Woman Walks into a Bar by Rowan Coleman Read Free Book Online Page A

down. Somehow I had finished my wine. That was probably why my tongue felt numb. I glanced at the clock again, it was nearly half past eight. John Smith was now half an hour late. That was a broken-down car, ran out of petrol, or fallen down a lift shaft kind of late.
    â€œI suppose,” I said, glancing over my shoulder and feeling the weight of the change in my pocket. “I’ll have one more and then if he’s not here by then . . .”
    â€œHave one more on me,” Brendan said, and he put a bottle of melon-flavored Bacardi Breezer down in front of me. My favorite drink.
    â€œThanks,” I said and smiled at him as he put a straw in the top of the bottle. I was pleased he’d remembered what I like to drink. I mean, I knew it was his job to know what his regulars were having, but I was pleased anyway. It’s nice to have someone remember something special about you.
    â€œWhat I don’t get,” Brendan said, propping his chin on one elbow as he looked at me, “is why you bother with all this Internet stuff? I mean, you’re a great-looking woman, Sam. You must get asked out all the time! I see guys looking at you on a Friday night.” I felt the skin across my nose and cheeks begin to heat up again.
    â€œI don’t,” I said. “Joy says I don’t give off the right signals. I think it’s because they are all looking at Joy, not me. And anyway, even if I did get asked out . . .” I paused. I had no idea how much Brendan knew about me or how much I wanted him to know. “It’s important to me that I don’t just end up having a one-night stand.”
    â€œBecause of your daughter, you mean?” Brendan asked me.
    â€œYes,” I said. He knew a bit more than I expected. “Because of Beth, but also because of me, too. I . . . want something that will be good.”
    â€œI know what you mean,” Brendan said. “So you’re saying that you like to get to know a man properly before you get serious. You don’t like a guy to just ask you out and see how it goes. You like to make sure he’s a decent sort before you get really involved.”
    â€œYes,” I said, sounding a bit surprised. He did know exactly what I meant.
    â€œMe too,” he said, and then his cheeks flushed red. “With girls I mean.” I laughed again and Brendan laughed too.
    â€œSo, how does the Internet help you do that, then?” he asked me. “Because, you know, I might give it a go, if it’s working for you.”
    â€œWell, the person you’re meeting . . .” I looked at the clock once more. “Supposed to be meeting, has to tell you a bit about themselves and you do the same. It’s not like pulling some bloke you’ve just met on a Friday night. You sort of know what you’re getting.” I smiled and shrugged. “At least you’re supposed to, but so far it hasn’t quite worked out like that for me.”
    â€œI heard.” Brendan looked at me with those green eyes. “Don’t you think that sometimes you should just let your feelings tell you what to do?” he said. Something in his voice made my chest tighten and I reached into my pocket for my inhaler before I realized it was not the early sign of an asthma attack that was making my heart race.
    â€œUm,” I said, looking down at the bar top again. “Not really.”
    I looked around at the still near-empty bar again. “Well, it looks like this John Smith’s not coming,” I said, making myself look up again. “And I had high hopes for him too.”
    â€œYou did?” Brendan asked me.
    â€œYes,” I said. “He seemed, you know . . . nice. Real, like he wasn’t pretending to be someone else.” I laughed. “That’s why I don’t let my feelings tell me what to do. I’m always wrong!”
    â€œNo one is always