Dating, Dining, and Desperation (A Dear Daphne Novel)

by Carlson, Melody

  “Great.” Daphne straightened the collar of the dress. “So have you had breakfast yet?”

  “I had cereal and milk,” Mabel proclaimed. “And I made some for Grandma too.”

  “Good girl.” Daphne held out a muffin. “Sabrina made these. Do you have room for one?”

  Mabel’s eyes lit up as she slid into a kitchen chair.

  “Uh, Mabel . . . who cut your hair?” Sabrina frowned at Mabel’s choppy-looking brown hair. Although it wasn’t as tangled as yesterday, it still looked odd.

  “Mama cut it,” Mabel said quietly. “Back . . . before . . . she . . . uh . . .”

  “Oh—well,” Sabrina said quickly, “It’s just that I went to beauty school.” She exchanged glances with Daphne. “And I just love doing hair. You see, I thought I was going to be a beautician. Until I discovered it was real hard work. So then I went to business college instead.” She ran her fingers through Mabel’s choppy haircut. “And I could give you a real cute hairstyle. I mean if you want—”

  “Yes!” Mabel said with a mouthful of muffin. “The kids at school might not tease me if my hair wasn’t so funny looking.”

  Soon Sabrina returned with her haircutting tools and by ten o’clock, Mabel’s hair was all tidied up with feathered bangs that sweetly framed her face.

  “You look like a pretty little pixie,” Daphne told her.

  “Or a fairy.” Sabrina peeled the tea towel off of Mabel’s shoulders.

  “You did a wonderful job,” Daphne told Sabrina.

  Sabrina nodded proudly. “Who knows. Maybe I’ll take it up again—open my own salon and hire some other girls to work for me. That might not be so bad.”

  It wasn’t until Tuesday that Daphne was reminded of last week’s speed-dating debacle. “It seemed such a good idea at the time.” Sabrina laughed merrily as the two of them walked toward town together. “But I assure you that is a mistake I will not make again.”

  “I nearly forgot.” The image of the attractive architect flashed through Daphne’s mind. “I wonder.”

  “Huh?” Sabrina tugged at Tootsie’s leash as they crossed the street. Today, since there was a nip in the air, the little dog was wearing a purple turtleneck sweater. “What do you wonder?”

  “Oh, just that guy. Remember the architect I met? He seemed nice.”

  “So you haven’t heard from him yet?” Sabrina asked. “What was his name?”

  “Harrison.” Daphne grimaced. “I didn’t even get his last name. And I didn’t give him mine.”

  “That’s not good. But you did give him your number, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re sure he hasn’t called? Maybe he called when we were helping at Mabel’s. Maybe he didn’t leave a message.”

  Daphne pulled out her phone to check. “No. I don’t see any strange numbers here. He hasn’t called.”

  “Oh dear. This is not good.” Sabrina scowled. “What if he lost your number, Daph? Or what if he got the numerals mixed up? It’s a shame he doesn’t know your last name so he could look you up. Did you tell him where you live?”

  Daphne thought hard. “Yes, I’m pretty sure I told him about Appleton.”

  “Well, if he knows that much. Daphne in Appleton. He could find you if he wanted. That is, if he’s persistent enough. After all, you know half the people in town. Almost anyone could send him in your direction.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

  They were on Main Street and Sabrina started pointing out various businesses and listing off everyone Daphne knew, and it did start to sound as if she knew half the town.

  “Okay, you’re right. If Harrison lost my number, he probably could find me. If he really wanted—he could make it happen.”

  The next couple of days passed and Harrison did not call. And by Thursday Daphne was determined to stop sitting by the phone, so to speak, since she didn’t actually sit by the phone. Her cell was simply lying on her desk as she worked, or in her pocket if she happened to be doing something else in the house, or working in the garden. Still, it was not ringing.

  As Daphne sat in her office staring blankly out the window, she knew she should’ve been finished with her novel by now. And by all rights, it was very nearly done—just a few pages away really. And yet she just seemed unable to tie up the ending. And even this afternoon, instead of writing those few last pages like she’d planned, she was playing spider solitaire and gazing out the window. It was about time for Mabel to get home from school. And after she checked on her grandma, she often came here to visit with Daphne and play with the cats.

  Daphne heard her cell phone ring and quickly answered without checking the number. She hoped that perhaps it was her mysterious architect friend calling at last.

  “Daphne?” a woman’s voice said. “This is Karen’s sister, Diane. We’re going to have a bridesmaid dress fitting Saturday afternoon at Frederica’s. Can you be there at four?”

  “Sure.”

  “And afterward we’re going to have a little shower for Karen. Just the bridesmaids. I know it’s short notice, but time’s been flying past and I really wanted to do this for her. It’ll be a personal shower, if you know what I mean.” Diane made a nervous giggle.

  “Meaning nighties and that sort of thing?” Daphne felt uncomfortable at the idea of selecting lingerie for her dad’s future bride.

  “Exactly. I suppose it might seem silly at our age, but Karen is looking forward to this shower. She doesn’t speak of it much, but she eloped for her first wedding. So she missed out on all this hoopla. I’d like to make it up for her with this one.”

  “I didn’t realize she’d eloped.” Daphne felt a little guilty for her lack of enthusiasm over Karen and Dad’s wedding now. “Well, that makes sense why she’s so into this wedding.”

  “She’s tried to play it down, but she really wants all the bells and whistles.”

  “Well, I’ll be at the fitting and I’ll do my best to find something special for her shower.” Daphne couldn’t even imagine what that “something special” might be.

  “Karen’s registered at Frederica’s here in town, as well as Victoria’s Secret in Fairview.”

  “I doubt I’ll make it over to Fairview before Saturday, but I’ll do what I can here in town.”

  As Daphne hung up the phone, she knew for a fact she would not be shopping for her future stepmom’s shower present at Victoria’s Secret of all places. Really? She didn’t even shop in stores like that for herself! Admittedly, she’d gone to a lingerie store once, thinking she’d try something new, but then she’d felt so self-conscious and embarrassed that she quickly left. No, it was not her cup of tea, and there was nothing she could do about that.

  She was an old-fashioned girl . . . who would probably wind up being an old-fashioned old woman. She stooped down to pet Ethel, who was rubbing herself against Daphne’s ankles. “Yes, it’s me and the cats . . . stuck in a previous century.”

  Daphne had even made a hesitant call to Jake not long after their unexpected meeting in Walmart, asking about the possibility of changing her aunt’s will. “What if I sort of adopted a needy child,” she had said in a slightly joking tone. “You know, instead of getting a husband? You think Aunt Dee would mind?”

  “Are you talking about your young neighbor? Little Miss Mabel?”

  She quickly explained a bit more about Mabel’s situation.

  “That’s a very generous idea, Daphne. But you must realize that Dee’s will is a legal document. She is the only one who could change it. Obviously, that is not going to happen.”

  “Right . . .” Then without explaining herself further, she’d quickly apologized for bothering him and hung up.

  Now a few days later, she felt like she was truly trapped in writer’s block. She wasn’t sure if this was about Mabel or Aunt Dee or even Jake, but for some reason
she felt stuck as she stared blankly at her computer screen. Finally she just shut the whole works down. Since she was making so little progress on finishing the book, it was time to take a break.

  She would walk to town and see what she could find for Karen at Frederica’s, but after looking at Karen’s wish list and perusing the shelves and racks, Daphne wasn’t comfortable with purchasing intimate garments for her soon-to-be stepmother.

  Instead she went down the street to the drugstore and selected a nice assortment of luxurious French bath oils and lotions and scented candles. She even picked up a nice box of chocolate truffles. Sure, her gift wasn’t lacy or wearable, but it was romantic. And what was wrong with that?

  She picked out an elegant gift bag, tissue paper, and ribbon, then took it home to assemble into a lovely package. If she were the bride-to-be, she would be totally thrilled with such a thoughtful and non-embarrassing gift. Not that there was much risk of her being a bride anytime soon.

  On Saturday afternoon, Daphne walked to town for the dress fitting and bridal shower. It was a gorgeous fall day with a crisp blue sky and a slight autumnal breeze in the air. Perfect sweater weather. Since she was a little early, she stopped by Bernie’s to say hi to Olivia. “How are you feeling? Over the morning sickness yet?”

  “It’s a little better. And I’ve already put on ten pounds.” Olivia patted her midsection. “The doctor’s not too thrilled about that.”

  “Well, if you can’t put on weight when you’re pregnant, when can you?”

  “Exactly.” Olivia pointed across the street. “Ricardo has chicken pot pie for the blue plate special today. Want to come?”

  Daphne chuckled. “Sounds good, but I’m on my way to a fitting.” She described the horrible hotdog dresses Karen had picked out.

  “Oh, dear.” Olivia frowned. “And her flowers are going to be so pretty too.”

  “Maybe you can make the bridesmaid bouquets really big,” Daphne teased, “to cover up the hideous dresses.”

  Olivia laughed. “I’ll see what I can do. Hey, take a photo of the dress and send it to me.”

  Daphne rolled her eyes. “Only if you promise to destroy it afterward.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  As Daphne entered Frederica’s, she tried not to think about the bridesmaid dress she was about to be forced to try on. Instead she greeted Karen and waited to be introduced to the bridesmaids. Interestingly, they all seemed to be in their fifties. And if Daphne was worried about looking like a pudgy hotdog in her dress, she had nothing on the other matronly ladies.

  “It’s called ruching,” Karen explained to the women in regard to the puckered purple-ish dresses they were all squeezing into.

  Daphne was one of the first ones to emerge from the dressing room. The dress seemed to fit okay, but her rolled down wool socks and brown clogs did nothing to help the effect. Not to mention that with Daphne’s auburn hair, purple was probably not her best color. Staring at her pale-looking image, which truly looked as if she’d been swallowed by a hungry wrinkled hot dog, she realized that people only did this for love. And since she loved her dad and Karen was the woman he wished to spend the rest of his days with, she could bite the bullet and do this.

  “Daphne?” one of the salesclerks was saying.

  “Yes?” Daphne turned.

  “Oh, that’s her right there,” the woman said to a man standing by the door.

  Daphne squinted, trying to see the face of the man silhouetted in front of the glass door. “What?”

  “Daphne,” the man said.

  “Huh?” She tilted her head to one side, trying to make him out.

  “It’s Harrison,” he said cheerfully. “Remember from the speed dating?”

  Daphne took in a quick breath. “Harrison?”

  He chuckled as he came toward her. “I didn’t mean to intrude on you. I met a friend of yours at the diner. She told me I’d find you here.”

  “Olivia . . .” Daphne put a hand over her somewhat exposed chest. “Remind me to thank her.”

  He laughed. “She told me you were being fitted for a wedding.” He lowered his voice. “And that you weren’t too thrilled with the dress.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “Yes, well, it’s my father’s wedding. Karen . . .” She glanced over her bare shoulder. “She’s the bride-to-be.” Now the other women were starting to emerge from the dressing area, which was causing the dress shop to resemble a wrinkled sausage factory.

  “Anyway, I was in town,” he said quietly. “I thought we could get together.”

  “Yes. I’d love that.”

  “How about after your, uh, fitting?”

  “Yes.” But now she remembered the shower. “Except I’ll be tied up for about an hour. Do you think you’ll still be around?”

  “I can make sure that I am.”

  “Okay.” She looked at her watch. “Around six then?”

  “Where do you want to meet?”

  “The shower is at, uh, Barney’s,” she told him.

  “Great.” He backed toward the door as the other bridesmaids started filling the shop. “I’ll figure out where that is and meet you at six.” And then he ducked out of there as if he felt nearly as uncomfortable as she.

  The fitting took about an hour. Of course, Karen and her friends wanted to know about the “handsome stranger” and without mentioning speed dating, Daphne managed to explain they planned to meet up later.

  Everything seemed to take longer than it should, but eventually they all made their way down the street to Barney’s, which was a tavern on Main Street and not Daphne’s favorite sort of hangout. Although the other women all ordered various drinks and seemed intent on making this into a real event, Daphne stuck with iced tea and tried to keep an eye on her watch.

  Her plan was to excuse herself a little before six. However, the women who were getting rowdier as each present was opened and each drink was consumed insisted she must stay until the end. The presents, which were strange concoctions of black and red and lace and such, were passed around. Daphne tried to quickly shuffle the garments along to Diane sitting next to her, hoping to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

  “Oh, just look at this.” Diane held a hot pink lacy piece of fluff in front of Daphne, as if to model it. “I’ll bet you would look hot in it, Daphne.”

  Just as Daphne was about to peel the skimpy garment off of her chest, she looked up to see a familiar face peering at her just a few tables away. Of course, it was her architect friend. She glanced at her watch. It was already past six.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” she said to Karen. “My friend is here to get me.”

  Karen’s eyes lit up when she saw Harrison waiting in the shadows. “Oh yes, Daphne, you should definitely not keep that one waiting.” The rest of the women erupted into gales of laughter.

  “Sorry to run out like this.” Daphne grabbed for her purse.

  Karen lifted her glass and the others followed. “Here’s to Daph finding the man of her dreams too!”

  “Here, here,” they all echoed as Daphne scurried away.

  Her cheeks were flaming by the time she joined Harrison. “Sorry. I sort of lost track of time.”

  He chuckled. “Looks like you girls were having fun.”

  “They were having fun. I was just trying to be a good sport,” she said crisply as she led the way toward the door. Of course, this was how their first encounter would start out. First the humiliation at Frederica’s in the hotdog dress, then to top it off with these wild women at Barney’s. At this rate, she would be greatly relieved when this date—if she could even call it that—was over.

  Chapter 22

  So what are you doing in Appleton?” she asked after they were seated at The Zeppelin. Since neither of them had eaten lunch, they’d agreed to share an early dinner.

  “I’m one
of the architects bidding on your new city hall.” He reached for a napkin.

  “Oh, that’s right. I heard they planned to start rebuilding it this winter.”

  He nodded. “I already have some ideas drafted, but I felt I needed to walk around a little to really experience the whole environment.” He smiled. “Appleton is a charming town.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more.” She took a slow sip of water, still trying to calm herself down from her previous embarrassing moments.

  “And it’s even more charming after seeing you here.”

  “Well, thank you,” she murmured. “I couldn’t have been more surprised to see you today.”

  “I could see that.”

  She filled him in about her father and Karen and their wedding. “I know it seems odd, I mean at their age, to pull out all the stops like this. But I guess Karen never had a real wedding before.” She shrugged. “My parents did though. I’ve seen the photos.”

  They talked about family history and all sorts of things. And by the time dessert was served, Daphne felt almost completely at ease. “This has been an unexpected delight.” She took a sip of coffee. “I had no idea when I got up this morning that my day would turn out like this.”

  “I’m sure the prospect of trying on sausage dresses and hanging with the old ladies didn’t sound like much fun.” He chuckled.

  “Do you think you’ll get the bid?”

  “I hope so.” He grinned. “I like the idea of spending more time here.”

  “Does an architect have to be on hand throughout the whole building process?”

  “Not necessarily on-site. But I have to be able to drop everything and pop over at a moment’s notice when needed.” He set down his fork. “And I’m less than twenty minutes away, so it’s no problem.”

  They were just finishing up when Daphne noticed Jake and Jenna coming into the restaurant. Jake saw her right away and gave her a friendly wave. They even stopped by the table and she handled the introductions, explaining how Harrison hoped to be hired for the city hall job.