Living with her One-Night Stand

Jill Armstrong grabbed her bag and keys, closed the front door on her roommates arguing on the couch, and ran downstairs to Tea for Two, the tea shop just below her apartment in Blacksburg, Virginia.

She needed a cup of tea to give her courage for the evening. She was meeting a guy she’d met online, and she’d never done that before. She definitely needed some emotional sustenance in the form of a hot beverage.

The tea shop wasn’t crowded at seven on a Saturday evening, so she smiled at Carol Murphy, one of the co-owners of Tea for Two and the fiancée of Jill’s boss, and waited as Carol served an older couple their decaf and pastries.

When she stepped up to the counter, Carol said, “You look nice tonight. Do you have a date?”

Jill glanced down at her short, pleated skirt, high boots, and fitted polka-dot blouse, which she’d chosen because the outfit looked a little sexier than she normally wore. She usually dressed in what her friends described as geek-girl chic, and she had no clothes in her closet that looked traditionally stylish. She hadn’t even tried for that. If a guy didn’t like the way she dressed, then he wasn’t going to like her.

She’d come to that conclusion a long time ago.

“Y-yeah. Sort of. Just meeting him for the first time.”

“Ooh, did you meet him online?” Carol handed Jill the cup of cinnamon tea she’d ordered.

“Yeah. I figured I’d give it a try. It’s been more than a year since Ted dumped me. I’m more than ready to move on. I got a new job. Now it’s time for a new man.”

“Good for you,” Carol said with another smile. She had big gray eyes and the sympathetic, focused expression of someone who really listened and paid attention to other people. Jill liked her and didn’t feel the normal awkwardness she would have felt at interacting with her boss’s girlfriend.

Carol had actually helped Jill get her current job as a software developer at a small, successful IT company owned by Patrick Stevenson. Jill had been telecommuting with a large company in California, but they’d wanted to move all their staff in-house, so she’d had to either move or find a new job. She’d done her research, discovered Patrick’s company was located in Blacksburg, and heard nothing but good things about him and the work they did. Then she’d realized that the cute, quiet guy who was always hanging out in Tea for Two with Carol and her friends was Patrick himself, so she’d asked Carol about possible jobs and had ended up getting one of the new positions he’d created since the company was doing so well.

The whole thing had happened so quickly and easily that Jill could hardly believe it. She’d started her job three months ago, and she loved everything about it so far.

“You don’t look too excited about it,” Carol added when Jill hadn’t replied.

“Oh. Yeah. I’m a little nervous, I guess. It’s been a long time since I dated. I was with Ted for four years, and before him I never really dated much at all.”

“I felt the same way before I got together with Patrick. The idea of going out on a date was like a visit to the dentist for me. But I’m glad I made myself do it. I bet you will be too.”

Jill nodded. “That’s what I keep telling myself. I do want a forever relationship and a forever man, and sometimes that means you have to take real steps to get it. So that’s what I’m doing.” She glanced at her phone and saw the time. “I better get going.”

“Come by tomorrow and let me know how it went,” Carol said with an encouraging squeeze of her arm. “And try to have fun.”

“I will.” Jill waved as she left the shop with her tea, and she drank it as she walked to where her car was parked in the lot behind the building.

She was meeting the guy at a trendy bar half a mile away, but she wanted to drive instead of walk, just in case the guy walked her back after they were done.

She didn’t want him to know where she lived. Not after a first date.

She had to circle twice before she found a parking place, but she lucked out when a group of teenagers piled into an old Thunderbird and left an empty space. Before she walked into the bar, she stood for a moment, finishing her tea and summoning up her nerve.

She wasn’t good at dating. She wasn’t good with men. She liked people in general, but when it came to romance, she always became stiff and awkward. She’d kind of fallen into the relationship with Ted during her senior year of college. She’d hoped something similar might happen to her again, but it hadn’t.

If she wanted a man, she had to go out and get one.

Squaring her shoulders, she tossed her cup into a trash can before she walked into the bar.

It wasn’t very crowded since this was spring-break week at Virginia Tech, so most of the students had left town. There were a few couples scattered around. One group of young women. A middle-aged man sitting alone at a table. And a younger man sitting at the bar.

She was quite sure neither of the men sitting alone was the one she’d arranged to meet. One was way too old, and the other was way too good-looking.

In her limited experience with dating, people usually didn’t end up looking far better than their pictures, and the guy at the bar was what she’d always considered typical-handsome. He had the clean-cut features and lean, strong body that a majority of people found at least somewhat attractive. Even his clothes were typical. Worn jeans and a long-sleeve gray shirt. The guy she’d arranged to meet was more like her—cute in a quirky, unique way.

She walked up to the bar and dropped her bag on the floor so she could heft herself up on the stool. She was very short, and it wasn’t easy. Her skirt slid up much farther than was appropriate.

As she awkwardly tried to tug it back down, the good-looking guy at the bar glanced over, giving her a quick once-over or maybe figuring out what her gyrations were about.

He was even better looking than she’d originally thought. Very, very good-looking. Not her type at all, but still…

Although she found the guy’s slight five-o’clock shadow, green eyes, and thin, intelligent mouth incredibly sexy, she was quite sure he wasn’t her date for tonight.