Read Online Sweet Misfortune: A Novel by Kevin Alan Milne - Free Book Online

restaurant is great.”
    “I think that’ll be nice. You make the reservations, and I’ll let Ellen know you’ll meet Sophie in the gift shop at seven.”
    He checked his watch, noting that his next patient had already been waiting for five minutes. “How will I recognize her?”
    Olivia let out a little laugh. “Just look for a hidden gem who’s all alone, and that’ll probably be her.”
    Garrett sighed heavily into the phone. “One date only,” he reminded her.
    “Talk to you later, Garrett.”
    The phone clicked off.
    F RIDAY CAME MUCH faster than Garrett Black wanted it to. He toyed once or twice with the idea of calling his mom and telling her he was sick in bed, but he feared that she’d send one of her detective friends to check out his story, and then there’d be hell to pay.
    At a quarter after six he reluctantly left his office in Tacoma, and by five minutes to seven he’d found an empty parking space a few blocks south of the Space Needle along Fourth Avenue. After feeding a crisp ten-dollar bill to the parking meter, he walked the remaining quarter-mile to Seattle’s mostrecognizable landmark—the Space Needle, a towering, 605-foot structure that was built as the centerpiece of the 1962 World Fair, and which was adorned at the top by what clearly resembled a UFO.
    Checking his watch once more before entering the gift shop at ground level, Garrett saw that he was already two minutes late. Inside, he scanned the dozens of people who were wandering around eyeing souvenirs, but the handful of women who fit the somewhat homely image he’d contrived in his head of a diamond in the rough were either already with a man or had children hanging on them. One of the women, with a young boy, smiled at him when she caught him looking, and he smiled back, then chuckled softly to himself. He’d dated women with children before and had nothing against it, but the thought of going on a first date with the children in tow? Not an ideal situation.
    Continuing his search for Sophie Jones, Garrett made two full loops around the doughnut-shaped store, but still didn’t find anyone who fit the bill. “I hate blind dates,” he muttered.
    As he passed the south elevators for the third time to start another loop, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning to his right, Garrett found himself face-to-face with one of the most striking women he’d ever laid eyes on, though it wasn’t the first time he’d ever seen her. He’d already noticed her on each of the previous loops, but had purposefully diverted his gaze out of fear that he’d be caught ogling. She was nicely dressed in slacks and a V-neck sweater. The woman’s blond hair fell a little past her shoulder in thick, wavy locks, her lips and dimpled cheeks formed a very cute smile, and her bright blue eyes sparkled and smiled all on their own.
    “You look lost,” she said.
    “Oh,” he replied, stammering. “No. I’m just… I’m looking for someone. Supposed to meet a girl… lady… a woman, actually.”
Idiot
.
    Her smile grew. “Well, can I help you out?”
    Yes,
he thought. “No. I’m fine. I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, because we have dinner reservations in one minute.”
    “What does she look like?” she asked, grinning.
    “Good question. But I don’t have a good answer. This is sort of a blind date, as pathetic as that may sound.”
    She nodded. “That does sound pathetic.”
    “Even more pathetic is the fact that my mom was the one who set me up.”
    “Ouch.”
    “I know.”
    The slender blonde pointed to a stout woman with matted brown hair who’d just come through the main entrance. “She seems nice. Maybe that’s her.”
    Garrett shrugged. “Maybe.”
    “Well why don’t you go introduce yourself?”
    He shrugged again, then walked over and asked the woman if her name was Sophie Jones. She tossed her hair to the side, stepped closer to him, touched him on the arm, and told him she could be