Chapter 2

Carissa got home safe and sound, but she made the decision to swear off men for good.  It always seemed to go horribly wrong.  She meets a guy, and something bad happens.  It’s happened on her last five dates.  Well, no more dating for her.  She was through with men.

Then a knock at her front door.  Carissa went to answer it.

It was Robert.

“Hi.  I got your address from Taryn.” Robert said.

“Yeah.” Was all Carissa could say.

“Do you want to try another time?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m working the next few days.  I really don’t know when I’ll have time for another date.” Carissa lied, because she was on vacation for the next week.

As Robert sadly left Carissa’s house, Carissa felt bad for lying to him, but she didn’t see how she could go on another date.  What if something happened again. 

Carissa went up to her bedroom and got ready for bed.  Tired and stressed, she fell asleep instantly as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Robert, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping.  He couldn’t get Carissa out of his head.  Then he called Taryn.

“Hi.” Robert said when he heard Taryn’s voice.

“Did she accept another date.”

“No.  She said she had to work all week.”

“Oh, she did.” Taryn said, knowing she was off all week.  Something was definitely up with her friend, and she intended to find out what.

“Well, Robert, don’t worry.  I’m sure Carissa will be glad to go on another date.” She assured him.

“Thank you.” Robert said before hanging up and going to sleep.  He felt better and was able to get some sleep.

The next morning, Taryn went over to Carissa’s house, who was just making some breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast and coffee.

Taryn let herself in because that’s how close Carissa and she were.  They always let themselves into each other’s homes.

“Hi.  I just wanted to see how you were doing?” Taryn asked her bestie.

“Just making some breakfast before doing some housework.”

“So, did you sleep well last night?”

“I slept great.”

“You didn’t get a visit from Robert last night after your date?”

“No, went straight to bed.” Carissa lied.

“C’mon, Carissa.  I know Robert came over.” Taryn said, knowing she was lying.

“Okay.  He wanted another date.  But I told him I was busy working all week.”

“But you have a week off?  What’s really going on?”

“Nothing.” Carissa lied, not wanting to bother her friend.

“C’mon, Carissa, you can tell me.”

After 10 minutes of hesitating, Carissa finally relented and told her friend the truth.

“I’m afraid to go on another date.” Carissa confessed.

“Why, honey.” Taryn said as she hugged her.

“Because whenever I do, something horrible goes wrong.”

“You’re upset because of the cave-in at the restaurant?” Taryn laughed with her.

“It’s not funny.”

“I’m not laughing at you.”

“Well, I don’t want to date men because every time I do something bad always happens.  It’s happened with the last five dates I’ve been on.”

Taryn hugged her friend, “You can’t be scared to date.”

Taryn revealed her secret, “I was the same way too.  When I met Ken, the same thing happened whenever we went on dates.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but we did it anyway, and now we’re engaged after 5 years of dating.”

“Okay, I’ll go on another date with Robert.”

“I’ll tell Robert.  He’ll be happy.”

Robert called Carissa back several hours later and the two agreed to another lunch date the next date.