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I slapped the last set of cards on a table, and I had to admit it, Mum had done a great job. “I might not believe in love, but you outdid yourself with the cards.”
Mum had made cards and called the pack ‘Date Night Questions’, complete with a cupcake and a chili for sweet and spicy questions.
“Thank you. I’m rather impressed myself.”
“Just how spicy are some of these questions?” I picked one up at random and read it aloud. “Have you ever used sex toys with a partner or by yourself?” I let the card fall to the table with a squeal. “Mum! You can’t ask locals that!”
“Whyever not?” Mum placed the card back in the pack, thankfully in the middle. “I never thought you a prude, Ari.”
“I’m not … it’s just … That’s a very intimate thing to ask someone you have just met.”
“Exploration with toys in the bedroom is far more acceptable nowadays.”
Ryan, the bartender, stopped in his tracks before us. “Um. Ah … drinks, ladies?”
“Wine spritzer, thank you, Ryan.” Mum trundled off, leaving me alone with him.
“Another white wine. Thanks.”
Ryan darted away as quickly as he could. What other bloody questions had she done? Maybe I should have checked before she had them printed.
“Just give tonight a chance. Before you decide to drive off into the sunset in Cody’s Kombi van and leave your mother here alone in Ballydoon.”
A week ago, after three glasses of wine, I’d decided I was going on a road trip around Australia with what little money I had and Cody’s Kombi van which he’d sold to me for a bargain price. An odyssey of self-discovery. See the country and find myself.
At least, that’s what #vanlyf looked like on Instagram.
And I’d had an epiphany. There was one thing I needed to do before I left on my road trip: rebound sex.
I needed to get Wes out of my system. And by that, I meant sleep with someone: a one-night stand.
“Ari, you sit there. People are arriving.” Mum inhaled a deep breath and then clapped. “Get ready to fall in love, one question at a time!”
I groaned, dutifully sitting down at the table she had pointed at. Ryan placed my wine before me, and I took a grateful sip.
The ‘Ballydoon Pub Speed Dating Night’ was the perfectly timed event to pick-up for rebound sex, even with Mum as the event’s hostess and her dreams of fairytale happily ever afters.
But I’d never propositioned a guy. Ever.
Wes had been the flirt and asked me out. And we’d only seen each other at my place, never his. Sometimes at work in his trailer. Never public, never photographed together.
Until the day I’d showed up to surprise him.
And instead, he surprised me in the worst possible way.
I sipped my wine again. My second glass for the night. I made a mental note to sneak off during the event’s break, wherewe were supposed to mingle with each other, and get some hot chips from the kitchen. A perk of having your sister also working behind the bar at the Ballydoon pub.
And, I mean, seriously: what man is better than hot chips and gravy?
Anyway, alcohol and I did not have a great working relationship on an empty stomach despite recent wine-induced epiphanies.
I could do this.Before meeting Cody, Ash had made picking up men look easy. She’d only have to look at them a certain way and they’d be lining up for her attention. Before Cody, her motto had been ‘here for a short time, not a long time’. Up until Cody, Mum believed men were the ruin of us all.
I could blame Cody for everyone in my family believing in true love, but the thing was, he was so damn nice. Ash was a lucky girl. He was the exception.
I snorted and swallowed a large gulp of my wine.Happily ever afters can just get in the bin.
“I am a woman of destiny who can ask a man for a night of no-strings sex,” I muttered to the tabletop.
