The Blind Date Surprise

Annie’s china-blue eyes were round with worry and when their gazes met she chewed her lip and colour stained her neck and cheeks. Had the same idea occurred to her?

When Damien came back he would strangle him.

She let out a long sigh, then shrugged. ‘I’ve got to stop talking about Damien. I’m over him. Let’s keep walking. I didn’t mean to hold you up.’

They walked on and Annie’s gaze darted everywhere, her hungry eyes taking in the towering buildings, the busy traffic on the freeway and the boats on the river. She looked as if she’d never seen anything quite so exciting.

He’d noticed the same sense of delighted engagement with her surroundings at the university yesterday, and now he tried unsuccessfully to suppress the thought that the clever, academic women he’d dated in recent years were a bunch of jaded cynics.

They reached the other side of the bridge and he looked below to the dry dock where volunteers were restoring an ancient tugboat. He’d been taking a keen interest in their progress.

‘Oh, look at that.’ Annie was pointing ahead to a forest of very modern unit buildings surrounded by landscaped gardens and restaurants.

‘What are you looking at?’

‘That dear little clock tower peeping over the fig trees.’

‘Oh, yes. It’s part of the old South Brisbane Town Hall. It’s very Victorian, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, it’s all red-bricked and old-fashioned and out of place, but it’s gorgeous,’ she said. ‘I’m sure it disapproves of all these modern aluminium and glass buildings.’

‘Just like the old Queen would have.’

‘Exactly!’ Annie laughed and her hair glinted pale gold in the sunlight and, without warning, she flung her arms skywards and executed a three hundred and sixty degree spin. ‘Oh, I lo-o-o-ve this city!’

And bang went Theo’s resolve to remain aloof.

‘Would you like to stop for breakfast?’ he asked.

Breakfast? Annie bit back a cry of surprise. Come to think of it, Theo was looking surprised too. Perhaps he’d realised that adding breakfast to a walk along the river turned the occasion into something that was almost a date. Maybe he was having second thoughts.

She wondered if she should let him off the hook.

But she didn’t want to. Something happened to her whenever she was with him. Something deep. Elusive. Nagging.

And it had nothing to do with his dog, and only a little to do with how great he looked in athletic shorts.

‘What about our casual clothes?’

‘Don’t worry. Most of the eateries along here cater to walkers and joggers.’

‘What about Basil, then? He won’t be allowed in a restaurant, will he?’

‘A friend of mine owns one of the cafés on the riverfront and on special occasions he’s happy to keep him out the back for me, away from the kitchen and the diners.’

‘Does this count as a special occasion?’

He smiled slowly. ‘If I say so.

His smile made her chest grow tight. She bent down and scratched Basil’s spotty head. ‘Do you mind being tied up, beautiful boy?’

Basil’s tail wagged madly and Theo said, ‘Giovanni spoils him so much he never minds.’