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“That’s true.” Adeline pipes up. “I think that Bryson could be the one to finally break the one date streak. You guys will date and fall in love and then we’ll be planning your wedding next.” She says dreamily.
Sounds good to me.
The dogs start barking and I look at my watch to realize that it’s been two hours.
“Bryson, you ready to head home? I need to get some stuff done there.”
I nod as I stand from the couch, saying goodbye to everyone before I grab Naia and follow Bianca out of the house. We take the long way home, letting Naia stop to sniff everything on the way. I think over something that has been bugging me for a while.
“Why do you never go on second dates?”
Bianca stares at the ground, thinking over my question as we continue walking in silence. I never understood that. Bianca is beautiful, smart, funny, loyal; she should have been snapped up by now.
“I had this boyfriend in college. He was my first serious boyfriend ever and I was in love with him, or at least I thought I was.” I frown at hearing her say she loved someone else.
“It was about six months when he started acting weird. Wanting me to see my parents more or encouraging me to answer their calls. I have a bit of a rocky relationship with them. They want me to be this perfect socialite daughter who marries a man from an equally respectable family and does all of the right charities and functions like them. I never wanted that and we just fought about it constantly so I stopped spending any time with them. They cut me off but I have an inheritance from my grandma so I do ok without their help.”
Her parents definitely wouldn’t approve of me then. I grew up in a poor family from the wrong side of town.
“Anyways, I finally broke down and we went over there for dinner one night. It was awful. Turns out they paid him to talk me into seeing them again and then paid him more when he broke up with me. They had another guy waiting to take me out, someone with a better pedigree.” She spits bitterly.
“What an idiot.” I mutter.
“Yeah, I should have known better. They’ll never accept me for me.”
“No! I didn’t mean you. I meant your boyfriend and your parents. You’re amazing just the way you are, Bianca. They must be blind or stupid to not be able to see that. You don’t need them. You’re better off without them.”
I see her watching me as we turn the corner and she has a speculative look in her eyes. We stop for the crosswalk light and she reaches over, gently squeezing my hand once. She drops my hand after that and we make our way across the street.
“So, you think that other people are going to do that too. Take their money and leave you behind.” I say as I realize that’s why she never goes on a second date.
She nods her head as we make our way down the sidewalk.
All of a sudden, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My eyes immediately scan the area, looking for threats. We’re almost to her building and as I look across the street, I finally see him. Brad Mikales. He’s leaning against his fancy sports car across the street and his eyes are locked on Bianca. She seems to pick up on my tension because her head snaps up and she follows my line of sight to see him too. She steps closer to me as her breath catches in her throat.
“Breathe, Bianca.” I whisper.
“What do we do?” She asks.
“We keep walking. We’re going to go right down to the police station and file a restraining order against him. He’s on the coffee shop video surveillance footage harassing you at work and now this.”
“That will stop him?”
No.
“It’s a start.” I say instead.
We continue walking past her building and down the three blocks to the police station. Brad follows behind us the entire way and I see his eyes narrow and harden when he sees where we’re going. I help Bianca and Naia inside and ask for one of my friends who is on the force. He appears a couple of minutes later and we follow him back to his desk.
Bianca sits there, stiff and silent, as I fill him in on what’s happening. He looks him up in his system and I’m not surprised when he tells us that this isn’t the first time that he’s stalked someone. His family is well off and his dad is a judge though so he keeps getting off.
“Do you still want to go through with this?” He asks her and I turn to look at her too. Her eyes meet mine and I can see that she’s scared and worried. She keeps her eyes on mine as she answers, “Yes.”
I sit with her while she tells them what happened on their date, how he wouldn’t take no for an answer and has been following her. I tell them about the recording devices I found in her apartment and about the footage of him at the coffee shop. I can tell that Bianca is tired after having to defend herself for hours and explain what was happening over and over. Even I wanted to hit some of the cops who questioned her and tried to make it sound like this is what she wanted. She stayed firm though and promised that it wasn’t and eventually, we have the whole story recorded and are granted a temporary restraining order. We’ll have to go to court to get a permanent one but that will have to happen on a different day.
I wrap my arm around her as I hold Naia’s leash with the other hand.
“Let’s get you home.” I say. Comforting and caring for her is now my life’s new top priority.
