“I’m not judging all men. I’m judging all blind dates,” Tara countered.
“Well, then you’re going to miss out on a prime opportunity. Unless you were willing to come to a party or two and stop working so much,” her friend admonished.
Tara laughed softly and looked down at her keyboard. “Don’t even start with that. You know I work a lot of parties for the prince. And as for the blind dates, I’m not falling for it twice. Especially when I’m so tired after last night. I overslept because that man got me home so late.”
“Well just forget about last night. I met another guy who I think you should meet. This one is wonderful. I promise,” Cindy said coaxingly.
Tara was unconvinced. After last night, there wasn’t much her friend could say to convince her to go out on another blind date. “Uh huh. Sure he is. No deal.”
“Tara, you have to go out with him,” her friend said firmly. “Otherwise, you’ll be a stale old maid with no children, no husband and lusting after a man who is married to the future queen who is giving him tons of children. Meanwhile, you sit at home knitting some sweater or socks for your cat which you don’t have yet but you’ll soon get and dote on like it is your offspring. Not a pretty picture, is it?”
Tara groaned silently. Cindy wasn’t holding anything back in her efforts to get Tara out and dating someone. “You really know how to twist things, don’t you?”
Cindy laughed but wouldn’t relent. “I don’t need to twist anything. I’m looking into my crystal ball right now and I can see the future. So what do you say? Want to meet Greg?”
“No.”
“Don’t be so quick to say no on this one. He’s very nice, in his thirties so that means he’s ready to settle down sooner rather than later and he’s a programmer so he makes a good living.”
Tara shuffled through the papers on her desk, knowing she’d need to get back to work soon or she’d be in the office all night. She didn’t want to be rude to her friend, but she was not interested in meeting this new man. “I make a good living. I don’t need a man to provide for me.”
“I’m not saying that as if it should be the sole criterion for your future husband. It is only an indicator of personal integrity. I mean, come on, would you want to meet a man who is a leech to his parents, living at home and smoking marijuana all afternoon?”
Tara shuddered at the picture in her mind. “No.” Definitely not, she told herself.
”Good,” Cindy said victoriously. “Then when he calls tonight, remember to be nice.”
Tara gasped at her friend’s words. “You gave him my home phone number? Why did you do that? You didn’t even get my permission.”
“I know. But it was more expedient this way,” Cindy laughed. “And I didn’t give him your home phone number. You’re never there. I told him to call you here at the office or on your cell phone but in the evenings when you’re supposed to be home anyway.”
Tara didn’t like this one little bit. She felt as if she’d lost control of a part of her life she’d never even had before. But what good was having a personal life if her friends were going to commandeer her into relationships? “How could you? I don’t even know this guy’s last name!” she said and looked up, right into the angry eyes of Max. “Cindy, I have to go,” she said and hung up the phone before Cindy could utter another word.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Tara said, standing and bowing her head slightly. She could tell he was extremely angry and suspected it was because of her personal call. “I’ll make sure all personal calls happen at home,” she said.
“Another date?” Max snapped. “Who with this time?”
Tara was stunned by his anger. He’d never shown this kind of emotion in the office with anyone. Max was always the epitome of the diplomat. “I’m sorry?” she stammered, not sure if he was angry over the phone call or the fact that she was going on another date.
“Who is he?” Max snapped again.
“He?”
“Your date?” Max was trying to control his temper but he absolutely hated the idea of anyone touching her other than him. He thought he’d dodged this bullet since her previous night had gone so poorly but obviously she was still looking to get involved. And she obviously wasn’t looking toward him as a possibility.
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly.
His lips thinned in anger and a muscle started twitching on his jaw. “You don’t know? And you’re going on a date with him?” he asked, becoming angrier by the second. “I thought last night was enough to set you straight on blind dates. Are you looking for someone to hurt you before you realize that it isn’t a good idea?” he demanded, leaning over her desk with his hands flat on her papers.
Tara was sick of his intimidation tactics and tired of his anger over her personal life. Unless he was going to volunteer to step in, he could just step out. “Listen here, Your Highness,” she said, leaning toward him and not backing down, “I don’t know who this guy is but I’m going out with him. I’m heading toward thirty and I’m not going to be single and childless for the rest of my life. And who I date is no concern of yours,” she ended, then snatched up a stack of files and walked away from him.
The rest of the afternoon was tense and Tara ignored Max as much as possible. She didn’t call her friend back for more information and thankfully, her latest blind date didn’t call either while she was in the office. It would be very awkward to be introducing herself to someone knowing Max would be listening in and glaring at her during the conversation.
Why was he even interested? He dated plenty of other women. Why was it so horrible that she date other men? It wasn’t as if he wanted her, she told herself, feeling awful because it was the truth. A truth she wished was different.
Tara went home that night and all she wanted to do was crawl into a hot bath and soak for an hour with a glass of wine and soft music. She pulled the pins out of her hair as she made her way into the house, dropped her bag full of work by the sofa and let out a long sigh of relief that the day was finally over.
Unfortunately, her wish was not to be granted tonight. As soon as she walked into her bedroom, preparing to start the water for a bath, her cell phone started ringing. The first call was from her mother asking about her date from the previous night. After explaining in horrible details of the evening, all she got from her mother was that the next man will be the “one”.