“CJ,” she said, “Are you okay? What happened with your date?”
“Well,” he said as a sad smile creased his features, “Let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.”
“How come?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed, “I thought everything was going fine. We seemed to get along okay but she was a bit stand-offish. Maybe I am just too old for this sort of thing.”
“Nonsense,” she said, “I’m sure it can’t have been that bad.”
“Well here we are,” he looked so broken then that she could have burst with sympathy.
“I’m sure it was just a bad date,” she said, “Everyone has one of them. We had fun didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did,” he sighed again, “I don’t know Cat. Maybe it was just because we were already friends, maybe I’ll just give up.”
“Don’t you say that CJ Hembry,” she said firmly, “You’ll get it back. You just need more practice.” His eyes lifted at that.
“You’re not busy tonight are you?”
“No…” she said cautiously, “Why?”
“Well, would you be at all willing to do an old man one more favour? I’ll cook you dinner just like I did for her, show you exactly how I treated her and maybe you can tell me where I’m going wrong?”
She stopped in her tracks for a minute. The previous practice date was really enjoyable but being asked to go on a second one was a bit much. If she continued to do this would things get weird? If Graham found out she was doing this it might look a bit suspicious to say the least. One practice date was fine, but two? And if he crashed out on his next proper date, would he want a third? Was he going to ask her for a refresher run every time this happened until he got a girlfriend?
But on the other hand it had done wonders for his self-esteem and no-one seemed any the wiser. Graham wouldn’t approve, but he’d left yesterday evening for a business trip to Germany and wouldn’t be back until Monday night. She’d also get a free meal and she didn’t have anything in the fridge, it would be better than sitting alone with a Chinese takeaway and a movie.
“Okay, you’ve got yourself another practice,” she said, “But this is the last one. After this you’re on your own.”
“It’s a deal.”
“And don’t get any big ideas,” she joked, “It’s just a practice.”
“Of course, just practice.”
****
It was a slightly different date this time around. Rather than taking her out for dinner, CJ invited Cat back to his flat and said he would cook a meal for them both. It was to be an exact recreation of his proper date, right down to the food. Sitting in her bedroom in the early evening she was initially unsure of what to wear, play it casual and go with jeans and t-shirt? Or bring the dress out again?
What the hell, it wasn’t like she got many opportunities to wear it and it cost too much to spend months in her wardrobe without being worn. Besides, it made her look damned sexy and she knew CJ liked her in it. She owned nothing else that made her confidence soar that much and the thought it might give him a few fantasies later on was exciting. If her teenage-self could see her now she’d be stunned at how things had turned out.
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