The Blind Date

Fake name. I’d kinda forgotten that part. Mark started short-handing Rachel for the letter ‘R’, and I’d read it as Riley automatically. There will definitely be some things to discuss if we do meet up, but not yet.

For now, I’m enjoying being Rachel—a regular, everyday nobody who might’ve met someone special. And I don’t want to let that go yet.

"But make sure you let me or Eli know if you decide to meet this guy. We need date, time, and place info in case you go missing. We want the cops to know where to start looking for your body.”

“Arielle! That’s awful. And scary,” I tell her.

She shrugs carelessly, as though police hunting for my missing body is no big deal, just another normal Tuesday. “And safe. You haven’t dated in a while, Riley. The world is different now, especially when you’re someone like you. Be safe with your body and your heart, but that doesn’t mean hiding away. I like that you’re taking risks and getting out there in the game. It’s about time, and you deserve it.”

“What about you?” I question carefully. She and Eli have been weird lately, and I wonder if they’re moving back in to an ‘on’ phase for some friends-with-benefits action. But they’ve done that countless times and it’s never been awkward like it has been lately.

“Oh, I’m so busy these days working extra shifts because we’re short-handed around here, so when I get an evening off, I want to eat and sleep so I can repeat it all the next day.”

“Nobody special filling your bed then?” I pry.

“Nope. No one special. Just me and my buzzy buddy, and most of the time, I’m too lazy to even manage that.”

Arielle starts moving faster to finish the puddings. If there’s one thing she’s not, it’s lazy. Something’s rotten in Denmark, but if she’s not ready to talk about it, I’ll respect that. For now. But mentally, I set a timer to gently push for more info because while she’s the protector of the group, I’m the cheerleader. And if she needs a pep talk to ditch someone who’s not treating her well or to balls-up and speak her mind to someone who’s caught her eye, I’m damn good at those.

“All right, let’s get some damn rice puddings done. If we miss the three o’clock snack time, it turns into Dawn of the Almost Dead out there!” Arielle warns as she lines a serving cart with the raisin-bedazzled rice puddings. One of the raisins falls to the floor as we move them, and Arielle curses. “Shit. Grab me another one. I can’t risk the fallout of only four.”

I laugh and add one more piece of wrinkly fruit to the shortened bowl. “Who knew raisins were such serious business?” I tease.

“Everything around here is serious business,” Arielle retorts.

Chapter 6

Noah

R: Happy Tuesday!

I glance at the timestamp and feel my lips spread in a smile. Rachel sent this twenty minutes ago when I was in the shower. Then again, that’s what we’ve done for the past three days. We have a long, drawn-out conversation that’s mostly punctuated with ten- and fifteen-minute gaps for the whole day before we text each other to sleep.

I can’t help but notice that I’ve been smiling a lot more these last few days too. So much so that people at work noticed yesterday. I heard two people in the break room joking that it was weird and scary for me to be happy, musing about what might make an uptight asshole like me smile. Their best guess seemed to be that I am either on drugs or I’ve finally gone off the deep end and am going to show up at work next week with my hair dyed green and in clown makeup. But the truth is much more mundane. It’s her. Rachel. Every time my phone vibrates, I can’t wait to see what she says.

M: Good morning. You’re up early. I hope you slept well?

R: I did. At least until my dog licked my face, waking me up at six AM. Men!

M: I don’t blame him. I’m sure I’d do the same in his place . . . maybe with less tongue. Or maybe not? ;)

Fuck, is this who I’ve become? I smile, I use emojis, and I flirt via texts. Ironically, though I would’ve given River a hard time if he were doing this, it feels natural with Rachel. An easy progression of our conversations from bare-boned, get to know you questions to casual chats and flirty double-entendres.

R: I’m sure your wake-up call would’ve been preferable. As it was, Raffy was demanding a walk so he could pee. Which wouldn’t have been so bad except that he saw a squirrel and lunged at it, nearly climbing the single tree on the whole block and barking so loudly that it scared me to death. I almost wet my pants! And then my first-floor neighbor glared at me through the blinds despite my mouthed apology and friendly wave. The nerve! LOL