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Speed Date


DING!

I sipped my white wine and waited for my next speed date. These short, sweet and simple interactions were just what I needed after finally getting rid of my godawful nightmare of a husband once and for all. There were plenty of better fish in the - wait - here swims one now.

He was kind of short and certainly older than my thirty-six years young. But his stride was confident and his smile, easy.

'Reba?' he asked, reading my tag.

'Henry,' I replied, shaking his offered hand.

He sat down. 'So what do you do?'

'I sell life insurance,' I recited, slightly disappointed by his generic opener. 'You?'

'I'm a psychic.'

'Oh?' I perked up. 'That's different.'

'Reading people's lives and futures? It certainly is.'

'I see. And are you reading me right now?' Is he being honest or just flirting? I wondered.

He smiled mysteriously. 'If you like.'

He put both his hands palm-up on the table. They were surprisingly weathered and scarred. This was moving quite fast, but I guess it was speed dating....

I took his hands; he closed his eyes. 'You drive a red car... your company starts with a... 'G'... you have two - no three siblings... you're thirty... six...'

He opened his eyes; I removed my hands.

'Well?'

I leaned back, sipped my wine and considered my words. 'That's very good, Henry, and quite correct; however, I don't really know you and that sort of information can be easily researched these days. So you'll forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical.'

He smirked. 'I'm glad you said that,' he said softly.

I glanced at the wall clock. 'Oh, why?'

This time, he didn't take my hands, and kept his eyes open. 'When you were six, you caught a spider and released it into your friend's bedroom as a prank. Unfortunately, the spider was poisonous, your friend was bitten and he almost died. You kept this a secret, and he still doesn't know you did it.'

I stared at him in shock as the memories came flooding back. I had never told anyone that story. Before I could reply, he continued:

'Also, you're still married, but separated from your husband.'

My whole body tensed. This wasn't fun anymore. 'Well he was an abusive asshole, but you already knew that, right?'

'Is that why you asked your sister to hire someone to kill him?'

Cold fear immediately gripped my stomach. I could barely breathe. 'How did you -?'

'Because, Mrs Le Goff,' he said, leaning forward. 'I'm the man she hired.'

His face twisted into a smug leer.

'Wha - what do you want?'

'Well do you remember the handsome fee you paid for my services? Well after meeting your husband - a fascinating man with many amusing stories - he offered me double that amount to kill you. So what I want to know is - do you have an even better counter-offer for me?'

Panic tore through me. 'Please, Sir, I don't -'

DING!

---
Credits

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