Operation Date Escape

ex had never been all that hot now that she really thought about it. But something told her it would be with Cole.
    She slipped into the bathroom and moved along the row of bright red stall doors, making certain she was alone. Then she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Her fingers trembled as she punched in Nanci’s number.
    “Hello?”
    “Oh, thank God, you answered,” she said with a sigh of relief as she paced the tile floor.
    “Kelsie? What’s wrong?”
    “Everything. Cole picked me up late for our date.”
    Nanci laughed. “Typical man.”
    “And he was wearing these horrible fake hillbilly teeth,” she continued, ignoring her friend’s amusement at Cole’s antics. “Then he had the nerve to suggest that bag of battery eaters you had me pick up for you at the office belonged to me.”
    “What?” her friend gasped at the other end of the line. “You let him look in the bag?”
    “What bag?” a male voice repeated in the background.
    “It’s nothing,” Nanci told him and then whispered into the phone. “I can’t believe you showed him what was in it.”
    “I didn’t have to,” she said in her own defense. “Your little goody bag slipped from my hand and spilled out all over the office sidewalk.”
    “Oh, shit.”
    “Oh, shit is right. Remind me to strangle you for that little incident later.”
    “Noted.”
    “I should let you get back to your date with Joe.”
    “ He can wait. Now talk.”
    “I sort of need your help.”
    “Don’t tell me you’re stuck in a tree again.”
    “No, I’m not stuck in a tree again.” She turned to see a woman standing beneath the restroom’s arched entryway, her questioning expression brought on no doubt by the tree comment.
    She smiled at the woman who immediately disappeared into a stall with a resounding click of its latch.
    “Kelsie, you still there?”
    “I’m here.”
    “Tell me what’s wrong.”
    She turned toward the mirror and lowered her voice. “I had to get into that big truck of his all by myself and Cole hasn’t opened one single door for me all evening.”
    “Like I said, typical man.”
    Her friend was so wrong. There was nothing at all typical about Cole Maxwell. “He keeps looking at me like I’m about to be his next meal.”
    “Why that jerk! How dare he find you sexy?”
    “Whose side are you on anyway?” she muttered in irritation.
    “Sorry. Where are you?”
    “At this wonderfully romantic Mexican restaurant near downtown Columbus,” she replied with a sigh. “It’s been the best date of my life.”
    “Hold on a moment,” Nanci cut in. “Are we still discussing the same date we were a moment ago? The one you’re on with Cole?”
    “Uh huh.”
    “Now you’ve totally lost me.”
    “Don’t you see? He’s trying so hard to screw this date up so I’ll go out with him again.”
    “Blame it on the wine Joe and I have been drinking, but I don’t get it.”
    Kelsie leaned over to check her lipstick in the mirror and then fidgeted nervously with her hair. “The last thing I want to do is fall for a guy who is the complete package.”
    “When did a guy being everything a girl’s looking for become a bad thing?”
    “Since my divorce. I made that mistake once before and look how things turned out. You know that’s why I didn’t want to go out with Cole in the first place. Yet, here I am. And I certainly had no intention of falling for another guy who seems to be everything I want in a man.”
    “Whoa. Back up a sec. Did you just say had?”
    “What?”
    “You did. You said you ‘had’ no intention of falling for another guy,” she repeated. “I can’t believe it. He’s winning you over.”
    “I think so,” she groaned, the realization of it washed over her like a tidal wave. “Oh, damn.”
    “Kelsie?” her friend said anxiously.
    “I have to go.”
    “Kelsie, wait-”
    “No time. I’ll call you later.”
    Before Nanci could reply, she disconnected and shoved the phone back into her purse. She had to get out of there and fast.
    * * *
    Joe stepped up behind the bar stool Nanci was seated on and slipped his arms around her. “Problem?”
    “Yes and no. That was Kelsie.”
    He glanced at his watch with a frown. “Trouble in paradise already, huh?”
    She nodded, tipping her head to the side as he nibbled on the curve of her ear. “Mmm hmm,”
    “What happened?”
    “Apparently, your buddy is doing everything he can to prove to Kelsie that he’s not a good guy