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Ari
True confessions: Do you believe in love at first sight?
“You might meet someone special tonight, sweetie,” Mum trilled as I placed the last pack of conversation starter cards on a table for the Ballydoon Speed Dating Night.
Ugh, gag.
“For a woman who taught her daughters, and I quote, ‘men will always be the ruin of the Wilde women’ since our father walked out on us, why are you organising a speed dating night?”
“Cody, of course, sweetie.”
“Okay, fine. Mr Golden Retriever from Canada is the exception.”
Cody had swept my sister, Ash, off her feet in a whirlwind romance. And he was a good guy. Kind of wonderful, actually.
“I’ve had complete about-face on the topic of love.” Mum taped the last of the bunting to the football plaque on the dining room wall. “My dear Ari, love is something everyone needs.”
Double gag.
“Even you.”
“Nope, I’m good. Thanks.”
I swatted a paper love heart out of my eyes. Love was literally in the air tonight. I pulled the bunting tighter so it didn’t hit others in the face as they walked into the room.
Mum’s taste in party decorations could only be described as ‘Cupid vomit’. Bunting and balloons hung over tables covered in pink, red and white tablecloths, with glitter love heart sprinkles and a battery-operated candle in the centre. A red and white balloon arch greeted guests at the door.
“I don’t want anyone special, Mum. I just want to get laid.”
Mum pointedly ignored my declaration with a dramatic sigh as she laid out her paperwork on the registration table, and then pursed her lips. “Have you had a chance to rethink this road trip of yours?”
But more than my hate about the Cult of Falling in Love was my frustration with Mum trying to shoehorn me into a job I didn’t want.
“Mum. I. Am. Not. Joining. Your. Salon.”
Shetskedunder her breath. “You had a vibrant career in film in Sydney, and you could easily have a vibrant career here in Ballydoon and the surrounding district with wedding make-up?—”
“Mum, enough!”
She fell silent with aharrumph.Her phone rang, and finally, she was distracted from my career woes and man troubles.
Sydney, the whole film and TV industry and wedding make-up could all just get in the bin.
Dating an actor from the hit showThousand Acres of Dustsounded vibrant. Exciting, even.
At the time my sister announced she was in love with Cody, my then-boyfriend and TV star, Wes Schumacher, had stomped on my heart and kicked it to the curb in the worst possible way.
Even calling him my ex-boyfriend was a stretch. Everything about our relationship had been a lie. We’d never been public with our relationship—affair—whatever you’d call it in hindsight. Never went out with our colleagues or friends.
Not anything remotely like this speed date night. Not even a date, speedy or slow.
I’d done his make-up on set and in private, he’d … done me. So to speak.
Not that I thought we were having an affair. Ever. I’d thought I’d been in love.
“People will be arriving soon,” Mum called out from the registration table, rousing me from my thoughts.
