Blind Dating:
Authors: Kerry Taylor
Blind Dating:
A Light Hearted, Funny, Romantic Comedy
By
Kerry Taylor
DEDICATION
:
This book is dedicated to my three children; I love you with all my heart.
You give me the strength and motivation to never give up.
I am grateful to have such special people in my life.
My heart sings knowing I am your Mother.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kerry Taylor,
a single parent of three, has been knocked down many times in life. She has grieved through various stages such as: the loss of family members, friends, houses, health, money and her husband. Abuse by strangers and family members resulted in the loss of her dignity. She has held on to her pride, believing that one day things will get better.
With three healthy children, she wrote
Stones of My Heart
to share her autobiography in the form of poetry. Writing has become her sanctuary; allowing expression through her creative gift—a gift that keeps her afloat during her darkest hours.
She has extended her writing from poetry to romantic comedies, the first romantic comedy being
Fly, Pray, Lov
e. She expands on her knowledge of her homeland and mixes it with her travels to America to provide a laugh-out-loud comedy.
Check the back of this book for further details of all her work, and to share your views on the book.
About the Book
Kimberly is a divorcee, single mother
of three. She is reaching the wrong side of forty, and feels it is time to put the divorce behind her and move on. As a result she joins a Chat Dating site, ICQ.
There she
meets Lonely Single, a single man in his 40’s. Tired of being single, he feels it is time to step up his game in the dating market.
Then comes that fateful day when they decide to meet face-to-face.
When they meet they discover, that for the past year of talking they have been more than ICQ friends and they actually know each other, can you guess who Lonely Single is or do you need to wait to the end to find out?
Now, the friendship has been exposed
. Do they continue to be ICQ friends, or embark on a journey of a relationship and so much more…………………………
Contents
Chapter 6: High School Reunion
I look
at myself in the mirror.
Girl, you need to go shopping.
After looking for clothes for three kids, I am too exhausted when it comes to my turn. Then there is the cooking, cleaning, food shopping. It just never ends, and I am alone. My stomach looks like I have had ten children, not three
. I need to start working out and taking care of myself again, like I used to do
. I cannot remember the last time I changed my hair or even put on make-up.
If I had a partner then things would be different
Why do I always delude myself and say that?
I had a partner—Tom—and he still never did any of that. Worse still, he was even more demanding.
I am the mother of three kids. OK, so the girls were twins so technically I have only given birth twice. That does not make the pain any better. It was obvious after the twins I could not have any more children. Not only could we not afford it, but the whole ordeal of the pregnancy took its toll on my body and Tom’s. He said he could not deal with any more stress. No one knew what he meant, because if there was one thing for sure, he was far from stressed!
Tom would clean the bathroom, and simply brush and mop the floor, never clean inside the sink, or bath and heaven forbid if you asked him to clean the toilet it was even worse. He was incapable and never able to do anything properly.
Get my clothes from the dry cleaners, cut my toe nails, and cut my hair so I can save money and do not need to go to the
hair salon or male parlour.
At times I would sit and watch Tom, thinking - There is only one thing I want to cut!
He is coming today, so I need to be on my best behaviour for the sake of Eric, my thirteen year old son. It is his birthday party today, and I do not want anything to spoil it.
I keep thinking of my marriage to Tom as I dress for the party. Our wedding was a disaster. All the items that were assigned to him were a complete flop, and little did I know it in advance, but discovered it with disappointment on the day. The list was long: Forgetting our Paige boy in the hotel.
Losing our wedding rings
(We got married with paper shells on our fingers.)
Giving the baker the wrong address to deliver the cake, therefore no wedding cake
.
Not
booking a honeymoon.
“Where we going?” I asked.
M
y husband, now worried, replied, “It will be a surprise.” It was a surprise, because he forgot!
I found out on the dance floor. Our first dance, I whisper in his ears, “I cannot wait for the honeymoon,” and he replied, “What honeymoon?”
From that moment on I should have known it our marriage
was doomed. Actually, that is not true; I should have known when he was getting it off with my maid of honour, Julie. After ten years of marriage he announced that they had never stopped shagging each other, and he was leaving me for her!
Yes, he was useless, but in all fairness so was I.
I should never have married him. I knew it then and I certainly know it now. Why do we go down this street with the wrong man? Is it just so we are not left on the shelf? How can you think someone who cheated on you before you get married will remain faithful while you are married to them? It is nearly impossible!
We think that they know they made a mistake, they were caught, and if they do it again they will lose us because we would not tolerate it. I think the reality of it is they think the opposite; If they know you will forgive them before you get married then they can do whatever they like and we will forgive them again—and he was right!
Mom used to say, “That man gets away with murder, and you let him. My dear it is only going to get worse,” and she was right—too damn right!
The man never changed. I just ignored his flaws, then waited for him to leave me, and complained about it. After I found out on my wedding day that he was having it off with my maid of honor, I still married him.
I can still hear my
Mom to this day. “Were you just born stupid or I did not raise you right? Obviously the first! He slept with your maid of honor!”
My response
? ”He said it was only once and he would not do it again, and I believe him. Come on, Mom! No one is perfect!”
The thing that gets me the most is I had so many choices. I still do not understand how I picked him. I mean, there was Jeremy, the high flying entrepreneur. Man, that guy knew how to satisfy a woman in and out of the bedroom. His movements in the bedroom used to have me excited for days. My Mother could always tell when I had had sex with him. She used to get excited hearing about it, until one day her excitement and curiosity got to be so much that she decided to ask him if he could show her. He was not impressed. Neither was Dad, when in one of her speeches at my sister’s wedding, intoxicated, she made her request.
Then, there was John. (sigh) John. He was my best friend. Was, because after I married, Tom, he was so upset that he said we could not be friends anymore. Why, oh, why did I break his heart? We used to play golf together and at times he would sneak into the ladies changing room and take me, over, and over again. We used to just hang out in the park, reading books. When I was sick, he would come over and nurse me back to health.
And there was always the option of Chris. Chris was sweet—everyone thought so. He did not have much substance, he was never exciting, but he would always go out of his way to please me. On my birthday I knew I would not be disappointed. There would be a present hiding in my bedroom, or a romantic get-away. Sometimes, that present hiding in my room was him. Even in the bedroom, he was sweet. I never understood how it was possible, but when he got that job in New York, and asked me to go with him, I refused.
There was no way I could leave my sisters, and even more so, my parents.
So the question is always the same— why did I marry Tom? And the answer is always the same —because he was safe.
Great, the party guests are arriving and I have not changed.
“
Wait, one minute!” I shout, as I rush toward the stairs.
But it is only my sisters Jennifer, and Christine
they arrived early to help.
We kiss, they catch their breath, and then we talk.
“So, have you heard? About John?” Carol asks.
“
NO, I have not. What?” I’m excited.
This day has finally come
, I think at the back of my mind,
he is getting a divorce.
She replies,
“Oh he got some big job in Australia so he is moving away.”
”T
hat is not the news I was expecting,” I say.
They both reply
in unison. “We know (Sigh).”
They see the look on my face, and quickly turn the conversation to what needs doing in the house. I am not sure why I am upset; we have not spoken for a good
ten years. Knowing he was near just made me feel safe . Now he was going and all I could think was,
Why did I never marry John????
My little man
and youngest child, Eric, is thirteen today. Eric saw the look on my face, and said, “Mum, look, I know I have not been helpful with my party, but I am willing to try. What can I do? How can I help? I can do the balloons and put the decorations up with my sisters, Hannah and Megan so you can relax before they all come. I am too excited to do anything else.”
I can
not believe how much my little man has grown. He thinks that he is a man, and I have to constantly remind him of his age. “You are not old enough to live by yourself, you are not old enough to vote and you are certainly not old enough to drink—you are still a child.
“Remember that time when you were two-and-a-half-years-old, and we flew to Florida?”
“
No,” he would respond.
“Well, you told the air stewardess that you know why she has problems recognising you from your passport photo. She bent down to listen to your explanation, and you continued with the story that when you took it you were only a baby, but now you are a man, so you look completely different.
“
She questioned that you were a man.