Operation Date Escape

“You okay?”
    “I’m fine,” she assured him with a quick glance and a smile, but he wasn’t buying it. People who were fine didn’t twist their purse strap into so many knots it resembled a physical fitness climbing rope.
    * * *
    Kelsie awoke to the insistent ringing of the phone on her nightstand. She glanced at the alarm clock and then buried her head beneath her pillow, hoping the unwelcome noise would stop.
    It didn’t.
    With a tired groan brought on by a long restless night, she tossed her pillow aside and reached for the cordless, bringing it to her ear. “Hello?”
    “Hi, honey, it’s mother.”
    As if anyone else would be calling her at 7:00am the morning after a date. “Hi, Mom.”
    “Oh, you’re still in bed?”
    “You could say that.”
    “Alone?”
    “Mom,” she groaned.
    “You don’t have to say anything,” her mother whispered into the phone as if Cole might overhear if he were there. “Just a simple yes or no will do. Am I interrupting something?”
    Kelsie rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
    “Ooh!”
    “My sleep,” she tossed out before her mother got too carried away in her excitement.
    “What?”
    “You’re interrupting my sleep.”
    “ You mean Cole’s not there?” her mother replied, the disappointment evident in her voice.
    “No.”
    “Oh, damn. I really thought he might be the one.”
    Silence.
    “Kelsie?”
    “I’m here.”
    Her mother gasped.
    “What?”
    “He is the one. I knew it!”
    She pushed a clump of curls from her face. “Mom, please.”
    “Don’t Mom me. A mother knows these things. Admit it, honey. You’re falling for this guy.”
    There it was again, the sound of the wedding planner wheels starting to turn inside her mother’s head. Kelsie sat up, feeling oddly cornered.
    “Just because I slept with him doesn’t mean I want to marry him.” It was one of those speak first, think about what you said after-the-fact kind of moments.
    Shit.
    “You slept with him?” her mother practically shrieked, sounding as though she’d just hit the lottery.
    “No.”
    “But you just said...”
    “I meant if I had slept with him; which I didn’t.” It wasn’t a complete lie. There hadn’t been any sleeping involved.
    “I see. But you really like him, don’t you?”
    “Mom...”
    “Don’t even try to deny it. I hear it in your voice every time you talk about this man.”
    Kelsie sighed. “All right, yes, I admit it. I like him. I like him a lot.”
    She didn’t have to see her mother’s face to know she was smiling. She’d seen right through her attempt to cover her slip. Her mother’s ensuing silence meant that she was processing the information.
    “Mom, I really hate to rush you off,” she said, hoping to distract her mother from whatever she had going on in her head, “but I need sleep. Besides, I thought you had a house showing early this morning.”
    “I do. I have to be in Dublin at 8:30, but I wanted to check on you first and see how things went last night. I can’t tell you how happy I am for you, honey.”
    “Mom, please don’t make more of it than it really was.”
    “Can I help it if I’m an eternal optimist? Anyway, I really should get going. I want to swing by the coffee shop on the way and grab myself a cappuccino. Call my cell if you need me.”
    “I will.”
    “You can tell me all about your night with Cole later. Bye.” Her mother’s voice, which was far too cheery for that time of the morning, was quickly replaced by the monotonous hum of a dial tone.
    She returned the cordless to its cradle then flopped back onto the bed with a long sigh. Was everyone in her life out to make her crazy? Nanci with her never-ending sex advice. Her mother whose ‘grandmother’ clock was ticking loudly. And at the top of her list was Cole and the feelings he stirred up inside of her. Those want-to-see-where-it-goes kind of feelings. Thankfully she’d had enough sense to cut things off with him before they got too complicated.
    She hoped that having had one incredible night of hot sex with Cole would purge him from her system. From her thoughts. From her heart.
    She also knew that would never ever happen.
    Sighing, she shoved her covers aside and slipped out of bed. Her legs, mostly her inner thighs, immediately protested. Not that she was surprised. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d had her legs wrapped around a man like hers had been around Cole’s naked waist the night before.
    After a trip to the kitchen to start