The Blind Date Surprise

by Barbara Hannay

  ‘The uncle’s a bit of a wordsmith, isn’t he?’

  Annie nodded sadly. ‘I guess “inexcusable thoughtlessness” is a refined way of saying that his nephew’s a bottom-of-the-pit jerk.’

  Mel grinned. ‘I rather liked the way we described his rotten nephew in our email.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Victoria. ‘There’s nothing wrong with short, shoot-from-the-hip language.’

  Annie managed a small smile.

  ‘Anyway.’ Victoria tapped a French tipped fingernail against the email printout. ‘This uncle’s a doctor, so you’d expect fancy words.’

  ‘He’s not a medical doctor,’ said Mel.

  Annie and Victoria stared at her. ‘How do you know?’ they both asked simultaneously.

  ‘Because a Dr Theo Grainger was my philosophy lecturer at university and it’s not a common name. I’m sure this must be the same guy.’

  Annie’s mouth fell open. ‘You studied philosophy?’

  ‘In my first year. I didn’t keep it up because I wanted to major in urban planning, but Dr Grainger was a pretty cool lecturer. He had quite a following.’

  To Annie the very word philosophy sounded lofty and unbelievably clever, and she found it hard to imagine an ordinary girlfriend like Mel studying the subject.

  Suddenly Victoria looked at the clock. ‘Hey, look at the time. We’d better get moving or we’ll be late for work, Mel.’

  The two girls jumped to their feet.

  ‘Don’t worry about the kitchen. I’ll tidy up,’ Annie called after them, but they’d already disappeared into their rooms. It occurred to her that if she stayed in their house much longer the girls would soon treat her the way her brothers did.

  At home, Kane and Reid ran around doing important outside work like mustering the cattle, fencing, servicing the bores and machinery, and they left her behind to cook and clean and keep the books, as if she were some outback version of Cinderella.

  It was a big part of the reason she’d wanted to get away and it wasn’t very comforting to think that in no time at all she was becoming a City Girl Cinders.

  A broken-hearted, disillusioned City Girl Cinders.

  One thing was sure; she didn’t want to spend this week keeping Mel and Victoria’s flat clean and tidy. But what were her options? She could reply to Dr Grainger’s email and press the issue about Damien by demanding to know when he’d be back. But she was fast losing confidence in the Internet as a form of honest communication.

  She lifted the printout from the table and read the uncle’s email again. Philosophers were fantastically brilliant and thoughtful and wise, weren’t they? Pity some of it hadn’t rubbed off on his nephew.

  Actually, it was a wonder this philosopher uncle hadn’t lectured her on her own lack of wisdom. No doubt he took a rather dim view of any girl who dashed recklessly into the city from the far reaches of the out-back and expected a blind date to fulfil her silly romantic fantasies.

  She was halfway across the kitchen with cereal packets in hand when she paused. Come to think of it, Uncle Theo hadn’t expressed any negative opinions about her. He’d been surprisingly sympathetic.

  Perhaps there was something deeper behind this—something the uncle understood. A direct approach to Dr Grainger might sort this whole mess out. Rather than mucking around with email, it would be better to deal with him face-to-face. That was the McKinnon way. It was what her brothers would do.

  Look the enemy in the eye so you knew what you were dealing with.

  But how the heck did you confront a philosopher?

  Dropping the dishcloth, she dashed into the bathroom, where Mel was applying mascara.

  ‘Which university does this Dr Grainger teach at?’

  Mel frowned at her reflection in the mirror. ‘UQ at St Lucia. Why?’

  ‘I—I’ve always been curious about philosophy and I was thinking that, as I have time on my hands, it might be interesting to sneak into the back of one of his lectures. Is that allowed?’

  ‘Well…yes.’ Mel gave her eyelashes a final flick with the mascara wand and turned to face Annie. ‘But don’t you think you should just let this Damien thing die a natural death? You know what they say about other fish in the sea. There are some okay guys at my work—’

  ‘This isn’t just about Damien,’ Annie said quickly. ‘It’s about me. I want to sort it out. I don’t want to be left up in the air until Damien eventually decides to turn up.’

  Mel gave a puzzled shrug.

  From near the front door Victoria called, ‘You ready, Mel?’

  ‘Yeah, coming.’ To Annie, she said, ‘You do what you like, Annie, but I think you might be out of luck. The university year will be winding down now. Lectures will have finished and the students will be on swot vacation getting ready for exams.’

  ‘Oh.’

  As Mel hurried for the door she called over her shoulder, ‘If I were you, I’d stick to shopping.’

  ‘No, thank you,’ Annie said quietly.

  When a knock sounded on his office door Theo Grainger was deep in a mire of student assignments and he grunted a greeting without looking up from the papers on his desk.

  ‘Dr Grainger?’

  He’d assumed that Lillian, the philosophy department’s receptionist, was dropping off the day’s mail. But this voice wasn’t Lillian’s; it was younger, no doubt a student panicking about forthcoming exams.

  He didn’t bother to raise his head. ‘Do you have an appointment?’ he asked just a little too gruffly.

  ‘No.’

  His aggrieved sigh drifted downwards to the pile of papers on his desk. ‘You must know by now that all students have to make an appointment to see me. Put your name against a time slot on the notice board.’

  ‘All right.’

  He returned to the assignment he was grading—a rather badly constructed analysis of utilitarianism.

  ‘One problem,’ the voice at the door said. ‘Could you please tell me where the notice board is?’

  Theo’s head snapped up and he glared at the caller. ‘How long have you been a student here?’

  ‘No time at all.’ Her mouth twisted into an apologetic smile and she pushed a wing of blonde hair back behind her ear. ‘You see, I’m not a student.’

  The surprise of recognition startled him like a bolt from the blue.

  Annie McKinnon.

  Just in time, he stopped himself from saying her name aloud. The last thing he wanted was for her to realise that he’d seen her before—that he’d been watching her—virtually spying on her yesterday evening.

  He rose slowly to his feet. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘What did you say your name was?’

  ‘I didn’t actually get my name out. I must be nervous.’ She gave a self-conscious roll of her eyes. ‘I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I’m Annie McKinnon.’ She winced. ‘You answered an email I sent to your nephew, Damien.’

  ‘Ah, yes.’ Theo knew it was unkind, but he couldn’t resist tipping his head forward to appraise Annie with a searching look over the top of his spectacles.

  Not surprisingly, she squirmed.

  ‘So,’ he said. ‘I have the pleasure of meeting the forthright Miss McKinnon.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Dr Grainger. If my friends and I had known you were going to read that email we wouldn’t have been so—so forthright.’

  ‘I can well believe that.’ Theo was still holding the pen he’d been using to mark the students’ assignments. Now, he replaced its lid and set it carefully back on his desk. When he looked at Annie again he felt as if she’d been staring at him intensely. He offered her a cautious smile. ‘So why did you want to see me?’

  She returned his slow smile measure for cautious measure. ‘I wanted to apologise to you.’

  ‘I’m not sure that you need to apologise.’

  ‘Well, I also wanted to find out the truth.’

  ‘The truth?’

  ‘About Damien.’

  Her gaze locked with his and she stopped smil
ing. Her eyes were clear blue—the kind of blue that made Theo think of summer sky reflected in spring water, and it occurred to him that their astonishing candour must be an Annie McKinnon trademark.

  Standing straight as a soldier, she said, ‘I need to know if Damien was really called away on urgent business, or if he simply didn’t want to meet me.’

  Theo cleared his throat. After observing this young woman last night, he should have known that she wouldn’t simply turn tail and give up. ‘Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere else,’ he said and he glanced at his watch. Best to get her safely away from the curious eyes and ears of his colleagues and departmental secretaries. ‘Let me buy you coffee.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said warmly. ‘That would be wonderful.’

  Seeing the sudden animated brightness in her face, Theo wasn’t so sure. He lifted a navy-blue blazer from the back of his chair and shrugged his shoulders into it, then he gestured for her to accompany him down the hallway. It was a warm November day and the formality of the blazer was unnecessary, but it gave Theo a sense of protection and, for some peculiar reason, a glowing, excited Annie McKinnon at his side called for protection.

  Their journey took them through the Philosophy department’s reception area and Lillian looked up from her desk.

  Annie smiled and waved to her. ‘I found him,’ she called gleefully.

  Lillian returned Annie’s wave, and then her amused eyes met Theo’s. They glimmered with undeniable curiosity and one eyebrow rose, but Theo hurried forward, eager to get his nephew’s jilted girlfriend out of the building.

  Wow.

  As she walked with Theo Grainger through the Great Court of the University of Queensland, Annie was seriously impressed.

  Talk about hallowed halls. With its stretch of green lawn encircled by graceful columns and arches, the courtyard was as dignified and atmospheric as any place she’d ever seen. And all the surrounding buildings were made out of beautiful sandstone, too. As she looked around at their impressive façades she felt a sense of awe.

  She could almost smell knowledge in the air. How could anyone not become earnest and clever in this inspiring environment?

  ‘Do these people have any idea how lucky they are to be here?’ she said, casting an envious eye over the students strolling casually past.

  Theo smiled. ‘Not enough of them, I’m afraid.’ He turned to her. ‘So you didn’t have the chance to go to university?’

  ‘I was planning to go straight after boarding school, but then my father died and things kind of fell apart at home. I live on a cattle station up in North Queensland—so I stayed home for a year, and after that it was just assumed that I would stay on indefinitely.’

  ‘But that wasn’t your plan?’

  ‘I didn’t mind at first, but in the past few years I’ve been champing at the bit.’

  ‘It’s never too late to start at university.’

  ‘That’s what I’ve been thinking. Twenty-four’s still quite young really, isn’t it?’

  ‘Very young,’ he said in an ambiguous tone that puzzled her.

  They reached a café in a leafy garden setting and Theo collected two white coffees and carried them to a secluded table, away from chattering students.

  They both opened slim paper sachets of sugar, used half, then twisted the unused halves and set them on their saucers. Annie laughed. ‘We could have shared a sugar if we’d known we only wanted half each.’

  Theo looked surprised, then smiled and shook his head as if he didn’t quite know what to make of her.

  Well, that made two of them. She was certainly feeling shocked and unsure about Damien’s Uncle Theo. He wasn’t anything like she’d expected.

  She’d had an image in her mind of an absent-minded professor type—a badly groomed academic, aged fifty plus, carelessly dressed in a wrinkled shirt and rumpled trousers. She’d expected untidy hair, a beard perhaps, and most definitely a scowl.

  But although this man had scowled at her when she first knocked on his door, he’d quickly become polite. And heck, he couldn’t be older than her brothers, who were in their mid-thirties.

  As for his appearance—his grooming was impeccable. Neat, dark hair, crisp blue shirt and stone-coloured trousers. Tall, trim physique. His dark-rimmed glasses gave his hazel eyes a scholarly air, but in no way did they detract from his appearance.

  But he was a philosopher, for heaven’s sake.

  Somehow she hadn’t expected someone so painfully thoughtful and clever to look quite so—so worldly. He was actually very attractive. But in a way that was refreshingly different from the tough ringers and jackaroos she was used to in the outback.

  Then again, perhaps Theo’s appearance shouldn’t really surprise her since he was related by blood to Damien.

  Thinking of Damien, she felt suddenly subdued, and she picked up her coffee and took a sip while she considered the best way to ask this man about his nephew.

  ‘It’s very kind of you to take time out to see me,’ she said as she placed the cup back in its saucer. ‘You must think I’m very foolish really, trying to arrange a date over the Internet.’

  ‘If you’re foolish, then so are thousands of other people.’ He sent her a reassuring smile. ‘Dating on the Internet is becoming more popular every day.’

  ‘Well, thanks. That makes me feel a bit better.’

  ‘But I’m sorry you’ve come such a long way. And it’s a pity you feel let down by Damien.’

  ‘I have a right to feel let down, don’t I?’

  ‘Everyone has a right to their feelings.’

  Annie frowned at him. ‘I have a horrible feeling right now that you’re going to start philosophising and I’ll get lost. Can you just tell me straight? Is Damien avoiding me?’

  He sighed and dropped his gaze to stare hard at his coffee. ‘I’m not sure.’

  ‘You must have a fair idea.’

  At that he looked up and the glimmer of a smile sparked in his eyes. ‘Have you ever thought of becoming a prosecuting attorney, Miss McKinnon?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You have a disturbingly direct manner. I defy anyone to lie to you.’

  ‘Good,’ she said quickly. Their gazes met across the table and for a moment she almost lost her train of thought. Drawing a quick breath, she said, ‘Does that mean you’re going to drop the Miss McKinnon and call me Annie and tell me the truth? Damien’s a jerk, isn’t he?’

  ‘If you’ve already made up your mind, I don’t need to answer that.’ Theo paused, then added softly, ‘Annie.’

  When he pronounced her name in his lovely deep, educated voice the strangest shiver ran through her. She felt as if she’d been tapped on the shoulder, as if an unheard voice had whispered something important in her ear.

  The feeling was so distinct that for a moment she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, Theo Grainger was watching her and she saw a puzzling tension in his expression.

  ‘Please,’ she said softly, feeling strangely shaken. ‘Don’t play mind games with me. Just tell me, so I can put this whole mess behind me.’

  He sighed and pushed his half-empty coffee cup to one side so that he could rest his clasped hands on the table in front of him. ‘I honestly don’t know Damien’s exact reasons for getting out of the city this week, but I’m afraid he was anxious to avoid your date. I’m sorry. My nephew doesn’t have a very good track record. He’s prone to pranks and he’s managed to upset quite a few people one way or another.’

  ‘I see.’ She drank some more of her coffee.

  ‘I hope you’re not too heartbroken.’

  Strange, but she wasn’t nearly as upset as she thought she’d be. The news that she was the victim of some kind of prank no longer surprised her. It was more like receiving confirmation of something she’d suspected in theory, but hadn’t tested in practice. Yes, Annie, fire will burn you.

  Damien’s uncle was expecting a response from her. She looked at him. ‘I can assure you, Dr Grainger
, it will take something much worse than being stood up on a blind date before I allow my heart to be broken.’

  For a moment he looked startled. ‘That’s a relief,’ he said.

  But he didn’t look particularly relieved and they both turned quickly to stare over to the distant Brisbane River. Annie watched the slow drift of the water as she finished her coffee.

  ‘Actually, there is something I’m very upset about,’ she said.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘I won’t get to meet Basil.’

  ‘Basil?’

  She turned back to him. ‘Damien’s dog. His Dalmatian.’

  ‘Is that what he told you? That he has a Dalmatian called Basil?’

  ‘Yes.’ She leaned towards him, eager to make her point. ‘It was part of the reason we clicked. I’m mad about dogs. Damien and I used to joke about how fabulous it would be if my Border collie, Lavender, fell in love with his Basil. I know it sounds childish, but it was fun. We used to say that if Basil and Lavender mated we would have a pot-pourri of puppies.’

  Theo smiled briefly, then frowned and shook his head.

  Annie slumped in her chair. ‘Don’t tell me that’s a lie, too. I couldn’t bear it if Basil doesn’t exist.’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry, Basil most certainly exists,’ he said quietly. ‘But he’s my dog.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘HOW long would it take me to walk from here to the Goodwill Bridge?’ Annie asked Mel, who was in the middle of brushing her teeth before bed.

  To her relief, Mel and Victoria had opted for an early night this evening.

  Mel turned from the sink. ‘Oh, I’d say about half an hour. Why?’

  ‘I want to set my alarm.’

  Lowering her toothbrush, Mel frowned at her. ‘You’re going to walk to the Goodwill Bridge tomorrow morning?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why on earth would you want to do that?’

  ‘I want to go for an early morning walk and that bridge will take me over the river to the South Bank, won’t it?’

  ‘Yes, Annie, but I thought you came to Brisbane for fun, not exercise.’