convertible. Mia said her eyes were just plain brown, but Ava saw that they were hazel, with topaz and green lights in them, depending on what color she wore. Ava knew everyone responded to Mia’s smile, and she had a laugh that caused people to smile. She had a clear, direct way of looking at people that said she found them fascinating.

  Noah had commented to Ava privately that he thought Mia had “very kissable lips”. Ava saw full red lips she supposed men would like, though she cautioned Noah not to think too much about Mia’s lips. She and Mia shared olive skin that told of ancestors who came from Mediterranean climes. Ava never even went to the grocery store without full makeup, yet Mia seldom needed any, as her coloring was golden and healthy looking, even in the dead of winter when her skin never saw the sun.

  Ava thought, Not sexy? Woman, you are just about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m a woman. Just wait till Rob sees you and you’ll find out how sexy you are!

  Ava had been doing social work longer, and had been trying to teach Mia how to avoid the sob stories and tales of woe. Now she switched into full counselor mode. “If you have any faults, it’s that you are taken advantage of too easily. You know just how to keep people talking, an advantage in social work, but I can see that it’s hard for you to hold the line when social assistance clients come up with reasons why they should stay on the public payroll.”

  Ava was a great help giving Mia advice on how to handle the ones who were too lazy to get a job, and how to separate the malingerers from those who truly needed help.

  “Sometimes those attributes aren’t conducive to an enduring love relationship. Sometimes you need to stop trying to be all things to all people, and let someone else take a turn. Let the man have an equal say in the relationship. Asking for what you want, not just doing what you think he needs.”

  “I’m not sure I know what you mean, Ava. Do you think I need to be bolder?”

  �
�No, not exactly bolder, but just don’t take shit from anybody. Trust your friends who know you and want you to be happy. Come to dinner on Friday, and meet Rob. It won’t exactly be a date, and you can leave if you hate him.”

  “Sorry, I can’t.” Mia shook her head. “I have to go back to Daysland this weekend to see the folks,” said Mia, avoiding Ava’s advice. “What are you guys up to?”

  Ava sighed, “It will be hell on wheels, because we have a birthday party for Dee, Benny wants to go to the water park, Noah and Rob are playing golf, and my sister needs help with decorating her master bedroom, so we’ll just be our normal three ring circus all weekend. It’s good to just rest for a bit here in the sun.”

  Then Ava glanced at the clock on the dash. “Good heavens, I’ve got clients coming in at one o’clock. Let’s get out of here.” The red car sped away and Mia and Ava both went on to their afternoon clients.

  * * * *

  Mia had grown up in a small town, but once she got to the city, and a large college, she made the decision she was a city girl, and often commented to Ava she had no intention of returning to life in a small town.

  On Friday, Mia was driving with the convertible top down, on the highway to Daysland. She’d be happy to see her friends and family for her weekend break. No clients to worry about till Monday—thank heavens. She had already made a date with her best friend from cradle onward, Cheryl, and her husband Al, to go to the bar.

  Mia’s mother wasn’t pleased. “You come all this way, and just go out drinking with your friends? I thought you were coming to visit with us? You can never trust anyone you meet in a bar, you know.”

  “Mom, I don’t think I’ll be meeting anyone in the bar. I’m just hanging out with Cheryl and Al.” At least it was only going to be a short visit. Mia wouldn’t have to hear about the new men in town who would be ‘perfect’ for her, or let her mom know what time she’d be home, like she was still in high school.