“Doyouhaveareservation?” the hostess asks.
“It’s kind of embarrassing, but I’m here for a blind date.” I peer around the guests seated nearby but don’t see a man in a dark blue jacket.
She perks up. “I know just where you’re going. Follow me.” She waves and starts walking toward the back of the restaurant without a backward glance to see if I’m following. I hurry after her, doing a weird jog-step to keep up with her long gait.
My heart is racing—whether from the mini workout I just did or my nervous anticipation at who my date is, I don’t know.
The hostess comes to a stop and steps aside. With a deep breath, I look up and…my eyes go wide.
Oh no.
It’s impossible.
My blind date can’t be with TylerfreakingReed.
Except, he’s wearing a deep blue jacket, just like Darla told me my date would. Tyler also asked me to babysit tonight because he said something came up, and Darla arranged this at the lastminute. With the blank stare Tyler’s giving me, it appears he didn’t know who he was meeting here either.
I feel a plethora of emotions all at once—like all the emotions fromInside Outare in my head, battling for control of how I’m feeling. But I think disgust wins out.
Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe I can turn around and bolt back to my car, and we can pretend none of this ever happened.
“Here’s your blind date.” The hostess grins, looking very invested in ournonexistentlove story. She pulls out a slip of paper from her pocket. “Darla said she hopes you all have fun and don’t do anything she wouldn’t.” The young hostess blushes. “Which she wanted us to say isn’t very much.”
Tyler is in an awkward half-sitting, half-standing position when he rasps, “What are you doing here, Kelsey?”
The hostess raises her eyebrows, looking like she’d much rather stay and hear all the drama play out than get back to work. I’m sure we look like a reality television show, one Ireallydon’t want to be the star of. She moves as slowly as a sloth away from our table until Tyler and I are left alone in awkward silence.
Tyler stands to his full height, waiting for an answer to his question. I shake my head, trying to clear my brain of the shockwave flooding through it. “What amIdoing here? What areyoudoing here?”
“I’m meeting a blind date,” he says.
“So am I.” I place my hands on my hips, frustrated that I didn’t run when I still had the chance. “Please don’t tell me Darla’s your aunt.”
Tyler nods. He sits back down with a groan and reaches for a glass of water, chugging half of it in two large gulps. “My great-aunt.”
“How? She’s so fun and you’re so…” I gesture to him. “You.”
“You sure know how to boost a guy’s ego.”
“I think the ladies at the dance studio gave you your annual boost.” I motion to the table. “You’re welcome to invite one of them to meet you here instead. I’m sure they’d give you an evening you’d never forget.”
He cringes. “Don’t remind me. I’ve had nightmares about their comments.”
I move to leave when I hear the scraping of chair legs on the wood floor.
“Wait,” Tyler says. I glance back at him. “What am I supposed to tell Darla?”
“I don’t know. Maybe not to set you up on a blind date with your neighbor and nanny.”
“Okay, let’s not look at it like a date.”
I cross my arms around my middle, trying to sound more confident than I feel. “You think we should stay?”
He shrugs. “I already made Evie dinner. You’d be proud. It was macaroni and cheese—the boxed kind.”
“Wow.” I look up at the ceiling.
His eyes move upward, then back to me. “What’re you doing?”
