I noticed Bailey’s eyes sparkling as she pressed her lips together. “That one’s funny, you have to admit it, Marissa.”
I shook my head good-humoredly and let out a sigh. “You three should be on the stage.”
“I would have thought he would have gone for something a little more original than brunch at a café, though,” Bailey added.
I shrugged. “It’s what he chose.”
“Right, so first up is Coleman the flirty mortician who looks like Matt Damon. Then who is it?” Paige asked, getting the conversation back on track. “I need to focus here. I’ve got to get back to work shortly. We can’t spend all our time sitting around here, eating cake. Although, that does sound very appealing.”
I raised my eyebrows. It was true, we had a thing for cake. We each had our favorites: Paige’s was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, Cassie’s was the flourless raspberry and chocolate cake, and mine was orange and almond syrup cake. All delicious, all heavenly.
“Okay. Well, the next guy I’m dating is Nash.”
“Nash, huh? Nice name. Where did you meet this one?” Paige asked.
“It’s a nice story, actually. I was on my way to meet you for lunch a couple of weeks ago, remember, Paige?”
“Oh, yes! I remember you saying some guy had asked you out. The way it happened was so romantic.” She put her hand to her heart.
“Nash is that guy. Anyway, I walked past that construction site over on Jervois Road. You know the one, they’ve been working on that place for months.”
“Oh, yeah, I do. The builders always whistle and call out when you walk past,” Cassie said. “It’s so annoying and embarrassing. I wish they wouldn’t do that.”
“I know, right? That’s what happened to me. Only, Nash heard them doing it and yelled at them to be quiet. Well, he used other words than ‘be quiet,’ which I won’t mention right now. They did what he said, and he jumped down onto the sidewalk next to me in his boots, took off his hard hat, and introduced himself to me.”
“He sounds dreamy,” Bailey commented, a whimsical look on her pretty face.
“Oh, yeah, he’s definitely that,” I replied, thinking of the way his hair was all flat when he removed his hat and how he ruffled it up with his fingers. “Dreamy” was the word for him.
“You like him the best,” Cassie said, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
My face warmed up, much to my annoyance. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Who’s his Hollywood doppelgänger?” Bailey asked.
“Oh, that’s easy. He’s Jon Snow. Well, Kit Harington, the guy who plays Jon Snow. Only taller. He’s got to be over six foot.”
Bailey looked puzzled. “I’m sorry, you’ve lost me. Who’s this Jon Snow person?”
I furrowed my brow. Bailey had to be the only straight woman on the face of the planet who didn’t know who the delectably dark, brooding, and oh-so manly Jon Snow was. “He’s on Game of Thrones.”
“Ah, you see, I don’t watch it,” Bailey replied.
“Yeah, I don’t either, but I know who Kit Harington is. Bailey, you need to borrow some of my trashy magazines,” Cassie said. Turning to me, she asked, “Where is date number two?”
Before I had the chance to reply, Paige’s chair scraped across the hardwood floor as she pushed herself up. “I want to hear everything, okay? Right now, duty calls.”
I glanced over at the counter where two professionally dressed women were perusing the shelves of cakes, pastries, and the new line of pies Bailey and Paige had recently introduced. Those pies were doing nothing for my thighs, they were so good, and I’d extended my morning runs by an extra mile or two to compensate. “I’ll fill you in. Go, run your café.” I smiled at Paige, and she beamed back at me before she returned to the counter.
“I’m meeting Nash at Meola Reef,” I said, naming a beautiful seaside park a few miles west of downtown Auckland. “All he said was to bring sensible walking shoes.”
“Sensible walking shoes does not sound romantic, even if he does look like a tall Jon Snow,” Cassie said, pursing her lips.
“I know,” I said with a shrug. “But he’s cute and I’m serious about making this whole Last First Date thing happen. I figured I’d give it a shot.”
“Go in with an open mind,” Bailey said with a smile. “And if it doesn’t work out, at least you’ll have something pretty to look at.”
I laughed. “Exactly.”
“So, that’s Nash. Who’s date number three? Wow, this feels like an episode of that old TV show, what was it called?” Cassie asked.
“Blind Date?” Bailey offered.
“That’s the one. Behind curtain number one is a flirty mortician who likes to eat bananas,” Cassie said with a theatrical wave, and I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. She was right, this whole Last First Date thing was a little like being on a dating show. “Behind curtain number two, we have a construction worker who likes his women in sensible walking shoes.” Cassie grinned. “And who do we have behind curtain number three?”
“A guy I met when I had to go to that swanky menswear place in the city to pick up a suit my stupid brother had ordered.”
I thought of how my big brother, Ryan, had been sleeping on my sofa since his breakup with his girlfriend. He’d asked if he could stay for “a few nights.” That was nearly four weeks ago, and he was still here, depressed and virtually permanently attached to my sofa.
“Does this man at the swanky menswear place have a name?” Bailey inquired, pulling my thoughts back to my Last First Dates.
“He’s called Blaze,” I replied, bracing myself for my friends’ inevitable reactions. Blaze wasn’t exactly a common name in Auckland, and they were bound to have a thing or two to say about it, knowing them.
Bailey raised her eyebrows, a smile teasing the corners of her mouth. “Blaze? Don’t tell me he’s a fireman. That would be too funny.”
I shook my head. “He’s not a fireman, but he could be. He’s hot enough.”
“Oh, no, you didn’t just go there,” Bailey said with a shake of her head.
I scrunched up my nose. “Yeah, I did. Actually, I found out his real name is Neville, so I can see why he goes by his nickname.” I chuckled. “Anyway, Blaze is really cute and clearly works out. He’s the brawn of the trio, that’s for sure.” I thought of his strong, broad shoulders and the bulging biceps I’d spied under his short-sleeved checkered shirt when I’d met him. My blush intensified.
“Brawny is good,” Cassie said.
“Mm-hmm,” Bailey confirmed. “Who’s his Hollywood guy?”
“Matthew McConaughey. Fool’s Gold Matthew, not Gold Matthew, of course. Right down to his messy blond hair and rippling muscles.”
“Yum,” Cassie said, and I noticed as everyone appeared to take a moment, thinking about the delectable Mr. McConaughey.
“How do you manage to meet these guys?” Bailey asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied with a shrug. “Luck, I guess? But they’re out there. You just need to look.”
“You’re really blushing now!” Cassie said, and immediately my cheeks heated up to positively nuclear proportions.
“No, I’m not,” I replied, totally unconvincingly.
“Oh, yeah. He’s your favorite, not Nash. It’s Blaze all the way, baby,” Cassie teased. “Now, what will you call your children, I wonder? Bonfire? Inferno?” She laughed heartily at her own joke as Bailey smiled at her, shaking her head.
I shook my own head. “Really, Cassie. I don’t know why you don’t just give up your day job and try to make it in comedy.”
“After the material I’ve come up with today, I’m seriously considering it,” she replied, her eyes dancing.
I laughed, knowing full well Cassie would never give up her job as Regional Sales Manager at AGD, the large telecommunications company we worked at together. She loved it too much, and as my boss, I would hate to see her go.
Who else would allow me to take a
full hour off work on a Thursday morning to discuss men over cake?
“Where are you going with him?” Bailey asked.
“We’ve agreed to meet at O’Dowd’s for a drink at seven,” I said, naming the bar we regularly hung out at on a Friday night. “That way, we’re going to a place I know.”
“So, we could come along for that one? Hide out in the back or something?” Cassie asked.
“That’s a great idea!” Bailey enthused.
I thought of how Paige and I had done just that when Cassie had gone on her Last First Date, and how we’d been witnesses to the dating disaster that unfolded before our eyes. “Actually, I think I’d prefer it if you didn’t come—to any of the dates.”
Cassie shrugged. “Okay, I guess.” She shared a look with Bailey.
“Seriously, guys,” I reiterated.
“How about we meet for a Three Last First Dates breakdown here on Monday?” Bailey suggested.
We all agreed, and Cassie and I said our farewells to Paige and Bailey, who were now both working hard behind the counter, serving their hungry customers. As Cassie drove through the city back to the AGD offices, I gazed out the window at the buildings, the trees, and the pedestrians, ambling along the footpath, my mind full to the brim.
In two short days, I was going on the three most important dates of my entire life. Whether the men I was dating knew it or not, one of them was going to be my Last First Date.
And I was completely and utterly terrified.
∞∞∞
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Acknowledgments
Paige’s story was one I was looking forward to writing after I’d given her a bit of a tough time in One Last First Date. I was glad I could give her a happy ending with a great guy, as well as give her the happiness and self-confidence she had been lacking. Thank you, dear readers, for taking your time to read about Paige and the gang. I hope you got to enjoy a cup of coffee and a slice of cake (or two) while you did so.
As always, I have a host of people to thank for helping me bring this book to publication. First up, thank you to my editor, Chrissy Wolfe from The Every Free Chance Reader. Chrissy, you continue to do a great job for me and you’re a pleasure to work with. To my beta reading team of Leanne Mackay, Julie Crengle, Kirsty McManus, and Nicky Willis: thank you once again for your straight-shooting critique and for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my work. I am indebted to you fabulous women. Thank you also to Sue Traynor for designing another gorgeous cover for me. Sue, you bring my ideas to life and make them even better than I’d imagined.
Thank you to the wonderfully supportive writers I’ve got to know in both Chick Lit Chat HQ and the Hawke’s Bay ladies of the Romance Writers of New Zealand group. I am continually amazed at the support we writers give one another, and so thankful for you all. I especially want to thank fellow author, Geralyn Corcillo who has got to be one of the most positive and supportive people I know, helping me through the rollercoaster of emotions writing a book can bring. Geralyn, you rock!
Thank you to my wonderful son, who is so very proud of his mummy’s writing career, doing a school project on me as his “X Factor Person”. I love you to the moon and back and back again.
And last but never least, thank you to my long-suffering husband, who knows more about my books than any one man should. Without you, I wouldn’t be doing this.
About the Author
I am a bestselling author of fun, feel-good romantic comedies. I live and love in beautiful New Zealand with my family, two scruffy dogs, and a cat who thinks he's a scruffy dog, too. He's not: he's a cat. My books include the Wellywood Romantic Comedy Series: Wedding Bubbles, Styling Wellywood, Miss Perfect Meets Her Match, and Falling for Grace, and the Cozy Cottage Café Series: One Last First Date, Two Last First Dates, Three Last First Dates and Four Last First Dates, plus a couple of standalone titles, One Way Ticket and I'm Scheming of a White Christmas. All my books are available from Amazon to buy or to read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
I’ve got a fun new contemporary romance coming out on March 4, 2019. It’s called The Right Guy and is on preorder for just 99 cents from Amazon now. You can get your copy here.
Right now, I’m working on the first title in a new series, called Fairy Tales in New York. Book 1 is a retelling of the Cinderella story, called Manhattan Cinderella. It’s a fun, feel-good romance I hope you’ll love.
Want to find out about when my next book is coming out, competitions, advanced copies, and great deals on books? Sign up to my newsletter!
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