7.

 

Mia was exhausted after her shift at the diner, and glanced at her phone, furrowing her brow when she saw that she had missed a call. She listened to her voicemail immediately, worrying that something might have gone wrong with her daughter. Jewel was an adventurous spirit, sometimes finding that she got herself into trouble by doing what it was that she enjoyed, which was generally roughhousing with the local boys and climbing trees, breaking elbows, and being an overall wild child.

And despite the hospital bills and doctor’s visits and frequent call outs from work, Mia wouldn’t have her any other way.

She was expecting another random emergency call summoning her to the pediatrician’s office, so she was surprised to hear the excessively cheerful voice of the host of the speed dating event informing her that Rhett had agreed to meet with her on an all-expenses paid date with the man she had stupidly jotted down as her first pick when it came to compatibility. The other men had been droll and boring. At least Rhett had made her feel something. Even if it was revulsion.

She was ready to call back and refuse the date, but something stopped her. She had written his number down for a reason. Whether she liked or understood that reason or not, maybe there was something more to it than that. And besides that, she had been thinking about him ever since the speed dating event. She hadn’t been able to get him out of her head and her body had an involuntary physical response to him, for some reason. Why was it that she was so ridiculously attracted to this man?

Instead of following her first impulse and deleting the message, she sighed heavily and picked up the phone to call back. She agreed to the date without allowing herself to think twice about it. After all, it was important that she follow her instincts, right? She had been reading everything she could about attracting good fortune to herself and always saying yes to every opportunity. So, whether she understood it or not, she found herself setting up what may turn out to be a date with destiny.

But, that was only if it turned out this guy wasn’t a chauvinist pig after all. She would have to set up a good line of questioning to be sure. If she was able to trust his responses, then she would be able to give him a chance. If it turned out that he genuinely believed that women couldn’t understand engineering, then he was just as big of an asshole as she originally thought. She had been known to jump the gun in the past. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to wait it out and give this guy a chance. Right?

Mia shook the thoughts away and got behind the wheel, debating whether or not to pick Jewel up and bring her home to spend the night in her own bed or if it would be better for her if her grandmother brought her to school. Mia had to work another early shift in the morning, it would be a lot of hassle to wake her daughter up and bring her back just for her to end up having to head to school in the morning. They were used to Mia’s odd hours at the diner as she attempted to get her new age business up and running and had taken to bringing along Jewel’s school work any time she went to her grandmother’s house. It was a huge help to Mia, who lived a chaotic life as she attempted to sort herself out well enough to actually be a good mother and achieve her dream of becoming a life coach.

What kind of life coach couldn’t even keep her daughter at home every night? She was a mess. And now, she was a mess with a date at the end of the week with a man she wasn’t sure she would be able to stand. But she had to think positively. That was all part of her new outlook, right? Attract the energy you want by putting that energy out into the world. She could do this.

Mia sighed heavily and headed home, then picked up the phone. It would be helpful to let her mom know that Jewel would be staying the night and heading to school in the morning. And if her mom couldn’t take care of her, she could just grab a shower and pick her daughter up. No big deal.

“Hey, mom,” Mia said, carefully stripping her socks off and swooping to the floor to begin gathering up some of the laundry that had begun to accumulate in the living room. “How was she?”

“Oh, she was a little angel as always,” Mia’s mother said with a low chuckle.

“Yeah, right,” Mia said with a laugh. “What did she do?”

“Oh, she got it in her head that she was going to be a mailman. So, she started writing a bunch of letters to random people I assume she made up and started going door to door to deliver them. It’s lucky this is such a friendly neighborhood, because Sue down the street called to let me know where I could pick my granddaughter up. You have to keep an eye on this one.”

Mia sighed heavily. “Don’t I know it.”

“Well, other than her wild streak, she is a little doll. Got all her homework finished up and even helped me finish the dishes after dinner. You have quite a little housekeeper on your hands.”

“I know, she’s better at this stuff than I am sometimes,” Mia said, letting out an exasperated laugh. “I don’t know what I would do without her.”

“She’s laying down to sleep, should I get her up so she can get home and rest or do you want her to stay the night?”

“They asked me to cover for Stacy in the morning, so I think it might be better if you just get her off to school and she can come home tomorrow. I will be done by the time school’s over.”

“Okay, honey. How did the speed dating event go, by the way? You haven’t told me anything about that yet. Did you meet anybody interesting?”

Mia’s thoughts flashed immediately to Rhett, and she sighed imperceptibly. “You would think that if I had met anybody interesting, you would have heard about it by now, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” her mother said. It was annoying just how good her mom’s sixth sense was sometimes. It was probably the main thing that had convinced Mia as a teenager that there might be something to all the new age philosophies. There always seemed to be something more than meets the eye. “Maybe you just didn’t have enough time to talk about it between being a full-time mother and full-time waitress, on top of working on getting your business together…”

“I mean, there were a lot of interesting people at the event, but that doesn’t really mean anything, does it? We all have interesting qualities sometimes, don’t we?”

Her mother sighed. “You know it would do you some good to get back into dating again. I know you are skeptical and everything, and for good reason, I am sure, but wouldn’t it be helpful for you if you could keep an open mind to the positive possibilities? Can you imagine how much better things could be with a caring partner to help you take care of Jewel? You wouldn’t be so frazzled all the time.”

“As nice as it would be to have someone like that, I have to do everything in my power to make sure that the person I am with is actually able and willing to take care of me and my daughter both. We have to be compatible on a really specific level. I want a man who will be a good influence for my daughter, not a close-minded chauvinistic, no-good…”

“Okay, okay,” Mia’s mother laughed. “I understand. But it would also be really good to try to be objective and learn more about people before judging them too harshly.”

Mia froze. There it was again. One of those uncanny things her mother had a tendency to say or do that seemed to be far more than just coincidence and more in the realm of the psychic. It was eerie, really.

“Okay, mom. Well… it just so happens, I was going to ask you to keep Mia Sunday night. I have a date.”

“What?” her mother squealed in excitement and Mia rolled her eyes.

“Yes, a date,” Mia said with a heavy sigh.

“What is he like?” her mother asked, clearly far more excited about the prospect of her daughter dating than she was about the man himself. It had been a while since Mia had put herself out there and allowed herself to be vulnerable in the dating world, but, apparently, that was no matter. As long as she was willing to try.

“He might be an asshole. But if he isn’t, then I guess he is really handsome and intelligent. It’s hard to tell, he is really private about revealing things about himself, but we had a strange chemistry, I guess. I just can’t tell if he is worth the trouble or not.”

“What does he do for a living?”

“He said he’s a mover, but he is in school to study engineering. And I can tell he really is smart. But he also insulted me a little and I need to clear something up before I decide whether or not he’s worth pursuing further. There is a high likelihood that he is just a giant douche bag and I would be better off never seeing him again.”

“Well, that is a bit harsh for a first impression,” her mother said, gently reprimanding her daughter.

“Well. Like I said. I have to figure out what he really thinks. Otherwise, I guess he is all right.”

“I’m really glad that you are giving him a chance. That means something,” her mother said, an odd knowing sound in her voice. It made Mia pause, but she wasn’t sure what it might mean. “It’s going to go well for you, I can feel it.”

“I guess we’re going to find out on Sunday,” Mia said, anxious to change the subject. She didn’t want to think any more about it. She already spent far too much time thinking about Rhett. His mysterious, amber and orange eyes; the way his muscles rippled so that she could see them even through the fabric of his shirt…

“Right. Well, good luck. I will keep Jewel overnight on Sunday. You guys just have fun and enjoy the night together.”

“Oh, mother,” Mia said, scowling at the implication. “That really won’t be necessary. But…thank you.”

Her mother chuckled and, soon, they had hung up.

Mia sank onto the couch and let out a long exhale. It had been hard for her to let men into her daughter’s life. In fact, it was almost impossible. But that was for the best. She had to think of her daughter’s best interests first. Figuring out how to date with an impressionable little girl around had always been kind of a challenge, but her mother seemed to have noticed the struggle and had been incredible about stepping in to help and allow her daughter the space she needed to grow.

Now, it was all a matter of finding the right person to spend her life with. Someone who would be a good influence for her daughter and fit with her in all the most important ways. Hopefully, that someone would be at least a fraction as handsome as Rhett.