12 Days to Find a Husband

Chapter 7 - Under the Weather

Anna-lea was late. It had taken longer than expected to drop Gregory's car back to his place and get her car. She didn't want to be any later than she had to be so she left his car key in the mail box and avoided another meeting with him. It had also just begun to pour rain and she didn't have an umbrella.

Quickly applying a little make-up in her car before heading for the café, she was sure her mascara was now running down her face. Her thoughts travelled back to when she purchased it. She nearly got the waterproof mascara but went for the long lashes product instead, a decision she was now regretting.

"Damn it!" she said, holding her bag over her head.

Finally she reached Matilda's and pulled the door open. An old fashioned bell over the door announced her arrival.

Cody looked up at the sound and their eyes met. He smiled at her as Anna-lea approached him.

"Look what the cat dragged in," he said, rising to greet her.

He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. Anna-lea blushed, for the kiss and the comment. She thought she really must look bad.

"Is it that bad? I got caught in the downpour," she said in explanation of her looks.

"No, it's not too bad. You may want to visit the ladies room to get rid of those panda eyes though," Cody replied with a smile.

"Really? I knew I should've bought the waterproof mascara," Anna-lea said in a nervous giggle. "I'll be right back."

"Take your time but before you go, can I order you something?"

"Yes please, I'm famished. I'd like the ploughman's lunch and a cappuccino."

"Lunch, at 5 o'clock? I love a woman with an appetite. One ploughman's and a cappa coming up."

Anna-lea made her way to the bathroom, anticipating how bad she must look. Viewing her reflection in the mirror she was mortified. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, panda eyes was an understatement. 'How could I look so bad in such a short trip from the car', she wondered.

Grabbing some paper towel she attempted to clean herself up. Her hair looked like a wet mop as well, so after cleaning up her eyes, she pulled a hair band out of her very wet designer handbag and proceeded to pull her hair back into a pony tail. Anna-lea then applied a thin layer of lip gloss. Before heading out, she tried to dry her handbag under the hand dryer. It was her favourite bag after all and Cody had said to take her time.

Looking at her watch she realized she'd been in the bathroom for ten minutes so she abandoned her attempt to revive her bag and headed back out to Cody.

Her ploughman's lunch and cappuccino were waiting for her at the table. Cody was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you kidding me?" she said out loud.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" said the waitress from the next table over, where she was refreshing some other diner's drinks.

"Nothing, it's okay," Anna-lea replied and sat down at the table.

She couldn't understand what could have happened. Sure, she was in the bathroom a little longer than usual, but Cody had said to take her time. Had she really looked that bad?

She wasn't hungry anymore. The last two days riding the emotional roller coaster caught up to her in an instant and she suddenly felt like exhausted. She turned back to the waitress.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Can you please have my lunch wrapped to go?"