Mia's Blind Date

by Patrizia Murray

  Ava did one of her abrupt subject changes, interrupting Mia’s oral fantasies. “We should find out about those parties they have, sort of like Tupperware parties? Only they bring sexy lingerie, vibrators, massage oils and all kinds of stuff to turn a man on.”

  “Oh, come on, Ava. A woman needs stuff like that to get turned on. A man only needs ‘naked’, and most of the time, any woman within forty feet of him, or even on TV, or in a magazine can get him hard,” said Mia.

  “Well, I think you should leave those sex books out on the coffee table for Bart to read,” suggested Ava. “Maybe even show him the vibrator.”

  Mia snorted and curled her lip. “He couldn’t stay awake long enough to get through the first chapter. Like I said, guys should have to take courses from those female doctors on Oprah, before they start dating.”

  “I’m also beginning to think if you don’t catch them early, like you did with Noah, they get too wound up in their careers and trying to get the big salary, and the promotion, and the partnership, so women come a distant second.”

  “Don’t forget men are traditionally the hunter-gatherers, and women are supposed to be the nurturers,” said Ava. “Maybe that’s why men are having troubles in these times. They just don’t know what we modern women really want.”

  “Want?” cried Mia. “We want what women have always wanted. A guy with a job, not too many hang-ups, who loves us to distraction, tells us so at least a dozen times a day, and shows us every night. We want one who spends more time wanting to be together than watching or participating in sports and work, and who likes kids as much as we do. I bet every romance novel you’ve ever read comes to that same conclusion, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, you’re right, Mia. I still think you should meet Rob, and see if he just might be that kind of guy. I think you’ll be surprised.”

  Mia didn’t even comment on that as they finished their sushi and headed back for their next appointments.

  Chapter Three

  The bar was loud and boisterous, just the way Rob expected on a Friday night after work. Everyone, including him and Noah, were out trying to get rid of the stress of office life before the weekend.

  “I’ve had it up to here with women who complain when I spend my weekends skiing” Rob loudly told his friend, who was also Ava’s husband. Rob could hardly hear Noah’s reply for the cacophony of noise, both music from the PA system and people getting louder with successive drinks. He could hear men challenging each other to chug-a-lug contests, and women shrieking to be heard over the men’s voices.

  “Let’s find a table and flag a server,” Noah said, as they found an empty place near the games area. The pool tournaments between men and women were rowdy and the ka-ching, ka-ching of pinball machines and beeping electronic games added to the din.

  Rob loved Noah and Ava like a brother and sister, and he especially liked Ava’s cooking. Many times over the years, Rob was grateful to have such good friends who invited him over for Sunday dinner almost every week. Rob was a godfather to their kids and he adored them. He always wrestled with them, and chased them around the yard, but he was glad to go back to his own quiet world after the dinners.

  Sometimes Rob brought a current girlfriend to dinner, but more often than not, he came alone, bearing a box of beer, which the three of them had consumed during and after one of Ava’s cheap student meals back in college. Nowadays he brought steak and wine, because Ava’s tastes and cooking skills had improved since graduation.

  Rob thought about his four stage scale for measuring how well a relationship was going. He’d never had trouble attracting women, although one of his rules was serial monogamy. He never went out looking for a new woman till he had broken up with the one before. The four stages, he had confided to Noah years ago, were “One, when you’re in that first attraction stage. Then stage two is the honey moon state, getting to know each other in bed, and spending lots of time together.”

  Noah had laughed and confessed he and Ava were perpetually stuck in stage two.

  Rob continued with, “Stage three, which is the point you can introduce her to your friends. Not many of them get to stage three, as you know. So far, none of them have ever got as far as stage four, which is meeting my parents and the rest of my family.”

  Rob had often told Noah another of his dating rules was never to spend the night with any of his women. “If you wake up with them, then you have to keep some clothes and a razor and toothbrush there, and they start getting way too serious.”

  Once their beers were delivered, Rob came back to the topic at hand. “If Ava thinks I’m going to meet her friend, she damn well better be a skier.”

  “Well, this one skis, Ava asked her specifically,” answered Noah, “and I think she’s pretty good too.”

  Rob grinned. “On the slopes? Or elsewhere?”

  “She’s trying out for the Ski Patrol, so that should tell you she spends time on the black runs,” said Noah.

  “How tall is she?” asked Rob, who was a bit sensitive about his 5’11” frame. It seemed all his friends were taller than that, even though despite his shorter stature, he could jump high enough to have made all-star college high jumper and pole vault for four years in a row. His coaches had told him he must have been born with springs in his knees to jump like that. He was also an all-star hockey player, and still got together with his buds for a regular league that they inexplicably called the Hamburger Hockey League, once a week, to keep in shape.

  “You know, Noah, it isn’t as if I can’t find my own dates. What’s so great about this one, that you keep wanting me to hook up with her?” Rob ordered more beer, and they noshed on bar food—the only food on the menu here was fried chicken, for which the bar was famous, and fat, fried potatoes, which could hardly be called French fries, because of their size, rolled in some kind of crumbly coating of spices, another specialty of the house.

  * * * *

  Noah had heard various girls over the years, tell Rob he was ‘cute’, back in middle school, ‘hot’ in high school, and ‘drop dead gorgeous’ in college. He knew Rob didn’t see it himself, but the women liked his straight soft dark hair, the reddish brows and beard when he had a couple of days’ growth. Noah had heard the story of Rob’s Viking ancestors who had sailed the seas in fearsome armadas several generations ago. He had his father’s profile that his mother said would have been at home at the helm of a Viking ship. Noah and Ava had met Rob’s family many times, and they loved the godchildren like their own grand kids. The whole family loved the outdoors, and the Scandinavian forefathers had also bequeathed Rob and his brothers with sharp, intelligent sky blue eyes. They all had to be careful not to burn or freckle out in the sun whether skiing, hiking or even doing yard work.

  Noah knew Rob had been seeing a very sexy blonde named Jane, for a few months, and for a time, he even thought there might be some future in that relationship, because she actually made it to Stage Three. That was before ski season started. Rob had told Noah about how he had rented equipment for her, patiently spending all day on the ‘dope slope’ with her, and paying for private lessons. However, she had whined and complained that he spent every weekend all winter skiing, and she hated the cold, the heavy boots and clothing, the goggles, the snow, the cold hands and feet, and made life miserable for Rob, even though he’d tried to be patient and understanding for several weekends.

  * * * *

  Rob told Noah later that if the sex hadn’t been so good with Jane, he’d never have lasted as long as he did with her. “She had a mouth like a fucking vacuum cleaner, Noah, and a stud in her tongue that drove me crazy at the same time. She was hot and ready any time of the day or night, and she often showed up at my door, wearing nothing but a raincoat and high heeled shoes, demanding that I take her to bed, where she was not satisfied till she came four times to my once,” he regaled. “At least she taught me a lot a
bout satisfying a woman, and that can’t be bad,” Rob rationalized. “She had toys and books, and always came up with new stuff to turn me on.”

  “This one time she used my old ties to tie me up, and she wouldn’t let me go for a whole weekend, except to go to the bathroom. She fed me, rode me, sat on my face, and licked hot chocolate syrup and whipped cream off my whole body. Then she used this oil on me that got really hot, when she blew on it. I thought I’d never recover after that, but she just kept on coming, and coming. Man, I sure miss sex with her.

  “She hated my ski club friends when we talked a lot about black diamond runs, powder snow, moguls and other things she didn’t understand. The last straw for her was the day she was too cold to get herself off the chair lift at the top of the run, and she went screaming around the bull wheel. The Ski Patrol had to rescue her, and they fireman-carried her down a ladder after the lift was stopped. Everyone was hooting and cheering,” Rob continued, “I have to confess, I was right there cheering with the rest of the crowd, which might not have been such a good idea.

  “I told you about how she stomped off the hill, hitched a ride back to town, and took the bus back to the city? Oh yeah, we’re history all right.”

  “Yeah,” replied Noah, “I remember you sulking about her the rest of the winter.”

  “I do not sulk. For your information, I have been dating a cute little secretary from my office. She’s good looking and good in bed,” Rob complained, “but she doesn’t like oral, and she doesn’t like to ski. So far, I haven’t met any woman who was a good skier who managed to turn me on enough to find out if she was good in bed.”

  So, in a couple of months it would be coming up ski season again, and Rob vowed to himself he’d never again be involved with a girl who wasn’t a ski nut like he was. He secretly hoped he could find that magical combination of skier, lover, and hopefully at some time in the future, a wife, who could keep him enthralled enough to make it to stage four. His goal was to find someone his parents would love as much as they did Ava.

  In answer to Rob’s question of how tall Mia was, Noah got that gleam in his eye that men always got when they described Mia. “Well, she’s got this great little body that just won’t quit,” he began. “She’s shorter than you are, and she’s really built.”

  “Oh, sure,” said Rob. “Next you’ll be telling me she has a great personality.”

  “Yeah, Ava says she’s got a great personality, Rob” said Noah. “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Listen Noah, you have been married to Ava like, forever, and you’ve known each other since eighth grade. Neither of you ever went out on a blind date, so you have no idea that when someone tells you that a fix-up has a great personality, it’s the equivalent of saying she’s a dog.”

  Noah sneered at Rob, “Well, bud, it isn’t as if you’ve managed to find Miss Congeniality or Miss America all on your own either. I happen to know you’ve never got one as far as your fabled stage four, and damn few to stage three, so what have you got to lose to just meet this Mia, for God’s sake?

  “Ava has been giving me such a hard time, I had to promise her you would call Mia. sShe’s going to kill both of us if you don’t at least call her. The women already agreed the four of us could go together to the office party the social workers are having this weekend.”

  Rob finally realized Noah wasn’t giving up, so he agreed to phone Mia. It took another couple of days before Rob’s schedule and his waning nerve allowed him to place a call to Mia’s office. With no little trepidation, he waited for the call to go through to her.

  * * * *

  Mia answered the phone in her perpetually freezing cold office, the way she always did, with her whole name. Her supervisor had put on a lame-o course on phone answering for modern day etiquette, and the presenter had advocated answering with your name. She said it made you sound more business-like, so Mia decided that business-like was a good thing in her line of work.

  “Mia Sindling”, she spoke in her low, throaty voice.

  “Hi there,” said the sexiest voice she had ever heard. “Your friends Ava and Noah have been trying to get us hooked up for ages, and so I decided to call and see if you wanted to go to that big party your office is planning this Friday.” His words all came out in a rush, almost as if he were nervous, and then he said, “Oh, by the way, this is Rob Mainwaring.”

  Mia was still in thrall with that voice, and was finding it hard to find her own. She knew her mouth was gaping like a goldfish, but it still took a couple of tries before she could even stutter. She stood up from her desk. “Yes, this is Mia.” Damn, she’d already said that, hadn’t she?

  What was wrong with her anyway? That voice sent shivers up and down her spine, and made her think of melted chocolate, whipped cream and a dozen other good things. She wondered what the owner of that velvet fog voice could be like. His words actually sounded like he might be a bit nervous, but surely someone who sounded like that had nothing to be nervous about, could he?

  The office party was a going away party for one of the social workers, transferring to another office. There would be about fifty people heading for the hills for an old fashioned wiener roast, and Mia’s job was to bring firewood, along with some food and drink.

  “Y-y-yes, that would be all right,” stammered Mia, pacing the office as she talked into the phone. She and Ava had discussed the party at length, as two of the prime organizers, and Mia had finally agreed to meet Rob, as long as Ava and Noah went along in the same car, to chaperone, and make sure Mia had someone to talk to in case the blind date turned out to be Attila or Hunchback.

  Mia and Rob set up times and schedules, and Rob offered to bring the firewood in the back of his truck. Mia and Ava spent spare time that week buying groceries and setting up catering from Mrs. Costco, the caterer of choice for most of the office parties.

  Chapter Four

  By Friday night, Mia was so tired she almost fell asleep in the shower while she was getting ready for her blind date. Feeling revived after the shower, she took great care with her makeup and hair, and tried and discarded several outfits before finally deciding on her standby color, red. It had always been her favorite color, and she knew it complemented her dark skin. She was as nervous about meeting Rob, as she had ever been before any date before.

  “Please, please let this guy not be Attila the Hun or another Octopus that I’ll regret meeting for the rest of my life.” When Rob, Ava and Noah arrived to pick Mia up, she was pleasantly surprised to see a tall, attractive man with dark hair and blue velvet eyes. He looked as if he worked out regularly, and spent lots of time in the outdoors.

  The next thing Mia noticed was Rob’s vehicle, which was a company car—a large black SUV with four doors and a truck box. Mia was impressed with Rob’s good looks and his good manners, as he opened doors for her, and gave her a hand up as she struggled to climb into the high truck cab. The heat of his hands on her waist burned through her jeans, and he smoothed her red angora sweater over her shoulder as he leaned across her to fasten the seat belt.

  She laughed nervously at herself, trying to regain her composure after his brief touches. “Apparently this truck was made for people with longer legs than mine!”

  “Your legs are perfect,” Rob smiled as he admired the view from behind. “In fact, they run right up and make a perfect ass of themselves, Oops, sorry, that just slipped out, maybe a little crude of me, but I just wanted you to know I was impressed.”

  Mia was less than impressed with the gas guzzling monster truck, in this age of everyone trying to lower their carbon footprint. Oh well, maybe he had a hybrid car at home and only brought this one to fit all four people, Mia hoped.

  As if he were reading her mind, Rob actually apologized for the gas hog, “The company requires me to be out in the field often and a regular car wouldn’t be able to navigate over the rough roads to the oi
l rigs that I have to visit all the time.”

  Rob and Noah quickly loaded the food and firewood into the truck box, and Ava stage whispered, “What do you think so far?”

  “Well, he’s really hot, and I love his smile,” but that was all she had time to tell Ava before the men climbed up, and they were on the road.

  Mia shot a sidelong glance at Rob as he drove. His profile reminded her of Hugh Jackman, and his cheekbones emphasized deep dimples in both cheeks, that were very pronounced when he smiled. The blue eyes crinkled almost shut when he laughed and his teeth were white and even. His lips looked like she imagined sin would look like if it could be personified. They were uneven, with the lower lip a bit fuller than the upper, and when he smiled, one side of his mouth curved a bit more than the other, giving him an endearingly crooked grin. That tantalizing hollow of his upper lip begged to be licked, and she shivered at the thought, in spite of herself. Would she get to the point of licking him before the night was over?

  She always noticed hands. She focused on Rob’s because she had read in a magazine once that the size of men’s hands equated with their penis size. She had tried to ascertain if that was true, but short of getting out a tape measure, it didn’t seem to be very cool to ask. Looking at Rob’s on the steering wheel, Mia wanted to find out if that was really true, in his case. She was in for a wild ride if that was true. His hands were large and square, competent working man’s hands, she thought of them. She knew from Ava’s description of his hobbies that they were likely callused from holding his hockey stick, and from the weight lifting that helped him keep his body trim and well-muscled. She also did weights and aerobics in order to have stamina to ski all day without stopping. She longed to touch the thick light reddish hairs on his hands and arms, which she thought might tickle the backs of her knees if he ever got to that point on her body.