Zoe's First Date with Fate...

Zoe’s First Date with Fate

Zoe’s Wedding

Zoe’s Baby

Heather Mar-Gerrison

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Heather Mar-Gerrison

New Edition for 2018

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.

Zoe’s First Date with Fate…

Chapter 1 – Internet Dating…

Zoe

I stared at my computer screen. It occurred to me, finally, that I was holding my breath as I checked my messages. I let it all out in a rush when I noticed, with a thrill of excitement, a new message in my inbox. I hoped it was from him… It could of course just as easily have been from one of the millions of websites that I subscribed to – you name it – I subscribed to it – it was like I just couldn’t help myself… Animal; Jack Wills; Dotty P’s… I took a deep breath, clicked to open my inbox, (well, I needed one after all that breath-holding) crossed my fingers and opened my eyes. Oh My God, he’s emailed again. Twice in the last 24 hours. He has to be serious!

I’d been subscribing to Lonely Hearts for the last six months or so. It had started out as a bit of fun. Well, that’s what I told myself anyway. To be perfectly honest I really hadn’t wanted to resort to internet dating, but most of my friends were either married or in long term relationships and it was kind of boring sitting in night after night eating TV dinners and buying bottles of wine that I knew damned well I was going to have to re-cork (well, to be fair I always bought the screw tops these days actually, but still…)

So anyway, I’d subscribed to the dating site and I’d been brutally honest (well – ish) about myself. I’d sent a recent photo that made my boobs look bigger than they really were. Aw, come on – everyone does that… but now it was six months on and I still had no takers… not one. It was a little deflating (a bit like the boobs without the ‘squeeze ‘em together and push ‘em up’ bra) to say the least.

I was just about to congratulate myself on getting the next six months free for being a total saddo with no dates, when this random guy had come along, out of the blue – three days before the six-month contract was due for renewal and asked me for a date!

Typical, I thought uncharitably, Couldn’t he have waited another three days?

The man in question called himself Enrique. Whether or not this was his real name, I had no idea, but I strongly suspected not – for a start it was a particularly exotic name and he’d probably thought it sounded sexier than something normal, like Joe, but also it was a little scary going under your own name and the site offered a user name facility, so I’d felt it was prudent to give myself a user name of Bunny. No special reason to use that particular name; I just didn’t like the idea of using my own name – and Bunny was my aptly named pet rabbit…

I read his email.

"Hi Bunny,

I’m really not all that good at this sort of thing – but I’ve read your profile and you sound like fun.

As we live in pretty much the same area, I was wondering if you’d like to go out for a drink with me. There’s a nice little bistro on the Hightown bypass that you might know. It’s the Bistro Wine Bar and Grill – just for drinks? Let me know.

Cheers,

Enrique"

Well, he didn’t sound like a mad axe-man… Knowing that he lived close enough to me to know the Bistro that was right around the corner from where I lived made me feel a little uneasy. What if he turned into a stalker? No. That’s not the attitude, Zoe. He sounded perfectly normal (but seriously – how was a girl supposed to know from just a couple of emails?) and his photo showed a man in his late twenties, early thirties maybe, with dark hair and dark brown eyes and a very nice smile. He wasn’t what you’d describe as knock-out gorgeous, but he was perfectly acceptable – and I was hardly in a position to be too fussy with the way my love life had been going over the last couple of years.

Face it, Zoe, it’s the best you’re gonna get, with the way you look, I grimacing at myself in the mirror on the back of my wardrobe door. It was full length and was far too close for comfort. My hair has always been wildly curly and I’m a natural blonde – not that anyone ever believes me – and yes, they all make ‘blonde’ jokes too… It’s the brown eyes that throw most folks – they all expect blondes to be Scandinavian with blue eyes – so they all think I’m dark haired and dye it, particularly since it’s so blonde – and it gets blonder in the summer too. I’m also quite tanned which of course makes them think I’m far too brown to really be blonde – and yes, it is annoying. Thanks for noticing...

I sighed as I looked up from my laptop. My eyes of course focused on my belly fat. I hated the little roll of fat that I could always see when I sat down. I sucked it in and held my breath for a moment. Don’t be stupid. I scolded myself as I let my breath go again, no one else ever notices.

I turned my attention back to the screen of my laptop. Feeling a sudden wave of excited panic, I quickly typed a short email back to him,

"Hi Enrique,

That sounds lovely – I’ll meet you there at seven?

Bunny."

I pressed the send button, then checking the time, I set my laptop on the sideboard and ran for the bathroom to get ready for work. Late again… story of my life. My business partner, Phoebe, was going to wish she’d never embarked on setting up our wedding planner business with me!

I got to work with minutes to spare. Phoebe looked up from her desk and grinned at me, Traffic on the landing bad? she smirked, Or was it the contra-flow on the stairs?

I grinned back sheepishly, I lived, like, two doors away from the office – it was absolutely perfect. Yeah, terrible. I agreed with a little giggle, I’ll make the coffee.

She laughed, We’ve had three emails – all wanting quotes for winter weddings.

I brightened, Seriously? I asked and hurried across the office to see.

We beamed at each other, business was definitely picking up since we launched ‘My Perfect Wedding’ at the beginning of the year.

I bit my lip. I’ve got a date tonight. I blurted out.

Phoebe’s eyes widened and she looked at me in delight. Good for you! she said, squeezing my arm, Who’s the lucky guy?

I took a deep breath, I don’t actually know him, I admitted, I joined an internet dating agency.

She gasped, You did not! she exclaimed, Why?

I shrugged, Well, I was making a pretty lousy job of finding someone decent on my own, wasn’t I?

She nodded, Yeah, I guess, she agreed.

And she wasn’t wrong – Leo, my last boyfriend had been absolutely foul. He’d cheated on me pretty much from the word go and couldn’t see that he’d done anything wrong when I confronted him about it…

"You’ve been seeing another girl." I said.

He just looked at me blankly, Yeah? he said, So?

I raised an eyebrow, So? I echoed in disbelief. Didn’t he care at all? Well, no – of course he didn’t – if he’d cared about me at all, he wouldn’t be sleeping with other women, would he? So, I don’t want to see you anymore – it’s over.

He shrugged, Whatever, he drained his glass, Your loss.

That was the last time I wasted my time on a guy that I’d chosen myself. I’d been on a couple of blind dates set up by Phoebe and my very well-meaning sister.

The one set up by Phoebe was by far the most successful – even though he turned out to be gay. No really… He was a real laugh and we still see each other occasionally. He’s become one of my mates actually. His name is Jay and he’s since found a really nice guy – we all went out for a pizza last weekend as a matter of fact.

The date set up by Kate, my very well-meaning, but terribly condescending sister was, in stark contrast, an absolute disaster. I’m cringing now just remembering it. It was