Northern Moonlight (30 page)

“What?!  You want to fix me up on a blind date?” Sabrina was aghast at the proposition.

Darlene shook her head dismissively and pitched her sale.  “His name is Donald and he’s about forty.  He’s very well established in his career and enjoys an affluent lifestyle.  I think you and he would really get along.”

“Why is he still single?” Sabrina posed the inevitable question as Darlene pouted, adjusting one of her blond ringlets.

“He’s not the most handsome man, and women often discount him for that reason.  But if you would just give him a chance, Sabrina, that’s all I’m asking.” Darlene’s voice had become pleading.

“Why is this so important to you?” Sabrina asked suspiciously.

“Because I want to see you happy.” Darlene lied.

“I don’t believe that.  You must have another motive.”

“Well, yes, I suppose I do.” Darlene sighed uncomfortably. “Donald introduced my husband and me years ago.  We’ve both felt indebted to him for that, so you might say that this is my effort to return the favor.”

Sabrina was taken aback by Darlene’s selfishness.  It was a side of the woman she had never witnessed.  Suddenly, Sabrina was very aware of the fact that Darlene was Senior Photography Editor and not a girlfriend to vent with.   “Darlene, this is very inappropriate and I’m surprised at you.  Does my job depend at all on…”

“Oh no!” Darlene said vehemently.  “This is not blackmail, Sabrina.  I just thought it could be a favorable arrangement for all of us.  And certainly no one expects you to marry the man!  All I’m suggesting is dinner, no strings attached.”

“I don’t know, Darlene.” Sabrina wavered.  “It seems unfair for me to go to dinner with this man when it’s not going to lead anywhere.”
“But how do you know that? You haven’t even met Donald yet.”

No, but I’ve met Gio
, Sabrina thought to herself, knowing that even if Donald were Prince Charming himself that she would not fall in love with him.  “I told you, Darlene, that I’m just out of a relationship.”

“And I told
you
that this is just two people sharing a meal.” The older woman retorted.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Sabrina asked as Darlene belligerently shook her head.  Feeling trapped to act against her better judgment, Sabrina conceded.  “One meal, Darlene.  One meal.”

Chapter 15

Sabrina tossed her hair, adjusting the red rose that swept her tresses to one side and anticipating that her blind date would enter the restaurant at any moment. She was still adamant about not wanting to date anyone right now, but reminded herself that it would just be “one meal” with no expectations on either end.  Nervously, she scanned the interior of the restaurant, jumping slightly every time the door swung open.  At precisely 7:15, a sober-faced, middle-aged man walked through the door.  With his thick-rimmed glasses, thinning hair spread like butter around his scalp, and checkered polyester suit, he looked like a caricature, and Sabrina almost burst out laughing. 

Then her eyes focused in on the man’s lapel, where a pink carnation was securely tucked.  The carnation in his lapel and the rose in her hair were their “signals.”  They had not seen photographs of each other, which Sabrina now sorely regretted.  Sabrina swallowed her disappointment and determined not to judge him based on his cartoonish looks.  After all, maybe he would actually make her happy.  Gio was by far the most handsome man Sabrina had ever seen, and he had hurt her terribly.

The man spotted Sabrina, gave her a crooked smile, and strode over to the table.  Wordlessly, he extended his hand, as she coolly but courteously offered hers.  She was repulsed when he caught her hand in his sweaty grip and kissed the top of it with a loud puckering noise.  Instantly, she recalled her first dinner with Gio when he had kissed her hand and how different his lips had felt on her skin.  How the connection between them was so irrepressible and natural…returning to reality, Sabrina feigned a smile and stammered, “Hello…I, uh, guess you're Donald.”

“You bet your life, sweetheart.” He replied. 
Unattractive and arrogant
, she thought,
what a repugnant combination.

Sabrina glanced at her watch discreetly, trying to calculate how long she should stay out of decorum. 
I’ll order an unromantic meal like egg salad on rye, with a side of onion rings
so those loose lips never make their way to my mouth!
  As Sabrina studied the menu, pretending to be lost in fascination, she realized uncomfortably that Donald was leering at her.  His eyes were taking a full tour of the upper half of her body, twinkling perversely as they did so. 
Darlene is lucky she’s my boss, or I’d really give it to her!
  Trying to make polite discourse she probed, “So why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” 

He took a deep breath and launched into a mind-numbing monologue beginning with his childhood in the Midwest and ending with a boastful description of his career.  “I’ve always been a science guy, but now I’m riding the wave so to speak and working
with computers.  I design some of the finest technology your money can buy, sweetheart!  After earning my degree in geology back in the…oh, I don’t want to give away my age now, do I?”

Give it away?
 
Your hairline’s already done that for you
, she thought with irony, willing the agonizing date to be over.  While Donald continued to pontificate about his job, a subject that obviously engrossed him, Sabrina’s eyes widened and her heart sank deep into her belly. A flutter of nausea made her whole body quiver, as she saw Gio walk into the restaurant, a scantily clad woman fused to his side.

The
popcorn-blond leech on Gio
’s arm was hanging onto him as though she were dangling from a
skyscraper
and in danger of falling to the ground.
 
Sabrina watched them
bitterly
, not believing that he could so soon
be involved with another woman.
 
As
Donald
blabbered on, it took all of Sabrina’s civility to strain a close-lipped smile
and pretend to listen.
 

*****

Meanwhile, Gio
and his date, dressed in scarlet from
platinum
head to stiletto-covered toes, took a seat where they were maddeningly out of Sabri
na’s view.
 
Once seated, Gio
lunged for a menu, hoping to use it as a shield against this ghastly blind date he’d reluctantly let
Lucas, a co-worker at the firehouse,
fix him up on.
 
What was
Lucas
thinking?
 
They
clearly
had opposing tastes in women, and Gio believed that
Lucas
might actually find this floozy attractive.
 
Gio peered out from behind his menu and asked, “So, Cindy, what do you do for a living?”
 

Deliberately wetting her vermilion lips, she replied, “
A little of this and that…
”
It was an embarrassing attempt to sound mysterious. She leaned forward so Gio
could feel h
er breath sweep across his face.  Instantly he knew
that she was a smoker and had lit a cigarette not too long ago.

Recoiling from her breath, he muttered,
“
This and that?  A worthy endeavor, I’m sure
.”
 

He
thought longingly of his Primr
ose, so classy and fragile, yet infused with a passion that would bring any man to his knees
.
 
Involuntarily, he ground his teeth, getting a powerful mental flashback of the night they had romped on the blanket, side by side with the wilds of nature, from the firm
earth to the intangible heavens.  A
ll had seemed to
meld
into a consuming fusion that overwhelmed him still as he reminisced.
 

His dinner with Cindy was brief, as she ordered a
garden
salad that she chomped on like an irritating bunny rabbit, and Gio ordered a cold platter of Vermont cheeses with
bread and olives, something he knew would be prepared like lightning in the kitchen.
 
Wolfing down a dinner that he ordinarily would have savored, Gio was mollified to learn that Cindy was “slimming” and not interested in dessert.
 

As they walked
out of the restaurant together, he
tried to devise a tactful excuse to end
the evening early.  Suddenly, h
e was overcome by an inexplicable urge to look behind him.
 
He jerked his head around, and as he did, what he saw nearly made his heart burst through his
chest
.
 
There was Sabrina, sharing a piece of cake with a man who he could only see by the back of a sandy head.
 
He felt instantly, wretchedly sick and knew that he wouldn’t have to invent any reason why the evening should end---if he didn’t get home
soon, he would be violently ill---or just plain violent---
right there on the spot.
 
He felt
a
blinding
jealousy
sear every fiber
of his being. 

Clenching his hands into fists, he forced himself to
exit the restaurant with Cindy.  Gio decided he would quickly deposit her home
and then wait outside Sabrina’s house until she arrived with her new man.
 
He didn’t have a plan after that, but he knew that going to his loft would be fruitless, as he would have no sleep that night, or any other night, as long as Sabrina was with another man.
 
How could he have been so foolish and proud?
 
He berated himself, as Cindy got a little frisky beside him in the truck and started to paw at his broad shoulders.
 
Gio sternly told her not to distract his driving on the poorly lit roads, and the snarl in his voice surprised even him.
 
Dejected, Cindy sat woodenly in her seat, staring out the window as Gio continued to seethe, practically sputtering with fury.