Chapter 1 - The Woman They Expected Me to Reject
Emma pushed her chair back and whispered, "I can leave if you want."
Daniel Carter stepped toward her and noticed a folded place card beside her untouched dinner plate.
Someone had written one word beneath her name.
"JOKE."
Daniel stopped smiling.
This wasn't a blind date.
It was a trap.
For three seconds, nobody at the table moved.
Then somebody laughed.
It came from Daniel's right, a muffled snort quickly disguised behind a wineglass. Another person coughed. Someone else looked down at a phone.
Emma Collins remained halfway out of her chair.
Her cheeks had gone red.
Not the warm flush of embarrassment people laughed about later. This was deeper. Painful. The color climbed from her neck to her face while she stared at the white tablecloth as though she wished she could disappear beneath it.
Daniel looked around the table.
There were five people he had called friends for years.
Ryan Mercer sat nearest the window with the grin of a man waiting for applause.
Beside him, Ryan's girlfriend, Chloe Bennett, had both hands over her mouth. Across from them sat Marcus Hale and Ben Turner. Lauren Pierce occupied the chair at the far end.
All five had known about the setup.
Daniel understood that immediately.
Ryan lifted his glass.
"Surprise," he said. "She's your date."
Another nervous laugh traveled around the table.
Daniel didn't join it.
Emma swallowed.
"I really can leave."
Her voice was barely audible.
Daniel turned toward her.
"Why would I want that?"
She finally looked at him.
The expression in her eyes made something inside him tighten.
Emma was beautiful.
That was Daniel's first uncomplicated thought.
Her blonde hair was pinned into a soft low updo. A few loose strands framed her face. She wore a dusty-rose dress and delicate earrings, and although she had clearly spent time getting ready, every part of her posture now seemed designed to make herself smaller.
Her shoulders curled inward.
Her hands were clasped.
Her eyes were shining.
Daniel glanced at the place card again.
Emma followed his gaze.
Her face changed.
She hadn't seen the writing.
Daniel picked up the card before she could.
Ryan leaned forward.
"Come on, man. Don't make this weird."
Daniel folded the card once and slipped it into his jacket pocket.
"You already made it weird."
Silence.
Ryan laughed again, but this time nobody joined him.
"Daniel, relax. We were messing with you."
"With me?"
Daniel looked at Emma.
She had lowered herself back into the chair.
"Looks to me like you were messing with her."
Lauren shifted uncomfortably.
"It wasn't supposed to be mean."
Emma let out a tiny breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
But there was no amusement in it.
"That's usually what people say afterward."
Daniel pulled out the chair beside her.
Ryan's smile vanished.
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting down."
"Your seat is over here."
"I know."
Daniel sat beside Emma.
The table became completely silent.
A waiter approached, sensed something uncomfortable, and quietly retreated.
Daniel turned toward Emma.
"I'm Daniel."
For the first time, something other than humiliation appeared in her expression.
Confusion.
"I know."
"Apparently everybody else got to introduce me before I arrived."
A tiny smile touched her mouth.
It disappeared almost immediately.
"I'm Emma."
"It's nice to meet you, Emma."
"You don't have to do this."
"Do what?"
"Be nice because everyone is watching."
Daniel studied her.
That sentence told him more than he wanted to know.
He leaned slightly closer.
"I'm not."
Emma blinked.
"I'm being nice because I'd like to be."
Across the table, Ryan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on."
Daniel ignored him.
Emma looked toward the restaurant entrance.
"You really don't owe me anything."
"Neither do you."
"What?"
"You don't owe anybody here a performance. You don't have to pretend this didn't hurt."
Her lips parted.
Daniel continued quietly.
"And you definitely don't have to leave because somebody else behaved badly."
Her eyes filled.
She looked away quickly.
Daniel saw Chloe's expression change.
Until then, she had seemed entertained. Now she stared at Emma as though the reality of what they had done was finally reaching her.
Daniel placed his hand palm-up on the table.
He didn't grab Emma.
He didn't touch her without permission.
He simply left his hand there.
After several seconds, Emma looked at it.
Then at him.
Slowly, she placed her hand in his.
Daniel closed his fingers gently around hers.
Behind them, somebody inhaled sharply.
Emma's hand trembled.
"They told me this was a real date," she said.
Daniel's eyes moved toward Ryan.
Ryan immediately looked away.
Daniel's voice remained calm.
"Then they're the ones who should be embarrassed."
Emma stared at him.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Daniel didn't wipe it away.
He didn't turn her vulnerability into another spectacle.
He simply held her hand.
"You're not anybody's punchline."
Chloe covered her mouth.
Lauren's eyes filled.
Even Marcus stared down at his plate.
Ryan, however, looked irritated.
"Okay. Enough with the Hallmark movie. It was a joke."
Daniel finally faced him.
"Explain it."
Ryan frowned.
"What?"
"The joke."
"Daniel—"
"No. Explain it."
Nobody moved.
Daniel gestured toward Emma.
"She's sitting here. I'm sitting here. Tell us what's funny."
Ryan's face tightened.
"It wasn't about her."
Emma spoke before Daniel could.
"Yes, it was."
Her voice was stronger now.
Everyone looked at her.
Emma pulled her hand slightly away from Daniel, but not because she wanted to let go. She turned toward the group.
"You told me Daniel had seen my picture."
Ryan said nothing.
"You told me he asked to meet me."
Chloe stared at Ryan.
Emma continued.
"You said he'd been asking about me for weeks."
Daniel felt her fingers tighten around his.
None of that had happened.
He had received a text that afternoon from Ryan.
Dinner tonight. We found your perfect woman.
Daniel had assumed his friends had arranged a normal blind date.
Apparently Emma had been told something very different.
Daniel's voice became quieter.
"What exactly did you tell her?"
Ryan shrugged.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
Emma answered instead.
"They told me you saw me at Lauren's birthday party."
Daniel looked toward Lauren.
Her face went pale.
"I wasn't at Lauren's birthday party."
Emma closed her eyes.
The pain on her face was immediate.
"They said you were."
"Emma—"
"They said you noticed me."
Daniel hated how carefully she said it.
As though being noticed by a man like him was something extraordinary.
Something she should have known better than to believe.
"They said you thought I was beautiful," she finished.
Nobody spoke.
Emma pulled her hand free.
"I should go."
Daniel stood when she did.
"Emma."
"It's okay."
"No, it isn't."
"I knew it was too good to be true."
That sentence stopped him.
"What was?"
She smiled through tears.
"That someone like you had asked about someone like me."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Don't say that."
"It's fine."
"No."
She looked at him.
Daniel stepped closer.
"There is no 'someone like you.'"
Emma shook her head.
"You don't understand."
"I understand that five adults lied to you so they could watch your reaction when I walked in."
Ryan pushed back his chair.
"You're making this way bigger than it was."
Daniel turned.
"Am I?"
"We thought you'd laugh."
There it was.
The truth.
Daniel stared at the man he had known since college.
"You thought I'd laugh at her?"
Ryan's confidence faltered.
"Not at her exactly."
"Then explain exactly."
Marcus muttered, "Ryan, stop."
But Ryan had already gone too far.
"Everybody knows your type, man."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"And?"
Ryan gestured vaguely toward Emma.
Emma froze.
Ryan immediately realized what he had done.
Daniel did too.
The cruelty wasn't hidden anymore.
It was sitting openly between the wineglasses.
Emma reached for her purse.
Daniel caught sight of her shaking hands.
Something in him changed.
He had spent years laughing at Ryan's stupid jokes.
He had ignored comments that should have bothered him.
He had accepted cruelty when it wasn't directed at him because challenging it seemed inconvenient.
Tonight, the cost of that cowardice was sitting beside him.
And she was trying not to cry.
Daniel pulled Emma's chair back for her.
Ryan exhaled.
"Finally."
Daniel looked at him.
"I'm moving tables."
"What?"
Daniel turned toward the waiter.
"Could we have another table for two?"
The waiter glanced at Emma, then at the group.
"Absolutely, sir."
Emma stared at Daniel.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
"Your friends—"
"Made their choice."
Daniel offered his hand again.
Emma hesitated.
Then took it.
They walked across the dining room together.
Nobody at the original table spoke.
The waiter seated them beside the tall windows, far enough away that Ryan and the others became nothing more than figures in the background.
Emma sat.
Daniel sat across from her.
For several moments, neither spoke.
Then Emma laughed softly.
Daniel smiled.
"What?"
"This might be the strangest date I've ever had."
"So we're calling it a date?"
Her eyes widened.
Daniel immediately lifted his hands.
"Too soon?"
She smiled.
A real smile this time.
"Maybe."
"I'll take maybe."
A waiter poured water.
Emma looked toward the other table.
"They're staring."
"Let them."
"You really aren't embarrassed?"
Daniel frowned.
"Why would I be embarrassed?"
She gave him a look suggesting the answer should have been obvious.
Daniel shook his head.
"No. I want you to say it."
Emma looked down.
"Because I'm fat."
There was no self-pity in the words.
Only exhaustion.
Daniel leaned back.
"And?"
She stared at him.
"And?"
"Yes."
"You can't seriously pretend you don't understand how people think."
"I understand how they think. I just don't understand why their opinion should become mine."
Emma didn't answer.
Daniel smiled gently.
"For what it's worth, I think you look beautiful."
Her eyes immediately filled again.
"Oh no," Daniel said.
Emma laughed through her tears.
"What?"
"I've made you cry twice in twenty minutes. This is going terribly."
That made her laugh harder.
Across the room, Chloe began crying.
Daniel noticed but didn't mention it.
Dinner arrived.
For the next hour, Daniel learned that Emma worked as an elementary-school librarian.
She loved old mystery novels.
She hated olives.
She had an elderly rescue dog named Winston who snored loudly enough to wake the neighbors.
She volunteered on Saturdays with a literacy program.
And when she forgot to be self-conscious, she had a laugh that made Daniel want to keep saying ridiculous things just to hear it again.
Emma learned that Daniel worked in commercial architecture, that he had grown up with two sisters, that he secretly loved terrible cooking shows, and that his confident appearance concealed a lifelong inability to assemble furniture without swearing.
Eventually, the humiliation receded.
The date became real.
When dessert arrived, Emma looked at him carefully.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Why did you stay?"
Daniel considered giving her an easy answer.
Because you're nice.
Because what they did was wrong.
Because I wanted to prove a point.
All were true.
None were enough.
"Because when you stood up to leave, you looked like you'd done it before."
Emma stopped breathing for a second.
Daniel continued.
"Like you'd learned to disappear before somebody could tell you that you weren't wanted."
Her eyes dropped.
"That's pretty observant."
"I've spent my career watching people walk into rooms."
"Why?"
"You learn who feels like they belong."
"And I didn't."
"No."
Emma nodded.
Daniel leaned forward.
"But I also saw something else."
"What?"
"You came anyway."
She looked at him.
"You were scared. You probably suspected something might go wrong. But you dressed up, came here alone, and gave a stranger a chance."
Emma's voice cracked.
"I almost didn't."
"I'm glad you did."
They sat quietly.
Then Emma whispered, "So am I."
At the original table, Ryan stood.
Daniel saw him walking toward them.
Emma saw him too.
Her smile vanished.
Ryan stopped beside their table.
"We need to talk."
Daniel remained seated.
"No."
"It's important."
"Not interested."
Ryan looked at Emma.
"Emma, this has gotten out of hand."
She straightened.
"You lied to me."
"It wasn't supposed to—"
"Humiliate me?"
Ryan sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry."
Daniel watched Emma.
She didn't soften.
Good.
Ryan reached into his pocket.
"There was something else."
Daniel's attention sharpened.
Ryan placed his phone on the table.
The screen showed a group chat.
Daniel recognized the names.
Ryan.
Marcus.
Ben.
Lauren.
Chloe.
And dozens of messages.
Emma stared at the screen.
Daniel scrolled once.
His stomach dropped.
There were photographs.
Emma entering the restaurant.
Emma sitting alone.
Emma checking her phone.
Emma waiting.
Then Daniel saw the timestamp.
The first picture had been taken forty-three minutes before he arrived.
Emma's face went white.
"You were photographing me?"
Ryan grabbed for the phone.
Daniel caught his wrist.
"What did you do?"
Ryan's confidence disappeared.
"It wasn't me."
Daniel looked at the screen again.
At the bottom of the chat was a video thumbnail.
The caption beneath it contained four words.
WAIT UNTIL HE SEES HER.
And beside the message was an upload icon.
Daniel tapped the screen.
The video had already been posted somewhere.
Emma whispered his name.
"Daniel."
He looked at her.
She was staring past him.
Lauren was running toward their table.
Her face was terrified.
She held her own phone in both hands.
"Emma," she gasped. "You need to see this."
Daniel stood.
Lauren turned the screen around.
May you like
The view count was climbing.
And somebody had just added Emma's full name.
