It’s been a couple of weeks since Tess bothered to connect with anyone online.

A number of pings had come in, but she was tired of trying to imagine who the real person was; behind the eyes and their best profiles showing off their best angles.

After her last dates debacle, she was a bit down in dating spirit and also leery about jumping back into the fray.

She had no idea what kind of fish she might catch again. Would it be a friendly snapper, a piranha, a barracuda, an octopus or an outright snarky shark. Her man fishing luck hadn’t yet yielded much dividend.

Mark looked like a decent sort according to the online matching criteria and their brief chats whetted her appetite to meet him.

”Okay! This is one more taking a chance. Third time lucky or simply not.”

No dressing to the nines for this particular date. A nice pair of slacks paired with soft flowery cashmere blouse and comfortable pumps, she was good to go.

They had agreed to meet at Mid-Point, a pub favoured by the young and smart.

She waited for twenty minutes in her little car, admired her shiny new nail polish and when she felt certain that he would have arrived, she strolled into the crowded pub.

It’s Friday evening and the happy hour crowd were gathered in little cliques.

She paused for a bit as her eyes did a quick scan of the room to identify the face that had stared back at her over the past few days.

He had proposed skyping but she still didn’t get the hang of it and for some reason the idea didn’t quite gel with her.

”Hello Tess?” A hesitant voice that belonged to a pleasant faced looking chap asked as he stepped up to her.

With her acknowledgement, they got seated in a nice spot which offered vantage view of the pubs goings-on.

”He looks okay.” Her little sensible voice argued with her cheekier goddess voice that thought Mark had no ‘oomph’ about him.

”Well, those ones who have loads of oomph always seem to have baggage of trouble as well, remember Tim?” Sensible voice reminded inner goddess.

Soon enough they had their orders placed and got down to having a chat.

”Hmm! This is really delicious. Thank you for telling me to choose this.” Taking a long sip of the Chipotle grapefruit margarita, Tess expressed her delight with the drink.

”It’s really good right? That’s Shawna’s favorite drink too.” Realizing his gaffe, he quickly tried to cover it up, but, it did not take a long time for Tess to realize that Mark was still totally hung up on his ex-girlfriend.

Every tail of their discussion found a way of swinging back to his past relationship, to his sadness, bitterness and disappointment.

It came as no surprise to learn that Mid-point was Mark and Shawna’s fave pub. He probably kept coming back in hope of catching a glimpse of his ex.

It was embarrassing for Tess to watch as his eyes involuntarily kept drifting around in expectation.

From all indications, he was simply on a rebound and if Shawn changed her mind and came back to him, any unlucky new lady involved with Mark would be dropped like hot potato.

He was a nice chap, from all indications, but he just wasn’t the one for her.

Her heart went out to the nice young man seated before her. She knew what it felt like to love someone who just didn’t love you back.

She had been in such a relationship in the past and had no intentions of investing her emotions anymore in a one-sided affair. She felt sorry for Mark but not sorry enough to be a second fiddle.

Her man was somewhere out there waiting to find her, but she wasn’t sure it was going to be online.

Her nerves couldn’t take all the dating anxiety and gambles like Kate had. There has to be a better way but she is yet to find it.

To be continued…Part 1,Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Like you already know, I love digging in the neighbours yard. One never knows the treasures that may be found within. I present to you this bits that I found:

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A worthwhile life lesson for children from Two Cents For You.

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Staying on top of reading blogs is a problem that we all share. I am glad to know Eric thinks the same too 🙂

This brief quote shared by Amra is self-explanatory.

I think I like Rollingblogger’s thought process. What do you think?

If this doesn’t make you smile, I wonder what else will? Elemental healing.

and From my very own home girl and sister blogger OBA enjoy her lovely Christmas release. Just follow the YouTube link below.

My kind regards to you all and have a good week ahead 🙂