“Oh my God. You did not.”
“I’m going to order us a drink. A bourbon sounds excellent on this crisp fall afternoon.” Ian signaled for the waiter. “Against my better judgment, I’ll order you a glass of wine. According to your credit card statement, you had a staggering amount of chardonnay delivered to your apartment last month. I think you might want to take one of those ‘Could I Be an Alcoholic’ quizzes the next time you come across one, just to see what it says.”
Kate logged on to her online dating account. Her profile picture had undergone a significant change because she now had two chins and giant puffy cheeks. Even her eyelids looked bloated.
“You FatBoothed me?”
“He seemed awfully concerned with your figure. That just goes to show what kind of man he is. Already micromanaging your wardrobe and diet before he’s even met you. If he had just been patient, he would have seen you in person and realized he had nothing to worry about. It’s his loss.”
Kate peered closer. “What is that above my lip?”
“It’s a mustache. You dark-haired girls have to be so careful about that kind of thing.” Ian gave their drink order to the waiter.
Kate didn’t speak. Her brain was trying to process how everything had gone so wrong in such a short amount of time.
“Katie? Are you okay?” He sounded genuinely concerned. “On a scale of one to ten, how mad at me are you, with one being you still like me and ten being you’d like to castrate me with a pair of rusty scissors?”
“When did I ever say I liked you?”
“It was subtly implied.”
“All I’m trying to do is find a nice guy to spend time with,” Kate said, stunned. “It should not be this hard.”
The waiter brought their drinks. Kate picked up her wineglass and took a rather large gulp. She started to set it down, changed her mind, and took another drink.
“Can I be honest with you?” Ian asked.
“I don’t know, can you?” Kate leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table while she massaged her temples.
“You’re quite beautiful, so I don’t understand why you’d waste your time with online dating.”
Kate should not have cared that Ian said she was beautiful, but she did.
“I use dating sites because I don’t want to go to bars and my girlfriends all work sixteen hours a day. Helena claims her clubbing days are over, so that doesn’t leave me with much. If I meet someone online, at least I have the opportunity to vet them first.”
Ian snorted. “These men all want one thing, and they’ll lie to get it. Using a dating site to vet them is going to get you roofied. It’s really not safe, Katie.”
“That’s why I only meet them in public places. I don’t let them take me home, and I don’t invite them in until I’ve gotten to know them. And I’m not lying. Everything on my profile is true.”
“Congratulations. You’re the only one telling the truth.”
“Well, how do you usually meet women?”
“They have a way of suddenly appearing. Like the birds in that song.”
She had to think about that for a minute. “You mean ‘Close to You’ by the Carpenters?”
Ian snapped his fingers. “That’s the one.”
“How convenient for you.”
He smiled. “Isn’t it?”
“Are you dating one of these women now?”
He sipped his bourbon. “I’m currently between lovers.”
Kate took another big drink. Her glass was more than half-empty, so Ian signaled the waiter for another.
“I feel conflicted,” he said. “It’s like I’m just contributing to your drinking problem now.”
“I do not have a drinking problem! There was a buy one bottle, get one half off sale, so I stocked up.”
“Denial. That’s a shame. Let’s go back to your dating woes.”
“I don’t have woes. I’m just having difficulty getting back out there.” Kate could only admit this to herself, but the thought of jumping back into the dating pool had extended her relationship with Stuart by at least six months.