Torn [SHAWN MENDES]

~61~

Taryn was on the bar level of Ford's and had just finished going over some details for the night with the head bartender when Mina approached her.

"Don't you look gorgeous!" the manager said brightly to her boss.

Blushing, she replied, "I'm meeting someone for dinner."

"You're going to wow him in that outfit!"

After several chats with this guy through the dating app, they'd decided to have dinner. She wanted to start with coffee, but with their work schedules, it would be weeks before they'd both have a free morning to do that. A meal was a much bigger commitment, so she had an escape plan if needed.

Taryn decided to put some genuine effort into her appearance, but because she'd insisted he meet her at Ford's for safety reasons, she had to wear something that also fit her job. In the end she'd chosen a pair of black leather pants she'd bought many years ago when she joined Shawn for a couple weeks on tour. She paired them with a semi-sheer, flowing, white blouse, which she tucked into the high waist. For work she'd worn flats, but she was changing into red stiletto heels later.

She'd styled her hair in loose curls, which had driven her crazy all afternoon since she typically wore her hair up. Before her date arrived, she was going to enhance her makeup to be a little more dramatic.

"I should go finish getting ready; Quinton is picking me up here in twenty minutes. If I return within an hour, you'll know it was a disaster."

Mina laughed, "Well if that happens, you can stay for Elijah's full set. It's a win-win situation."

The Shawn-clone was performing again and had been given an additional thirty minutes. They'd received a ton of positive feedback the first time he'd taken the stage, so hopefully he'd draw a crowd.

She said goodbye to Mina and went down to her office. Her date texted right after she'd slipped on the uncomfortable but sexy pumps.

I'm here

Want me to meet you inside?

She replied that she'd be right out and he told her the car to look for. He was leaned against his truck and the first thing she noticed was that he'd been deceptive about his height, weight, and the amount of hair on his head. None of those things were necessarily dealbreakers, but it bothered her that he'd obviously used a ten to fifteen year old photo for his profile.

"Wow! I hit the jackpot!" he practically shouted as she approached him.

Her instinct was to quickly make up an excuse to cancel, but her kind nature made that difficult. One date wouldn't kill her, and if she canceled, he might hound her to reschedule. This way she'd have concrete reasons to decline any future invitations.

"Oh...thanks," she said as she forced a smile on her face.

"I was thinking we'd go to a steakhouse, but we could just eat here."

The thought of her employees watching her on what was bound to be a bad date made her cringe. "I'm here all the time, so let's go someplace else."

She got into the passenger side of the truck, and Quentin patted the steering wheel. "She's a beaut, isn't she? Only thing my ex-wife didn't get half of in the divorce. That bitch took everything she could."

Taryn was fully confident she'd be engaging the exit plan as soon as possible since this guy was nothing but a bouquet of red flags. "Rough divorce?"

"That's an understatement. One minute things were fine and the next she was accusing me of being a narcissist. I'm positive she was fuckin' around but the private detective I hired never found any evidence."