Blind Date

Chapter 20 • On A Roll

"Be honest with me. Was it as scary as you thought it would be?"

I hum in thought at JJ's question, "No, not really. I had a nice time. Your friends are lovely people, and Emmet was a good sport with everyone singing to him."

"Yeah, he likes to pretend he's shy, but he loves attention. He's a regular ham."

"Aren't we all to some degree?"

"I guess so, especially on our birthday," she says and I feel her bring the car to a slow stop. "We made great time. We're back at your place already."

I'm interested in knowing what time it is, so I take my phone from my shirt pocket and press the side button: "The time is 4:38PM on Saturday, October twenty-two."

"We beat the afternoon traffic then," I say and she agrees with a hum. "So, would you like to come in for a bit? I owe you a grand tour of my place since you gave me one of yours."

"Yeah, we'll even the score," she muses and I can't stop the grin from spreading on my face. "I'll get Maggie. At least it'll be easier this time now that we don't have the cake and presents to juggle."

I agree with a hum and hear her get out of the car. As she shuts the door, I take off my seatbelt and push my sunnies further up my nose, smiling at her kind words as she talks to Maggie. My mum has always said how a person treats animals is indicative of their true character and I'm finding myself becoming even more impressed with JJ.

There's a soft knock on my window and I give her a nod to open the door.

"Wanna hold my hand?"

"Always."

She laughs with a snort, "I meant to hold cos there's a curb."

"Oh, right right," I smirk, placing my hand in hers to get out of the car and I push the door shut. "C'mere, Maggie," I feel for the harness and grab onto it. "Good girl. Take us home, please."

With Maggie leading the way, I start mentally counting the steps and I feel JJ link her arm through my right arm.

"Brrr, you can definitely feel the shift in weather," JJ excitedly says. "I can't wait for Fall and everything that comes with it; the cool weather, the sweaters, scarves and of course, pumpkin spice everything."

"Is it your favourite season?"

"One-hundred percent yes. How about you?"

"I think we've come across the first thing we disagree on. Summer's my favourite season cos I get cold easily."

"Hmm, but when you're cold, you can snuggle with someone to warm up."

"Very true," I muse and Maggie stops me from walking. I reach out for the door, using my hand to feel for the keypad. After I punch in the code, I open the door and feel for the light switch to turn it on. "There we go. Welcome to my place, JJ."

"Thank you," she says and I feel her walk past me and I follow behind with Maggie. "This is nice. I like the open concept; how everything is right here."

"Yeah, it definitely makes it easy for me," I shut the door behind me. "Uhm, if you'll excuse me for just a minute, I need to use the loo. I'm not quite comfortable with using public restrooms, unless I absolutely have to. Not knowing where things are . . . well, let's just say when you bump into a man using the urinal one time, you never want to do it again."