The Blind Date Surprise. Barbara Hannay
Drawing a quick breath, she said, ‘Does that mean you’re going to drop the Miss McKinnon and call me Annie and tell me the truth? Damien’s a jerk, isn’t he?’
‘If you’ve already made up your mind, I don’t need to answer that.’ Theo paused, then added softly, ‘Annie.’
When he pronounced her name in his lovely deep, educated voice the strangest shiver ran through her. She felt as if she’d been tapped on the shoulder, as if an unheard voice had whispered something important in her ear.
The feeling was so distinct that for a moment she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, Theo Grainger was watching her and she saw a puzzling tension in his expression.
‘Please,’ she said softly, feeling strangely shaken. ‘Don’t play mind games with me. Just tell me, so I can put this whole mess behind me.’
He sighed and pushed his half-empty coffee cup to one side so that he could rest his clasped hands on the table in front of him. ‘I honestly don’t know Damien’s exact reasons for getting out of the city this week, but I’m afraid he was anxious to avoid your date. I’m sorry. My nephew doesn’t have a very good track record. He’s prone to pranks and he’s managed to upset quite a few people one way or another.’
‘I see.’ She drank some more of her coffee.
‘I hope you’re not too heartbroken.’
Strange, but she wasn’t nearly as upset as she thought she’d be. The news that she was the victim of some kind of prank no longer surprised her. It was more like receiving confirmation of something she’d suspected in theory, but hadn’t tested in practice. Yes, Annie, fire will burn you.
Damien’s uncle was expecting a response from her. She looked at him. ‘I can assure you, Dr Grainger, it will take something much worse than being stood up on a blind date before I allow my heart to be broken.’
For a moment he looked startled. ‘That’s a relief,’ he said.
But he didn’t look particularly relieved and they both turned quickly to stare over to the distant Brisbane River. Annie watched the slow drift of the water as she finished her coffee.
‘Actually, there is something I’m very upset about,’ she said.
‘What’s that?’
‘I won’t get to meet Basil.’
‘Basil?’
She turned back to him. ‘Damien’s dog. His Dalmatian.’
‘Is that what he told you? That he has a Dalmatian called Basil?’
‘Yes.’ She leaned towards him, eager to make her point. ‘It was part of the reason we clicked. I’m mad about dogs. Damien and I used to joke about how fabulous it would be if my Border collie, Lavender, fell in love with his Basil. I know it sounds childish, but it was fun. We used to say that if Basil and Lavender mated we would have a pot-pourri of puppies.’
Theo smiled briefly, then frowned and shook his head.
Annie slumped in her chair. ‘Don’t tell me that’s a lie, too. I couldn’t bear it if Basil doesn’t exist.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, Basil most certainly exists,’ he said quietly. ‘But he’s my dog.’
CHAPTER THREE
‘HOW long would it take me to walk from here to the Goodwill Bridge?’ Annie asked Mel, who was in the middle of brushing her teeth before bed.
To her relief, Mel and Victoria had opted for an early night this evening.
Mel turned from the sink. ‘Oh, I’d say about half an hour. Why?’
‘I want to set my alarm.’
Lowering her toothbrush, Mel frowned at her. ‘You’re going to walk to the Goodwill Bridge tomorrow morning?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why on earth would you want to do that?’
‘I want to go for an early morning walk and that bridge will take me over the river to the South Bank, won’t it?’
‘Yes, Annie, but I thought you came to Brisbane for fun, not exercise.’
Annie shrugged. ‘A little exercise won’t hurt me.’ She turned to leave the bathroom. ‘Goodnight.’
‘Hang on,’ Mel called, making a hurried effort to rinse her mouth.
With some reluctance, Annie paused in the hallway. She’d been hoping to avoid an inquisition about this.
Mel came through the doorway, still wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Okay, confession time! You didn’t come to the city for a health kick, so who are you going to meet on the bridge?’
Annie sighed extravagantly. ‘A dog. A Dalmatian dog called Basil.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Mel let her eyes roll towards the ceiling. ‘And will Basil be waiting for you all by himself? He doesn’t, by any chance, come attached to some yummy guy you’ve met today, does he?’
‘Theo will be there,’ Annie mumbled.
‘Who?’
‘Theo.’
‘Theo?’ Mel’s voice rose an octave. ‘Theo as in Dr Theo Grainger?’
‘Yes.’ In defence Annie added, ‘I told you I spoke to him this morning. And he’s invited me to meet his dog.’
Mel collapsed against the wall in helpless laughter.
‘What’s the big joke? You know I’m nuts about dogs.’
‘Oh, yeah, sure, Annie. You’re fascinated by Theo Grainger’s dog. But hello—half the UQ philosophy undergraduates are nuts about Dr Theo.’
Annie couldn’t hide her surprise.
‘The female half, that is,’ Mel amended. ‘Not that it gets them anywhere. Apparently, he has a policy of never dating students.’
‘Good for him.’
‘But that’s why I’m so gobsmacked. How did you wangle this date with him?’
‘For crying out loud, Mel. Walking a dog is not a date.’
‘Yeah?’ Smiling, Mel shook her head. ‘That’s like saying a foot massage has nothing to do with sex.’
To her dismay, Annie found it difficult to meet her friend’s gaze.
There was an awkward silence while she stared at the floor and then Mel said more gently, ‘Well, don’t worry. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that jerkishness doesn’t run in Damien’s family.’
Impulsive decisions often had unpleasant repercussions, Theo reminded himself the next morning as he waited at the northern end of the Goodwill Bridge and watched the blue and white City Cats ferrying passengers up and down the Brisbane River.
He suspected that the impulse to invite Annie McKinnon to join him on a walk with his dog had been foolish. But she’d been badly misled by his nephew and he consoled himself that his sense of obligation to her was a worthy motivation.
After spending almost a decade as a university lecturer, he was well aware of the pitfalls of offering even the most casual friendship to an attractive young woman. But in Annie’s case it should be quite a simple matter to guard against repercussions.
He’d kept the invitation very low-key. He’d even been ungallant enough to let her find her own way to the bridge, but now he wondered if she might get lost.
He switched his attention from the river to the traffic speeding to join the network of concrete ribbons that formed the freeway system and in his peripheral vision he caught