She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and, out loud, said, “I should cancel.”
She looked around for her phone and Robin’s card. It would be so easy to send a text message. It would all be over and done with. And then what? Everything would go back to being normal. Wasn’t that exactly what Micky was trying to escape? She knew it was just fear holding her back at this point. First-date jitters as well, of course. Micky’s last first date was more than twenty years ago, when Darren had asked her out. When she came to think of it, something she hadn’t done in a long time, the way Darren had approached her was not unlike Robin had.
Micky had been helping out at a student union party. She was pulling beers behind the bar when this cocky guy came up to her and said, “I don’t care that you’re selling them. I’m buying you a beer.”
“I don’t drink beer,” Micky had protested, even though she did. She just didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of easily complying.
“Then let me take you out for a nice bottle of wine. How does tomorrow evening sound?”
Was she attracted to Robin because she was a female version of her ex-husband, despite the appalling way in which they’d met? Micky was no psychiatrist, but she reasoned that she might be looking for something familiar to hold on to.
Micky snapped to, chasing the memory of Darren from her mind, and refocused on the blouse she had pulled from her closet. If she wanted to cancel, she would have to do so right then. Any later would make it very impolite—or perhaps more plausible that she had an emergency. Micky had two children. She always had an excuse.
“I’m going on this date,” she said to herself, watching her lips move in the mirror. “Fuck it. I’m doing it.”
✶ ✶ ✶
Robin was dressed in jeans and a white blouse with pink vertical stripes. Micky was only two minutes late, but Robin had obviously arrived a while ago because a half-empty bottle of red wine stood in front of her.
Robin rose when she saw her and pecked Micky on the cheek.
“Did I get the time wrong?” Micky asked.
“Nope. I just like to arrive early.” Was that a hint of kindness in Robin’s eyes?
Micky sat down, desperately wanting—needing—some of that wine. “What are you drinking?”
“A heavenly Barossa Shiraz from the year 2012.” Robin seemed to know her wines. “Australian wines can be quite spectacular. Mind you, after five years in Singapore and Hong Kong, where they charge you an arm and a leg for the export bin stuff, I’m easily pleased.” She started looking around for a waiter. “Want to try?” She offered Micky her glass.
“Er, sure.” Micky grabbed the glass and sipped gingerly. “It won’t be a hardship to have a glass of that.”
Robin asked the waiter for an extra glass, then poured Micky a generous portion. When she held up her glass, she said, “I honestly didn’t think you’d say yes, what with the way I spoke to you that day.” She pinned her blue gaze on Micky. “Are you planning any kind of payback for that?”
“Still contemplating it,” Micky said in a, to her surprise, flirty tone. She didn’t know she had it in her. “Still waiting for an apology as well.”
Robin leaned over the table a little. “I’m really sorry. I could try to come up with a bunch of excuses, but there really are none for behavior like that. But, just so you know, I don’t go about my day being condescending to people. That’s not what I do at all.”
“All right.” Micky was glad this particular patch of air was cleared between them. “What does a Diversity Manager do, anyway?”
Robin held up a finger. “I’ll tell you all about it in a minute, but I just need to know that I’m forgiven.” She held out her glass. “Clink if I am.” She cocked her head.
Granted, Micky didn’t have any experience at all when it came to flirting with women, but Robin was turning it on for sure.
Micky bumped the belly of her wine glass against Robin’s. “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been able to look past your blatant arrogance.”
“Which makes you a wiser woman than me, though, to my credit, my arrogance allowed me to ask you out, so there’s that.”
A few minutes into this date and Micky had had more fun than she’d had in the past year. There was something in the air between them; she could clearly feel it now. That’s why she had said yes and refrained from canceling. Her subconscious had known. At least, that’s how Amber would put it.
“I just have a thing for arrogance. It’s my fatal flaw.” Micky could turn it on as well, it appeared.