Angel In Disguise

The audience groaned. So did Pete, at least inwardly. He avoided red meat and kept an eye on his fat grams. The pot-roast fantasy was Meggy’s creation. “Trust me,” she’d said. “I know these girls and what they say.”

She’d better, since her life was on the line.

“Pete also says,” continued the host, “that his favorite place to eat is his mom’s own backyard. Isn’t that nice?”

The audience laughed. Pete thought they’d get an even bigger kick if they knew his mother was so into her art that she never knew when it was time to eat.

He looked warily at the board behind Sunny. Her HOME COOKING could be a match with Frank’s PASTA or the POT ROAST hanging over his own head.

“What do you say, audience?” yelled the host. “Which couple matches? Cast your electronic votes now.”

In mere seconds the boards flashed behind Pete and Sunny.

The “Do it” girls exploded in screams and piercing whistles as they high-fived each other all over the place. The blonde threw him a pout, and the brunette seemed disappointed.

Sunny looked as if she’d been sentenced to ten days in the county jail. He wasn’t happy about the match, either, but he couldn’t say he liked her reaction.

In the second category, which had to go better than the first, Mike started with the guys, asking their music preference on a first date. Frank the firefighter liked rhythm and blues. Kevin the longhair predictably talked about rock and said he sang with a band. Since Pete didn’t know the answer Meggy had given for him, he gave his honest preference: country.

Sunny’s answer, “All types of music,” made him nervous until Cheryl answered, “Rock.” That, of course, was a perfect match with Kevin the longhair, and Pete breathed easier.

For the next category, “TV Preference on a First Date,” Mike started with Sunny. “I understand you’re a teacher and the girls’ basketball coach at San Josita High?”

She nodded and flashed that beautiful, warm smile. Again Pete felt the zing, and again it surprised him.

Mike glanced out at the teenagers. “You didn’t happen to bring the team with you?”

“Whuh, whuh, whuh,” the group of girls chanted.

“Actually, Mike, they brought me. This was their idea. I promised to do anything they wanted if they’d win the regional championship. They won.”

“Get a nice trophy?”

“Big trophy. Huge,” she said, smiling down at the girls.

“Congratulations! I can see you’re proud of your team, and it looks as if they’re rooting for you to take home a ‘huge’ trophy from Dream Date.”

The audience laughed, especially when the firefighter flexed a bicep. The girls broke out more high fives. Pete frowned. He couldn’t see Sunny and the firefighter together, but what did he know? Or care.

“What kind of TV do you watch on a first date, Sunny?”

“Sports. Football or basketball, mostly.”

Pete’s mouth went dry. If he were honest, that’s what he’d say, too. But hey, all guys would. Well, maybe not the longhair, but he knew he could depend on the firefighter.

Kevin’s answer, MTV, and Frank’s SPORTS, came as no surprise. His own preference, again compliments of Meggy, was a revelation. He was sure he had never watched SPORT FISHING. In fact, he wouldn’t know a trout from a tuna, but he had to give Meggy credit. It put him in the clear. He smiled as the match went to Frank and Sunny.

Not only was her team ecstatic, Sunny didn’t seem to mind winning this one. If he’d cared, he might have taken the difference in her reaction personally.

In the category “Transportation on a First Date,” it was a tie. Jacy the brunette matched Kevin with FOREIGN SPORTS CAR, and for their second point, Sunny matched Pete with PICKUP TRUCK.

It was true that more women drove pickups these days, but he couldn’t imagine this redhead in her miniskirt behind the wheel of one.

“Congrats on your second point, Pete and Sunny!” The emcee beamed at them. “What do you think, Sunny? Have you got a place on your mantel for a trophy like Pete?”

Sunny forced herself to laugh along with the audience even though there was positively no place in her life for a state-of-the-art stud like Pete. He reminded her so much of Bruce, it was scary. Give her an average-looking, good-hearted guy anyday, not some blue-eyed, raven-haired hunk.

During the next break, she waved at her girls and tried to act as if she were having a good time. She loved those kids, and, more than anything, wanted them to love the Lord. Sometimes it made it hard for her to be as firm with them as she should.

For instance, she should have put her foot down when they claimed dressing her for the show was part of the deal. Tugging on this dinky strip of leather they called a skirt, trying to gain an inch of modesty, she thought of her family’s reaction. Daddy’s blood pressure would soar, and Mother would choke on her pearls.

She didn’t especially like the idea of upsetting them, but maybe they’d finally realize she wasn’t going back to Bruce, no matter how much he promised to win her. Last month he’d gone too far, showing up at her school, announcing she was his fiancée and ruining the relative anonymity she’d enjoyed this school year. Now, faculty and students alike believed Bruce’s version, and the rumor mill was killing her.

But her girls knew her and smelled a rat. If she were engaged they’d have known it. Why Bruce would pretend something that wasn’t true, they didn’t know, but they knew it wasn’t right.

Behind her back, they’d set her up for this show. Her ex couldn’t claim he was engaged to a Dream Date contestant, could he? It made sense to her. So here she was, rooting for the women beside her, counting the minutes until the show ended.

In the new round, “Outdoor Activity on a First Date,” the guy with the earring said he liked to walk along the beach, and the guy with the bull neck said he liked mountain climbing. Hopefully she wouldn’t get matched with anyone, but if she absolutely had to be matched, she prayed it would be with one of them. They didn’t intimidate her at all. Just please not the hunk. Though he did have the sweetest smile she’d ever seen, she wanted no part of him. Guys like him were so full of themselves; they did what they pleased and expected you to thank them for it. She’d already been there and done that.

He must have felt her eyes on him for he slid one of his slow, lopsided smiles her way. Warm tingles fluttered in her stomach, and she almost smiled back. Silly tingles, reacting to chemistry instead of good sense.

“Pete,” the emcee said, “tell us about being a carpenter. What kind of carpentry do you do?”

A strange look crossed Pete’s face. Then he gave Mike a phony smile. Definitely phony. She was an expert on that. It was an odd reaction to a simple question.

“Mostly residential construction,” he said.

It wasn’t exactly the truth. She was sure of it, but why lie about that?

“Your questionnaire says your choice of ‘Outdoor Activity on a First Date’ is camping and exploring the great outdoors. How long have you been into ‘exploring the great outdoors’?”

The guy glanced uneasily toward the side of the stage. It wasn’t the first time Sunny had noticed an interchange between him and a cute brunette holding a clipboard.

“Mike,” he said, clearing his throat, “I can’t remember when I first became interested in camping and…exploring, but it’s been…an indescribable part of my life.”

Even without her teaching experience, Sunny recognized hooey when she heard it. Why had he made that up?

Pete’s lack of candor apparently didn’t bother Cheryl, the first woman in the round, for she sent a seductive glance his way and said to the emcee, “Mike, I know my bio says my favorite outdoor activity is shopping, but I want to change that to camping and exploring.”

The audience laughed, but Pete looked embarrassed, which surprised her.

The host smiled regretfully. “’Fraid that’s not the way it works, Cheryl. Let’s see SHOPPING on Cheryl’s scoreboard!”

Jacy’s answer was “volleyball,” and, for once, Sunny could answer honestly. The team had allowed her the one genuine preference. As she answered, and BACKPACKING went on the board, she knew why. Backpacking had point-maker potential.

Mike instructed the audience, “Okay, ladies and gentlemen. We’re down to the wire. Kevin has matched two of the women—Cheryl and Jacy. Sunny has matched two of the guys—once with Frank and twice with Pete. That means we could have a tie between Jacy and Sunny. Cheryl, honey, it looks like you’ll have to go shopping alone, at least this time.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I had a great time. And, Pete, I’ll give you my number. For a real date, you give me a call.”