One Week Earlier
Zac was at work showing a house to one of his clients. The client was a professional matchmaker in Atlanta. She was looking at a $2 million home in Sandy Springs. She had done her research and came across Taylor Your Home Real Estate Companies.
He and the client first meet at the office to discuss what she is looking for in a home and her price point.
"Hi Ms. Shephard, nice to meet you." Zac greets her.
"Hello, Mr. Taylor. How are you?" she asked.
"Please call me Zac."
"On your application, you mentioned you were looking at homes in Sandy Springs."
"Yes. I'm a Matchmaker. I offer dating services and advice to singles. Are you single?" She asked searching for a wedding band.
"Yep, I am," Zac said sadly.
"Well, I have a dating event coming up."
"No offense, but no thank you."
She giggles a bit. "You look like you have no problem finding someone. But anyway, I am opening up a new business in that area. So, I would like to live close by."
"Ok. What is your time frame?"
"Hopefully in the next month or two."
They went back to discussing floor plans. "I have a few floor plans here I wanted to show you. The area that you are looking at is a newly developed neighborhood. The pro is you can pick out your floor plan, colors, and things, but the con is you won't be able to move in that soon." Zac explained.
"Ok, you seem like you have a better suggestion."
"Well, have you checked my reviews? I'm one of the best if not best, agents out there."
"Ok. I'm listening," she chuckles.
"I will find you two houses to look at before the end of the week. If you don't like them then I will attend one of your matchmaking events."
"That's a deal," said the client.
Two days later Zac calls her back to see when she was available to look at the two properties that he found.
They schedule an appointment, and she meets at the address he sent her. She liked the first house but wanted to look at the second house. Let's just say she loved it and wanted to put an offer in. Zac was so excited that he agreed to let her match him up on a date.
The client invited him to an event she was having this weekend.
"I am hosting a Speed Dating Event this weekend. How about you come to that instead? It will be a lot of fun. No pressure just a chance to me other singles and maybe even your perfect match. Here is the information. Some of the proceeds will go to charity."
"Ok. It's not my thing, but I will do it for you. I do like to pay it forward. When someone uses my business, I like to do the same for their business. So, I will be there,"
She shakes his hand. Thank you so much, Zac. Hopefully, I will see you then."
"I will give you a call when we are ready for the next step."
***
Zac's POV
Zac arrives at the event. He notices a lot of beautiful ladies. He thought to himself. I can't believe all these beautiful women are still single.
He meets with a few of them. So far, they are nice, but none of them stand out. The next buzzer goes off, which means the men have to get up and go to the next table. He walks to the other side of the room to the next table.
He is surprised to see his next date. Fatima! he thought.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked.
She looks up, "Zachary Taylor?"
"Fatima Wilson," he smiles.
He sits down and they stare at each other for what seems like forever.
"How have you been, T?" Zac asked. He reaches across the table to touch her hand.
"I've been doing okay. I'm surprised to see you here though.
"Well, maybe this is it, our meant to be," he said.
"Zac, I tried calling you."
"Aww, shucks. I had turned my phone off."
Fatima looks disappointed. "Oh, so you don't call me, you turn off your phone, and now you are speed dating. I guess you aren't in a relationship. You just didn't want to be bothered and I get it after all that I put you through."
Zac cuts her off. "Fatima, stop it. Let me explain."
"Go ahead, I'm listening," she said with attitude.
"I will give you the short version here. One of my exes had started calling me and playing on my phone, so I turned my phone off for a while. You must have called me then. I am here as a favor for a client. I didn't want to come but now seeing you, I'm glad I did."
"But why didn't you call me?"
"I was trying to give you the space you needed. You forgot you ended it with me. What did you expect me to do?"
Fatima is silent for a moment. "I don't know. I guess I didn't expect you to go this long without trying to get in touch with me."
"If you talked to your cousin, I'm pretty sure she would tell you that I asked about you all the time," he said. "But of course, you weren't talking to her either. I didn't know what to do. I always thought about you, hoping you weren't in a relationship."
The buzzer went off for them to change seats.
"We have to finish this process, but I want us to talk later, please," Zac said.
"Ok," Fatima shakes her head."
As he gets up his eyes stay on Fatima.
The rest of the dating was awkward, neither of them was interested in the other candidates. Their mind was on each other.
When the dating was over the host gets all the votes from both the men and women. After she tallies up all the votes, she returns with the matches.
"Out of 20 men and 20 women in this speed dating event, we found 8 matches tonight. When I call your names, please come forward and stand next to your match."
She calls the names. One lady had two matches. She then calls Fatima and Zac.
"Each person will receive a free date and will exchange telephone numbers," The host said.
The event is over, and they head to their cars.
Zac stops Fatima. "It's late, can I walk you to your car?"
He walks Fatima to her car and as they say goodbye, he reaches to kiss her. She accepts it and they kiss passionately.
"Please call or text me and let me know you made it home safely."
"Will you answer this time?" she asked jokingly.
"Babe, I won't let you out of my life again."
