“What?” Cassidy hissed, trying to keep her voice low as she hid between the restrooms, eyeing her date who was examining his teeth in his spoon at their table for two.
Shellie was doing her job as best friend and giving her an out phone call, but she didn’t have to drop this on her.
“I went to that darn thing last year,” Cassidy said, turning away from her date and facing the wood panel wall at the barbecue joint. “And we’re working on those accounts for Dr. Bateman.”
“I can’t send one of those girls,” Shellie said, her voice tired. “Either of them will only rack up the business card. I don’t… exactly trust them.”
Cassidy bit her tongue. Why in the world were Hallie and Bethany still working there, then? They were idiots beyond measure; the billing department would fall apart, just like it did last year when Cassidy was forced into the conference.
She let out a sigh, turning back toward Andrew, who was done examining his teeth and now working on his hair. “You owe me one,” she told her friend.
“Thank you, Cass. Do you still need an excuse to leave?”
Cassidy wasn’t exactly having the time of her life, but she was starving and ready for the food that hadn’t come out. Andrew wasn’t her Westley—something she’d discovered almost immediately after their date started—but he wasn’t TimeShare Dan either.
“I’m good. Guess I’ll see you in a week.” With it being the weekend and the conference starting Monday, Cassidy had all of one day to prepare. Way to give me some warning, Shel. She probably volunteered Cassidy as the billing rep earlier that week and held the information hostage until she knew Cassidy couldn’t back out.
Guess she’d have to cancel her plans with Steven, too. He was only in town till Thanksgiving as far as she knew, and he’d called almost every day since the “break-in.” It’d been fun catching up, but Cassidy’s thoughts were already pulled in so many directions, curiosity at why her ex was suddenly very chatty was low on her priorities.
Cassidy hung up and headed back to the table, offering up a friendly smile and apology to Andrew.
“No worries,” he said, putting down his spoon. “I take it this is going okay, then?”
“What?”
“Since that was most likely your bail call, and you’re still here.”
Cassidy let out an awkward snort, then quickly took a sip of her water. “I-I don’t do those.”
“Hmm,” he said, disbelieving. He picked up his menu and started scanning.
Andrew was undeniably handsome—tall, with gorgeous hair and deep brown eyes. He worked in the lab right below the doctor’s office and performed most of the ultrasounds. He had a sense of style outside of his scrubs that made Cassidy shift her view of him the moment he’d stood up from the table and pulled her chair out for her.
But it hadn’t been his form-fitting jeans or pressed button-down that had her ruling him out. No, it was the first thing out of his mouth when he’d taken his spot across from her. Apparently this was his first date since he’d gotten back to Seattle—two days ago. He’d been on a leave of absence, visiting his sister and her kids in California.
“So,” he said. “Cassidy… What made you ask me out?”
A lump formed in her throat, and she quickly reached for her water to rid herself of it. She supposed there was no harm in being candid since he wasn’t going to be her Westley, but if he expected sparks at all, her admission would certainly snuff them out.
His mouth turned into a half-grin movies were centered around, and he dipped his head with a laugh. “All right… allow me to take the pressure off.”
“Yes please,” she said around her straw. She was already in need of a refill.
He set a confident hand up to his chest. “I know the effect I have on women. My absence must’ve been noticeable, and with all the girls in that office you work in, you were all probably chomping at the bit to ask me out. You were the lucky winner who got to me first.”
She raised a brow, distaste wrinkling her nose. Andrew let out a jovial laugh at her expression, and not sure what was going on, Cassidy tried to join in.
“I’m teasing, Cass.” Only her friends called her Cass. “Relax a bit, yeah? You seem a little nervous.”
She took a deep breath and tried to focus on something other than the fact that she’d gotten another guy totally wrong. This was her fourth date this week, and still no Westley. No sparks either. It was easy to slide into a hopeless funk.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just…” She waved her hand in the air, playing off her mood. “I’m weird.”
He sat back in his seat, drink in hand. “So I’ve heard. Word around the building is you’re looking for guys to date.”
She choked on the ice in her mouth. “W-what?”
“Well, there was Dan on Monday, Grant on Wednesday, that guy in the family practice—”
“Winston.”
“Right.” He grinned wider. “That was last night, right?”
She nodded, heat flaming her cheeks. Stupid. She was simply stupid. Of course the word would get out. She would bet every man in the office, including her Westley, knew she was getting around.
She buried her face and groaned. “I’m not… There was just this… I’m probably the most innocent…”
Andrew let out another laugh at her expense. Could she call Shellie back now and get that bail?
“I’ll just go bang my head against the wall,” she said, and Andrew put up a hand to stop her.
“Please… You’re young, right? Like twenty-one?”
“Twenty-three.”
He lifted a shoulder. “We’re all dating around. I’m dating four people right now.”
Curiosity pricked at her. “Define dating around,” she said with a laugh. She had a feeling it was much different than her definition.
“We’re non-exclusive, Cass.” He set his drink down and leaned forward. “We have fun. And I bounce back to my favorite more often than the others.”
That sounded… not so fun. “What does she think?” she asked. “Does it work for you guys?”
Could that work? She didn’t see how… but in a small way, she hoped that if Westley had caught wind of her escapades, he hadn’t taken them to heart. She wanted him; she was looking for him. She was just terrible at finding him.
“He, actually,” Andrew corrected. “I’m bi.”
“Sorry, what does he think about it?”
Andrew shrugged, his playful demeanor diminishing into thoughtful reflection. Cassidy let him pick through his thoughts until he could come up with an answer.
“To be honest… he’s really the one who wants to be non-exclusive. If it were up to me, I’d have slapped a ring on it. Metaphorically.”
A small smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “Why not tell him?”
His entire mood had shifted, like he’d been wearing a mask the whole date until that point. He shook his head, attempting to put that mask back on. “You don’t want to hear about this, do you? It’s a horrible first date story.”
Now that he’d broken the wall she had up, she felt at ease telling him. “Would it help if you knew the reason I asked you out?”
“I don’t know…” He narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not, like, ‘dating around’ to have fun or whatever. I’m looking for someone I met at the Halloween party. He was… we just…” She let her words disappear, nothing worthy enough a description. Andrew smiled, though, like he knew exactly what she meant.
“And you don’t know who he is?” He shifted in his seat, moving closer. “How in the world does that happen?”
“Mask.”
“Just ask who was wearing whatever costume he was in.”
She blew out a sigh. “I thought about that, really. But… Okay, so here’s the thing, his mask came off at one point.”
Andrew’s brow wrinkled. “And you don’t know who he is… how?”
“I’m pretty blind without these.” She jabbed her glasses. “Which were conveniently not on my face.”
“And you’re embarrassed to ask around because he’ll find out you never knew who he was, right?”
“I’ll take Things Cassidy is Afraid Of for two-hundred, Alec.”
Andrew chuckled, leaning back as their food was set in front them. Cassidy dug in, letting the food calm the remaining nerves inside of her.
“I take it you’ve been SOL since you’re here with me.”
“And apparently I’ve become the office floozy.” The next guy she asked out would probably expect some sort of pay off. A wave of relief hit her that Andrew wasn’t expecting any such thing. She still hadn’t gotten the image of her parents on her bed out of her head long enough to even get into the sexy mood.
“You like this guy, yeah?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Enough to ask people you barely know out.”
“Yeah…” She stopped eating, the food in her belly suddenly not sitting so well.
“Maybe find that same courage to just… be upfront about it before asking them out.”
She’d been tempted so many times to blurt the question out at any passing man in the office. Besides the docs, there weren’t many around; she’d thought narrowing down her choices would’ve been easy as pie, but the longer time went on, the more she mistrusted her memory.
“Maybe he was a figment of my imagination.”
“Well, how drunk were you?”
They both laughed, and Cassidy found her appetite again. He was right; she was sick of these disappointing dates. All she wanted was another night with Westley. Another fifty nights. She wanted to sit on her couch with her feet kicked up over his legs while she forced him to watch Marvel movie after Marvel movie. She wanted to finally feel like herself with a guy because he actually liked that person. Her shoulders slumped a little, knowing she’d have to get bold enough to admit to him that hey, she had no clue who he was during their night together, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him every dang second afterward.
Well, she’d have a whole week of boring coding classes to dig up that bravery.
“You should find some courage, too,” she said. Andrew’s fork paused halfway to his mouth. “Tell your guy what you want.”
He gave her a thoughtful look that lasted maybe a second before tilting his head. “Touché, Cass.” Then they both had a great dinner, even if it wasn’t a love connection.