Apart at the Seams (Cobbled Court Quilts) by Marie Bostwick

Author:Marie Bostwick
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2014-03-14T22:00:00+00:00

19

Ivy

Drip, a coffeehouse just outside of New Haven, was the location of the “It’s Only Coffee!” speed-dating event. It’s also where I spent the longest eighteen minutes of my life.

After checking in at the registration desk, getting my packet and a sticker with my number, twenty-three, then picking up a decaf vanilla latte from the counter, I sat down at a two-seater café table. The crowd was bigger than I’d imagined it would be. There were probably thirty tables, maybe more. A lone woman sat at each one.

Mandy, the cheery organizer of the evening’s festivities, who looked to be fresh out of college and seemed unable to speak a sentence that didn’t include the word “okay,” wasn’t exactly the kind of person I’d had in mind when I’d read about the “dating experts” in the ad copy. She clapped her hands to get the crowd’s attention.

“Okay. Everyone should have gotten a piece of yellow paper in their packet with a list of five numbers on it, okay? Wave your hand if you don’t have a list.”

She waited while people opened their packets and pulled out the list, scanning the room for waving hands. When none appeared, her face lit up.

“Okay! Good! That’s your date list, okay? The women are going to stay seated at the tables. Ladies, be sure to put the stickers with your numbers where they can be seen, okay? Okay. Guys, when I blow the whistle, you’re going to look for the table that matches the first number on your list and sit down. You’ve got six minutes to talk to each other, and believe me, they’re going to fly by, so don’t be shy. Just jump right in and start talking, okay?

“When I blow the whistle again, move on to your next date, which will be the second number on the list, and so on. Remember,” she cautioned, “even if you’re enjoying talking to your date, when I blow the whistle you have to move on to your next date, okay? There are a lot of interesting people here tonight, and we want you to meet as many of them as possible.

“So. Okay. Does everybody understand the rules? Okay? No questions? Okay!” she exclaimed and clapped her hands again. “Ready? Set? Let’s date!”

At the blast of the whistle, there was a sudden murmuring and milling about as men searched for the correct women. I felt conspicuous sitting there, feeling all those sets of eyes checking me out, and so, even though I don’t like sugar in my coffee, I reached for a packet and added it to my latte, just so I wouldn’t have to look up.

Just about the time I was thinking, with a certain amount of relief, that no one had gotten my number this go-round, a skinny, washed-out looking man wearing skinny, washed-out jeans and a red and white plaid shirt plopped down across from me and introduced himself.

Kieran Fleischman took Mandy’s advice about jumping right in to heart. Within two minutes of

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