Ashley Elston - 10 Blind Dates

Olivia studies the board and repeats Nonna’s words quietly to herself.

“This is the weirdest one yet,” she says.

Nonna shrugs, blows us a kiss, then heads to bed.

“Well, you know how Nonna is,” I say.

Olivia tilts her head from side to side. “I feel like she’s messing with us. There has to be a clue buried in there somewhere.”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Whatever it is, it has something to do with some random guy from the nursing home.”

Olivia moves toward the stairs and mutters, “It may take me a minute, but I’m going to figure it out.”

As bad as Nonna is at keeping secrets, it’s impressive how tight-lipped she is about today’s date. Olivia has pestered her so much that Nonna sent her to the store for supplies just to get a break from her.

Charlie and Wes got here about an hour after we did. We’re only open until noon on New Year’s Eve, and as expected, the shop is a ghost town. The only thing people buy on New Year’s Eve is food, alcohol, and fireworks…not plants.

So here we sit, watching the clock.

“It’s too quiet in here,” Charlie says. “I’m going to see if Randy and Chase are playing cards in the back greenhouse.”

And now Wes and I are alone.

Charlie is right — it is way too quiet in here. Wes is parked in a chair close to the break room door while I’m sitting on the stool near the register. I pull out my phone just to give me something to do. Last night is still too fresh, and I don’t want to read too much into that dance. Now that it’s just the two of us, I have no idea what to say to him.

“Who do you think Nonna picked for you tonight?” he asks.

I shrug and look down at the floor. It’s too hard to maintain eye contact with him and not blurt out every thought swimming through my brain. “No idea.”

“I wish it was me,” he says quietly, and my head shoots up.

“You do?” I ask.

He gets up from the chair and moves slowly toward me. “I wish all the dates had been mine.” Then he laughs. “Okay, maybe not the drive-in porn. Or the Nativity thing. But you know what I mean.”

I’m going to melt right off this stool. I let out a nervous laugh. “I wish they were with you, too.”

His hands land on the counter behind me, one on each side, effectively boxing me in. I fight the urge to touch him.

“I also wish I could have been the first one to give you a good-night kiss,” he says, “but Kiss Cam boy beat me to it.”

I shake my head. “Um. Not really.”

“What do you mean? I was there. And I saw the pic Olivia posted.”

I smile. “I turned my head. You couldn’t tell from the angle of the picture.”

His eyes light up. “Not even when you were with Griffin?”

I roll my eyes. “Not even close.”

“Well, this is unexpected.” And then his brow creases. “But there’s still one more to go.”

“I can tell Nonna I don’t want to go and—”

He’s shaking his head. “No, don’t do that. Nonna would be bummed if you didn’t go on her date.”

I nod. There’s no way I can disappoint Nonna. I’m glad he gets that.

“But I’ll be waiting for you to get home. And after this last blind date, it’s my turn.”

I bite my bottom lip so I don’t say something stupid like Yes! Please!

The front door chimes, and Wes pushes away from me. It’s Mr. Crawford, carrying that ugly gnome Olivia talked him into buying a few days ago.

He puts it on the counter. “This thing won’t quit staring at me. Every time I go outside, his little beady eyes follow me around the garden. And it scares away all the birds.”

I hear Wes laugh behind me. I don’t dare turn around, or I’ll lose this straight face I’m working so hard to keep.

“I understand, Mr. Crawford,” I say. “Would you like to exchange it for something else?”

As I help Mr. Crawford pick out a statue, Chase calls for Wes to help with a delivery.

Business picks up a little after that, and finally Olivia and I are flipping the CLOSED sign and locking the front door. Before we leave, I look for Wes one last time, but I haven’t seen him since he disappeared with Chase. I square my shoulders as we head toward the car. One more date to go.

MARGOT: Anna is officially off the vent and breathing beautifully all on her own!!

I let out a loud gasp. Nonna and Olivia turn to look at me.

“What’s wrong?” Nonna says, concern all over her face.

I open my mouth to answer, but Olivia throws up her hand. “Wait! Make her tell you what the clue means first!”

“Olivia, really,” Nonna says. “Is it bad?” she asks me.

I shake my head. “No! Not at all! Anna is off the vent!”

Olivia and Nonna both squeal. Nonna says, “This calls for a special treat!” And then she’s pulling bowls and mixers and sugar and flour and other things I can’t identify. She slips a bright red apron over her clothes that reads: CAUTION: HOT!

Nonna gets to baking and I get back to the text from Margot.

ME: This is wonderful news!! So will you get to take her home soon?

MARGOT: Maybe as early as tomorrow if she keeps doing this well. I can’t believe one minute she’s got all these machines hooked up to her and then the next we’re getting ready to leave, but they tell me this is more normal than I know.

ME: I know you’re ready to get out of there

MARGOT: Yes! And how about you? Ready for this last date?

ME: I guess. I have no idea what we’re doing or who it’s with so it’s kinda hard to get excited

MARGOT: Any chance Nonna picked Wes?

ME: No. We talked about it. But he said he’d be waiting up for me when I got home.

MARGOT: Okay my heart melted a little

ME: I thought the same thing!! So I just have to get through tonight and then I guess we’ll see where it goes

MARGOT: Text me when you figure out where you’re going tonight. There’s a separate side bet on what this date is. Brad put $20 on dinner at the Steakhouse.

ME: Are y’all on that dumb group text, too?? And I know y’all are old and have a kid now but who eats dinner at 2 pm?

MARGOT: He’s obsessed with the group message and I said the same thing about dinner. I googled things happening in Shreveport today so my money is on this interactive art exhibit at Artspace. You know how much Nonna loves that place.

That actually makes sense. Nonna does love that place.

ME: Well, then I should be home early!

MARGOT: Have fun! And send pics!

Nonna is still busy at the counter whipping up something delightful, so I motion for Olivia to follow me into the family room.

“What?” she asks.

I open the internet browser on my phone and search for the event Margot mentioned. When it pops up, I show it to Olivia.

“This has to be it, right?” I ask.

She reads the screen and squints. “I guess it could, but how boring is that? I’m expecting more out of her than this.”

I glance at the clock at the top of the screen. “Well, we’ll know soon enough. My date will be here in an hour.”

Forty-five minutes later I’m brushing mascara over my top lashes, trying to psych myself up for the date. I’ve been listening to the steady thump of Wes’s basketball next door, and any lingering thought that he was in on some grand surprise has disappeared. He’s in shorts (but no shirt!) and seems to be taking his frustrations out on that poor orange ball.

And I may have verified his shirtlessness several times just to make sure.

Olivia sprints into the bathroom, barely making the turn into the doorway and hitting the door with a loud thud.

“I figured it out!” she screams.

My eyes get big. “What? Where am I going?”

She pauses dramatically. “You’re going to Dallas!”

I side-eye her. “Texas?”

She nods and then holds up her phone, showing me a picture of the clue Nonna left on the board.

I read it again:

“How do you get Dallas out of that?” I ask.