The Dating Game (8 page)

‘May I kiss you?’

Gill gazed up into his smiling face and nodded.  Resting his
hands lightly on Gill’s arms, Anton bent down and kissed Gill very softly on
the lips.  His touch was so light, Gill initially wondered if he
had
kissed her.  He kissed her twice more, each time gently and without opening his
lips.

When they parted, he said, ‘That was as nice as I thought it
would be.  We should get you a taxi,’ and they walked the remaining few metres
to the taxi rank.

As they waited their turn in the taxi rank, Gill could still
taste him on her lips; still feel the heat of him.  Her body had responded
effortlessly when he kissed her.  She had wanted more. But it was nice that he
had shown some self-restraint, she convinced herself.

‘Are you free on Thursday?’ Anton asked. 

Gill knew she was, but made a show of checking the calendar
on her phone.  The girls
had
taught her something after all. 

‘Looks like it,’ she said.

‘Can I surprise you?’ he asked.

She hoped he wasn’t going to turn up naked, although on
second thoughts, maybe that wasn’t such a terrible idea!

‘Can I trust you?’ she asked, teasing him slightly.

‘You can trust me,’ he said. 

‘Then, it’s a yes.’

‘I’ll be in touch then, about where to meet, but it will
probably be around seven again.  Is that OK?’

‘That’s fine.’

Just then the next available taxi pulled up.  Anton opened
the door for her.  She climbed in, and once she had turned around, he pecked
her on the cheek, before following that up with another little kiss on the
lips.

‘I had a really good time tonight.  See you Thursday.’

‘Me too, until Thursday.’

Anton backed out of the taxi, the door closed and the taxi
rolled away along Duke St, before turning towards the south side of the city.

Anton waved and watched the taxi disappear into the
distance.  Turning, he walked back into the station.

The next train was due in fifteen minutes.  Anton sat on one
of the benches, trying to block out the noise of the occasional drunk person
stumbling past, shouting obscenities.  The station was relatively busy and the
vast semi-circular roof above him conducted the noise of his fellow passengers
remarkably well.  Taking out his iPod from his inside jacket pocket, he slipped
the buds into his ears and selected Stravinsky’s
Romance
.  He was in the
mood for something light and romantic.  Who said romance was dead?  Apparently
women always wanted romance, but what about men?  He wanted nothing more than
to find someone he really liked and which could eventually develop into love,
someone he could spend time with.  He wasn’t so naïve that he thought Gill
could be the one to fulfil that role.  They needed to get to know each other
first.  That could continue on Thursday.  He would surprise her and see how it
went.  If they decided to have another date after that, then she could choose. 
The important thing was she had said yes to Thursday.  He liked that.  She
hadn’t made him wait, hadn’t played hard to get, she’d simply checked her
diary.  He hated game playing.  It was difficult enough dating someone, without
all the mind games.  Anton thought he was a pretty open person.  He could also
be very direct and occasionally a bit blunt.  But he would never intentionally
hurt anyone’s feelings.

He removed his ear buds, as he heard the tannoy ring out, 
‘The train now arriving at platform one…’

That was his train.  Anton took out his travel pass from his
pocket, slipped his ticket through the machine and went through the barrier.

Luckily he managed to nab a seat with a table.  As he stared
out of the window, he remembered how Gill’s hair had smelled of coconut.  Her
perfume was floral, but sensual.  As the train drew out of the station, Anton’s
thoughts remained with Gill and would do so for the duration of his forty
minutes journey back to Stirling.

Tuesday 6th September

Next morning Gill overslept.  She had slept remarkably well,
but she must have forgotten to set the alarm on her phone.  Picking up her
mobile, she scowled at it, as if the obnoxious, beeping noise were its fault,
instead of hers.  Her e-mail alert pinged.  Well, it would have to wait.  She
hated being late. Gill ran around like a mad thing, foregoing coffee, in order
to arrive at the office at the originally planned time.  She had meetings this
morning, both in and out of the office.  She needed to impress the new client,
too, she remembered.  At least she had had the presence of mind to finalise her
preparations for her meeting before she went out on her date last night.

Fortunately there was very little traffic on the roads that
morning and she made up some of her lost time.  Arriving at the office, the
first thing she did was switch on the kettle, even before she plugged in her
laptop.  She’d feel better after a caffeine hit.

Laptop on, coffee mug in hand, she checked through her
personal e-mails before starting the morning’s work.  Charlie Prentice.  Well,
it was about time.  Taking a sip of her coffee and swearing as it was too hot
and burned the roof of her mouth, she clicked open the e-mail.

‘Hi Gill.  Sorry couldn’t get in touch
sooner.  Away rock climbing, only just got back.  Had a long weekend.  No
reception to get e-mails.  When would you like to meet up?  Friday’s out I’m
afraid, as I have a stag do.  Apart from that any other night this week is OK
for me. Charlie.’

Well, he did have a reasonable enough excuse for not
contacting her earlier.  She would forgive him for that.  But was he assuming
that asking her on Tuesday, she would be free at such short notice?  That was a
tad presumptuous.  Anyway, she was already going out on Thursday with Anton. 
Then chiding herself that she shouldn’t be putting all her eggs in one basket
so soon, she tried to think when she could meet Charlie.  If he was out on
Friday at a stag do, he would be unlikely to be up to going out on Saturday
lunchtime.  She’d suggest Sunday afternoon.

‘Nice to hear from you, Charlie,’
Gill began. 
‘I’m afraid I’m busy this week.  What about
Sunday lunchtime for a drink?  Gill.’

There, short and to the point.  Let’s see if he would be
happy to see her at the weekend.

Gill scrolled through the rest of her e-mails, responding to
as many as she could, then came across one from Anton.

‘Gill, I just wanted to say that I really
enjoyed meeting you, and our kiss…See you on Thursday, Anton.’

Gill smiled to herself, remembering that fleeting kiss,
which had held the promise of something more.

She’d just about reached the end of her e-mails, when she
saw one from Caroline.

‘Gill, hope your date went well last
night.  I have two more profiles for you. Please see attached.’

Gill clicked on the attachment.

Candidate Profile

Name:  Gary Kelly

Age:  47

Lives:  Renfrewshire

Occupation:  Engineer (oil & gas)

Qualifications:  BEng

Height:  5’ 11’

Marital status:  Divorced, no children

Smoker:  N

Interests:  Formula One, dining out, socialising,
photography, reading the classics

Further information:  Originally from Northamptonshire,
I have lived in Scotland for ten years.

Looking to meet:  A fun, sexy woman who likes to spoil
and be spoiled by her partner.  Also needs to be able to accept that, as an
engineer on the rigs, I have odd shift patterns and be willing to work around
that.

Gill read through his profile.  He had short dark hair, was
of medium build with, were those green eyes?  He definitely had a twinkle in
them, as if he knew exactly what you were thinking.  He looked fun.  Quite
sexy, in a Liam Neeson way.  Very direct, too, about his work and she didn’t
think he was rude in pointing out about his shifts, more practical. She knew
that often these guys did two weeks on, two weeks off the rigs. 
He must be
working from Aberdeen
.  The only surprise to her was that he lived so far
down from there, in the central belt.  Well, he certainly merited a second
look.  Formula One as his main hobby – she hoped he wasn’t a petrol head.  She
hated when men drove fast – it always appeared they were trying to make up for
something else.  Another engineer.  With a wry smile, Gill realised he could
easily have been placed by her agency, although his name didn’t ring a bell.
She wondered who he worked for.  Of course if she were to go on a date with
him, that subject was taboo until they knew each other better.  Photography,
well that sounded more civilised.  Unless he was photographing cars.  Reading
the classics.  She wondered if he put that there, to make himself appear
intellectual.  Anyway, Gary was a possibility.

Gill clicked the second file.

Candidate Profile

Name:  Sean Hennessey

Age:  35

Lives:  Glasgow

Occupation:  Sound Technician

Qualifications:  BA Technical and Production Arts
(Management and Technology)

Height:  5’ 9’

Marital status:  Single

Smoker:  Y

Interests:  Listening to and playing music, films,
rugby, hurling,

Further information:  Originally from Co Galway, I have
lived in Glasgow since my time at the RSAMD.  I love it here – brilliant city
and good craic.

Looking to meet:  A woman who I can romance…

Ah, a mere baby, thirty-five
.  How did she feel about
a toyboy?  Laughing out loud a little, she thought,
bring it on!
 
Thirty-five.  He was bound to be quite energetic still, no seventeen year old
mind you, but hopefully still have a healthy appetite for sex.  Bloomin’ eck,
what was she like, some sex-starved old maid?  Well, actually, yes, but that
wasn’t the point.  It was just the authentic Irishness of him.  Gill loved
Irish men and he was from County Galway.  She’d been to Galway once and had
loved the university city.  Unfortunately she had caught a cold and ended up
spending two days in bed in the tiny B&B.  And she had been alone in that
bed, the only comfort a chick lit book by one of her favourite Irish authors,
which she’d bought in the city before falling sick.

She’d taken a cheap flight to Ireland just after her breakup
with Tim.  A chance for her to get away and reflect upon the disaster that was
her life and more specifically her love life.  From that trip, had sprung the
seed of an idea to start up an agency of her own.

She’d been chatted up a few times in Galway, but she really
hadn’t been in the mood.  It would be different if she went back now.  She
couldn’t get enough of the Irish accent and although she liked some northern
Irish accents, she preferred southern accents.  So Sean was a sound
technician.  Interesting.  She wondered if he worked alongside any bands she
knew.  He’d probably been to loads of gigs.  She scrutinised his photo.  You
could tell he’d made an attempt to scrub up – he had a shirt on and he’d
obviously shaved, but his hair was still a little unkempt, which she found
adorable.  It surprised her that she’d received his profile.  Usually men
wanted younger women.  Maybe that photo she’d put on her profile really had
worked. She hoped he wasn’t disappointed when he saw her in the flesh.

He liked hurling, such a quintessentially Irish hobby.  She
wasn’t even sure exactly what it was, but she remembered it had come up on a
quiz show recently.  Was it played on ice, or was she mixing that up with
curling?  Now she came to think of it, she rather thought she was confusing the
two.  She’d need to check before they met, so she didn’t come across as
stupid.  Look at her, now potentially four dates.

Emboldened by her successful date with Anton, Gill pressed
Reply and typed,

‘Hi Caroline.  Yes, my date with Anton
went well, thanks.’
  She almost put that they were meeting again, but
Caroline hadn’t asked and Gill suspected she might not set her up with the two
new guys, if she knew, so she left it at that.

‘Both Gary and Sean sound nice.  Please
can you go ahead and advise that it’s OK to contact me.  Regards, Gill.’

‘That’s your first appointment here,’ Janice called through
to her.

Pleased with herself, Gill picked up her notes and went
through to her meeting.

Tuesday 6th September

When they’d arrived at
Il Bistro Italiano
, famous for
its Italian ‘
tapas
,’ it wasn’t very busy. Lisa had had the foresight to
book a booth.  ‘Last time I was here the food was great, but it was really
noisy.  At least the booth shuts out some of the noise and no one else can hear
what we’re talking about,’ Lisa said.

The high ceiling gave the restaurant the acoustics of an
auditorium.

Gill had finished at six and driven over to the Merchant
City, parking just off Ingram St.

‘It’s a pity Debbie couldn’t make it,’ said Angela.

‘I know, but she’s been out with me quite a lot the last
week or so. I already gave her the verdict over the phone today.  I’m not
telling you what she said until I’ve heard what you lot think.’

‘Well, you know you’ll get a fair assessment from us,’
Angela said.

‘Yeah, we’ll let you know if he’s worth another date and
what we think of these new ones,’ said Lisa.  ‘And we’ll be brutally honest.’

Gill didn’t doubt it.  She was sorry Debbie couldn’t be
there with them to dissect her date and to discuss her progress with the
others, but she needed to spend
some
time with her family. Fortunately
Angela’s mum had her son, Matthew, overnight, so Angela had been let loose.

After a quick scan of the menu, they decided on a couple of
sharing platters.  Lisa ordered a mainly meaty one, Gill chose a completely
vegetarian platter, and since they were all going to dig in to each other’s
anyway, Angela chose one of the two platters which contained fish.

‘It’s so good in here.  I’ve never had room for dessert, but
I’ve heard they’re good, too,’ Lisa said.

As the girls waited for their platters to arrive, Lisa and
Angela quizzed Gill on her date with Anton.  After the text he had sent the
previous morning, she hadn’t heard from him again, but then she hadn’t expected
to.  Positively glowing she conveyed to her friends the events of Monday
night.  They agreed that it sounded promising and as she described his kiss,
reactions were mixed.

‘He sounds lovely,’ said Angela.  ‘What a sweetheart.’

‘Sounds a bit slow at coming forwards if you ask me,’ said
Lisa.

‘Well, I was hardly going to sleep with him on a first date,
anyway,’ Gill shot back defensively.

‘Maybe he was just trying to tease Gill a little, make sure
she was interested,’ said Angela, sipping her wine.

‘Hmm,’ demurred Lisa, as she twiddled a lock of her blonde
curly mop, unconvinced.

‘Well, at least he wasn’t a bastard or a nerd,’ said Angela,
exasperated at Lisa’s lack of enthusiasm.  ‘Think of all the losers Gill’s seen
over the years,’ she said hotly.

Then realising what she’d said, she apologised to Gill,

‘You know what I mean, hon, and you’re not alone either,’
she said wryly.  They all knew she was thinking of her ex - Jason, Matthew’s
father.  They rarely kept in touch now, and it pained Angela more than she let
on, that he didn’t have any desire to see their eight-year-old son.  To make
matters worse, Matthew was the spitting image of his father, with large almond
eyes and a cheeky little grin.

‘I know what you meant,’ said Gill softly, ‘and you’re
right, which is why Anton was so lovely
and
he’s interesting and has a
lovely voice.’

‘You can’t hang everything on one date with a guy and lay it
on his voice!’ cried Lisa.

‘Have you not been listening?’ Angela said.  ‘That’s just
what clinches the deal.  The guy sounds like a winner to me.’

‘Anyway,’ said Gill.  ‘I’m seeing him again and that’s
that.  And, Lisa, I haven’t restricted my options.  I’ve heard back from
Charlie, too, and e-mailed him today to see if Sunday lunchtime would do.  For
a drink,’ she added.

‘Oh well, that’s good.  Two men on the go,’ chirped Lisa,
reassured.

Angela also nodded her approval, draining her glass of wine
and reaching for the bottle.  Only Gill was driving.

‘So, what was his excuse for not contacting you before now?’
asked Lisa.

‘He’d been rock climbing and had no mobile reception.’

‘And where’s he from again?’ Angela wanted to know.

‘He’s from the south side, too.’

‘Oh, whereabouts?’ asked Angela.

‘The agency doesn’t give you quite as specific information
as that in the profile.  It’s meant to be to protect you.  I suppose after the
first time it’s up to you to decide how much info to share, but the agency is
very particular about not giving out home addresses.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Lisa.

‘And that’s not all,’ said Gill, pausing to build up the
suspense.

Just then the food arrived and the waitress described in
great detail which of the twelve dishes was which.

Once she left, Lisa said, ‘Did you get that?’

‘Eh, no, but I think we can probably work out what most of
them are,’ said Gill, whose mouth was watering just looking at the array of
plates in front of her.

They pawed over the food for a few minutes, Lisa dragging a
meatball onto her plate, Gill popping an olive directly from the platter into
her mouth, and Angela spearing a piece of sea bass. 

‘So, what else?’ asked Lisa.

Dying to lead them on further, but knowing that Lisa was on
the point of bursting, Gill said, ‘I received two more profiles.’

‘Really?’ squealed Lisa.  ‘Let’s see them,’ she clicked her
fingers in a fashion that Gill had always hated, but which was one of her
quirks.

Gill duly fished out the profiles from her tote bag, and
Lisa almost grabbed the pages in her desire to have a look at the new
prospective dates.

‘Gary, that’s a bit of a boring name after Anton,’ she said.

Frustrated and a little annoyed, Gill said, ‘A minute ago
you didn’t think Anton was good enough.’

‘I know, I know, anyway, never mind that.  This guy’s bloody
gorgeous.  Like an older Tom Ward.’

All the girls agreed that the forensic scientist in
Silent
Witness
, one of their favourite programmes, was someone they would not kick
out of bed.  Lisa thought it was a crying shame he was married and had three
children.

‘Gary’s definitely a yes,’ said Lisa.  ‘Funny, he doesn’t
look the manual labour type.  Can’t imagine him in a pair of overalls, can
you?’

‘Maybe he just wears one of those yellow jackets over a
shirt and tie,’ offered Angela.

‘Stop ruining my fantasy.  I want him in overalls,’ growled
Lisa.

‘Eh, can I just point out that he’s actually
my
date?’ said Gill.

‘Oh, so you
have
decided to meet him!’ Angela seemed
pleased.

‘Well, yes, he’s sex on legs, don’t you think?’

Angela agreed she would meet him in a heartbeat.

‘Why don’t you join this dating agency, Ang?’ asked Lisa.

‘Eh, hello?  I don’t have time to go on dates and I
certainly don’t have the money to pay three hundred pounds joining fee and then
fifty quid a month!’ stated Angela bluntly.

‘Fair point.  We’ll just need to find you someone going down
the traditional route,’ said Lisa. ‘You can come out on the pull with me,’ she
suggested.

‘That’ll be right,’ said Angela.  ‘Last time I did that, you
ditched me for some guy with an Aston Martin, at Hellenic.’

‘Yes, well, the least said about that the better.’

Lisa didn’t do verbal apologies.  She expected her friends
to know by her behaviour and expression that she was truly sorry.  She had
never done it before or again since.  It was an unspoken rule.  You didn’t dump
your friends for a man.  The guy could wait until next time you were free. 
There were exceptions to the rule, but those included at least another friend
being there with you.  The streets were too dangerous to walk on your own
nowadays.  There were a lot of nutters out there, overindulging in drink and
drugs, and then acting out of character.

‘Ahem, can we get back to Gary then?’ asked Gill.

‘Sure,’ agreed both girls.

‘I think he looks really sexy and he’s been very open and
direct about his shift work.  Some people couldn’t cope with that.  What do you
think about not seeing him for weeks on end, if you did start seeing each
other?  You need to think ahead,’ said Angela, ever the pragmatist.

‘Well, of course I’d miss him, even if this is a rather
premature conversation to be having, but given how busy I am with work, I think
I could handle it.  Especially if he made up for it when he was here,’ she
grinned and Lisa catching on, winked and said,

‘I’m sure he’d love you to handle it, doll.’

They both burst out laughing as Angela muttered, ’You two
are beyond help.’

After taking a sip of her drink, Angela, all efficiency,
said, ‘Right, so he’s a yes.  Who’s the second one?’

‘Right, here we have Sean Hennessy.’

Lisa and Angela squinted at the profile in front of them.

‘Na, he’s not for me,’ said Lisa abruptly.  ‘One for the No
pile.’

‘I disagree,’ Angela said.  ‘He has a certain something.’

‘OK, convince me,’ said Lisa.

Angela shot a sidelong glance at Gill, who smiled and rolled
her eyes.  Useless reiterating to Lisa that it wasn’t
her
Sean had to
convince.

‘OK,’ said Angela playing along, ‘He looks a bit like the
lead singer from Snow Patrol.’

‘Yes, but he also looks like he needs a good wash and a pair
of ironed trousers.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Angela, in a tone that brooked no argument,
‘Yes, maybe he’s been wearing that shirt for a couple of days, but check out
the sexy eyes, the creases at the corners of them, even though he’s only
thirty-five,’ she checked the profile for this last part.  ‘He looks a lot of
fun.  I just wouldn’t expect him to cook me lunch.  His cooker probably hasn’t
been cleaned since he moved in.’

‘Maybe his sheets will be the same then,’ said Lisa.

‘Lisa, why must you always lower the tone?’ Gill asked.

‘It’s my contribution and what I do best, well, second
best,’ she said after a momentary pause, flashing her friends a wicked grin.

‘So, you don’t like him at all?’ Gill said.

‘I don’t know the bloke obviously, but on paper he’s not
selling himself to me.’

‘I didn’t say he was an escort,’ muttered Gill under her
breath.

‘Well I think he deserves a chance.  And he’s Irish,’ Angela
spotted, glancing up at Gill. ‘You love Irish accents, what more could you
want?’

‘My thoughts exactly and even if he didn’t merit a date on
any other point and I’m not saying that’s what I think,’ Gill added quickly,
‘his very Irish-ness would be enough to put him through to the next round.’

‘Well, that’s that settled then,’ said Angela, high-fiving
her friend.

‘So, let me get this straight.  You now have four blokes on
the go at the same time?’

Gill moved slightly in her chair, feeling uncomfortable for
the first time about the four potential dates. 

‘Well, when you put it like that…’ she began.

‘No, that’s bloody brilliant,’ said Lisa. ‘Result!’