Woman gets free dessert when blind date picks up food for wife and family and then runs out on her and the bill

Mary Duncan

*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events as told to me by a friend who experienced them firsthand; used with permission.*

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I am very happy to report that I think, if all continues going well in my life, I won’t ever have to get back on the dating scene again. I’ve been happily in a relationship for three years now and after a lot of rough times we are finally settling into a comfortable life together. I am very happy about this, because I spent years dipping my toes in and out of the world of online dating, and that is a world I never want to have to enter again.

The only thing I can think of that was worse than meeting men online and trying to vet them for sanity and compatibility before meeting in person is the exact opposite of that - a blind date.

After a few too many failed blind dates in my time, I am smart enough now that if I am ever in that single position again, I won’t fall for a friend trying to tell me they know someone who might be good for me. Friends might know you well, but that doesn’t mean they know what kind of partner will be right for you. Romantic relationships are much more deep and more complicated than friendships, and it takes much more than having a few things in common for people to jive.

Unfortunately, my friend Thea hasn’t learned this lesson yet, and she is still falling for the blind date trap and coming up sorely disappointed every time. The only good thing to come out of her failed blind dates are the entertaining stories she relays to me after she’s through with them, and the most current one surely did not disappoint.

This time Thea was set up on a blind date with her co-worker Mike’s old college roommate, Rico. Thea’s co-worker hadn’t been in touch with Rico for years before Rico showed up one night at the bar where they worked, so he didn’t know anything about what was going on in Rico’s life, only that Rico had expressed interest in finding a nice girl to date. Mike suggested Thea, and so they were set up.

Thea met Rico outside a nice Italian restaurant and went in together to have dinner. Thea thought things were going very well. Rico was attractive, charming, and funny, and she had high hopes early on in the date. At one point, Rico excused himself to use the restroom and when he came back he seemed a bit anxious. They talked over glasses of wine, but every time Thea suggested ordering food, Rico said they should wait a while longer and enjoy the wine.

A bit later, Rico excused himself again to use the restroom, and this time, he didn’t come back. Thea sat waiting at the table for over half an hour before she asked the manager to please go into the restroom and check to see if Rico was alright, but the manager came back and told her the restroom was empty.

“Was he wearing a blue suit with a green tie?” The manager asked Thea.

“Yes,” she confirmed, and the man’s face fell and his eyes shifted awkwardly.

“I’m sorry, miss, but he left with a take-out order that a woman called in over an hour ago.”

Thea was shocked, and her heart pounded as she tried not to cry.

The restaurant manager disappeared from her table and quickly returned carrying a plate with an enormous portion of chocolate lava cake, obviously made to be shared.

“It’s on the house. So is the wine,” the manager told her and scuttled away from her table where Thea finished her wine and ate every bit of the lava cake before leaving.

The next day she confronted Mike at work and told him what had happened, demanding he does some sleuthing to find out why Rico had ditched her. What he found out came as a shock to both of them.

Apparently, Rico had been married with children for ten years and often had hookups with other women on the side. Mike called and confronted Rico on Thea’s behalf, and Mike explained how he was horrified to get a text from his wife while on his date with Thea that she was going to come to pick up a take-out order for dinner at that restaurant. In an attempt not to get caught, Rico intercepted and told his wife that he’d pick up the food and bring it home, thus avoiding a conflict.

The conflict came anyway because Thea is one filled with righteous rage, and she found Rico’s wife on Facebook and told her all about Rico’s dalliances.

If you were Thea, what would you have done?

Hi, I hope you enjoyed this story! I am a freelance writing single mom trying to create a better life for me and my daughter through words. If you enjoyed this, please consider leaving a small donation: https://ko-fi.com/maryduncan

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# Relationships# Infidelity# Cheating# Food# Dating

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I write about the weird complexities of relationships to make a better life for me and my daughter through words. https://ko-fi.com/maryduncan

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