Chapter 3: Matchmaking
At least I had turned the corner. Barbara was no longer hostile toward me. She called me often, wanting to become my confidant.
"Where are you taking her?" she asked.
I had the evening planned. I even had a late model car reserved, having given specific instructions to Millie and Herman to steer customers away from it. "I'm making reservations for dinner at Barossa, and then we'll go to one of the motels on the outskirts of town."
Barossa was the fanciest restaurant in town, and I could see that Barbara approved. "Don't take her to a seedy motel. Bring her to the house. I'll go out, but you'll have to help me."
"Help you?" I asked.
"I'll need a date. You must have a friend that won't mind keeping me entertained until one AM," she said, becoming silent, letting her request sink in.
I pictured her, waiting for my reaction. Barbara was a tall, big-boned woman, probably in her early-thirties. She had a pretty face, but I'd never seen her show interest in men. To me, she was Danny's older sister, overly-protective sister-in-law of Ginny.
"My friends are nineteen, twenty and twenty-one," I said, really thinking out loud. She wouldn't be interested in a kid my age, would she?
"You must know someone in his late twenties or early thirties."
There was something in her voice that grabbed me. It came to me; Barbara was using my night with Ginny to get herself fixed up. She had yearnings of her own, and she was making me want to help her. Trouble was, I didn't know a single male in that age range.
"Would twenty-six qualify?" I asked, remembering that Herman was twenty-six, and I seemed to recall that he was single. Twenty-six and single; did he like girls?
"I don't think so," she said, sounding thoughtful. "What does he look like?"
"I'll bring you a picture," I offered, and Barbara, although she didn't sound excited about the prospects of meeting someone twenty-six, didn't reject the idea entirely.
Driving home from school the next day, I saw why Barbara was opposed to my taking Ginny to a motel. Even after a romantic meal, finding the room number, inserting the key in the lock, opening the door, and stepping inside a room that reeked of disinfectants would be a turn-off.
I had to find someone who would keep Barbara out until after midnight, someone she approved of.
Herman, as it turned out, had a girlfriend. I didn't ask him; Millie told me.
"I need to find a date for Ginny's roommate," I said.
She glanced at me, and then looked out to see a couple get out of a car. "Go ahead, it's your turn," I said.
"You take them. They're more your style," she said, and I saw her looking at a couple of guys who were getting out of a BMW, and heading toward the car I planned to use on our big night, the only Mercedes Coupe on the lot.
Both parties wanted to take a car for a test drive. Millie made copies of their drivers' licenses while I attached the dealers' plates to the vehicles.
"Blind dates are my worst nightmare. They never work out," Millie said while we were waiting for our customers to return.
"It's only one night. Anyway, she wants to see a picture before she'll agree to go out with someone."
"How old is she? I may know someone," Millie offered.
"She's about thirty-two or three, five-nine, and a little overweight."
"I know just the guy. I'll get you a picture," Millie said.
The cars returned, and both customers gave us the standard line, "We'll be back," and left.
It was time for Millie to leave for the day, and I didn't find out who she had in mind to keep Barbara busy while Ginny and had the house to ourselves for a few hours.
It was Saturday, the eleventh of October, and I couldn't get it out of my mind that it was Edie's eighteenth birthday. I considered calling her to wish her a happy birthday, only deciding against it when I remembered that in only one more week it would be Ginny's twenty-fourth birthday.
"Here's the guy I was telling you about," Millie said, shoving a photograph under my nose. "His name is Clifford. I spoke to him about keeping your girlfriend's roommate busy, and he's up for it. Let me know if you want to reserve him for next Saturday."
Clifford looked enormous. "How do you know him?" I asked.
"He's a mechanic at the agency where I worked before I came here."
They had worked together, but I sensed something more. "How well do you know him, Millie?" I asked, still looking at Clifford's huge frame. He had to be six-four, and weigh two-fifty.
"He's the right age, and he's free next weekend," Millie said, in a take-it-or-leave-it tone of voice.
"How well do you know him, Millie?" I repeated, wanting some assurance that Barbara would be safe with this giant.
"Okay, we had something going for a time, but I had to put a stop to it. He's just too big for me."
Millie's admission that Clifford was too big sounded totally out of character. She was a fighter. It wasn't like her to back off from anything. "I'm small," she added.
True, she was only five-three, and weighed less than half of Clifford's two-fifty, but she was definitely not petite. Millie could use her wits to hold her own with any male. My blank stare must have told her that I needed further explanation.
"Down there," she said, smiling meekly as she opened the door to go out to the lot.
"Down there," I repeated, feeling like a complete dunce when I got it. Millie, who laughed at crude jokes and usually responded with one of her own, had just admitted that she was small, down there.
Did that mean what I thought it meant? Was Clifford big, down there? Would I make a mistake by introducing Clifford to Barbara?
I looked at the photo again. He had a kindly looking face, not handsome, but gentle, even jovial perhaps. I rationalized, telling myself that it was only one date. On the back of the picture was a telephone number. I would show the photo to Barbara. Should I warn her that Clifford was big, down there? No, it was only one date. If she liked what she saw, I would talk to him, just to set the record straight; it was only to be one date.
"He's a mechanic," I said as I handed Barbara the photo.
"He's...big," she remarked.
'In more ways than one,' I thought, but didn't say it out loud. "It's only one date."
"Okay," she said, agreeing to go on a blind date with Clifford.
I called Clifford on Sunday, and we talked for an hour, about cars, about people we knew in the business, and finally, about Barbara Stapleton. I wondered if Millie had revealed my reason for setting up the blind date.
"Would you like to meet her?" I asked.
"Ah, sure," he said. I thought I had heard hesitation in his voice. Was he nervous about going out on a blind date? We made arrangement to meet later that day.
Ginny was unaware of the blind date. I saw no reason for telling her what I had been up to. What if the meeting didn't go well?
"Let's go to the park," I said.
"I have to prepare for next week's classes," Ginny objected. Sunday was our date night, but she hadn't expected me to show up so early, mid-afternoon.
"It's a warm, fall afternoon. There won't be many more days like this," I argued.
"I'll go with you," Barbara offered, seeming to know that I had something up my sleeve.
Ginny came to kiss me goodbye, and decided to go along. I don't know if the kiss was that pleasant, or that she didn't want to miss out on anything.
It really was a nice day. The girls were dressed alike, in knee-length pants, T-shirts, and light-weight sweaters. We walked through the city park, admired the fall plantings, and stopped to watch the tennis matches in progress before I found an empty bench.
"Are you tired all ready?" Ginny asked when she saw me take a seat. I motioned for her, and she happily joined me, practically sitting on my lap. A bored look came to Barbara's face, but when I winked at her, she joined us on the bench.
"Clifford," I called out when I recognized the man in the photograph.
"Who's that?" Ginny asked when I jumped up to shake hands with the big man.
He grinned, and it was like shaking hands with an old friend. After spending an hour on the phone together, his voice was familiar, and I decided his laugh suited him. As we chatted, he tapped me on the shoulder a couple of times, and sort of danced around, like guys do when they're happy to see an old friend. I noticed him glace at the girls sitting on the bench, but turned his attention back to me, looking nervous.
I introduced Ginny as my girlfriend, and Barbara as her roommate. "Clifford is a mechanic at the Toyota Agency. We know a lot of the same people in the business," I explained.
We talked about the good weather, and when Barbara said that she taught third grade, Clifford commented that if his third grade teacher had looked like her, he wouldn't have made it to the fourth grade. Otherwise, he acted nervous, and made some excuse about needing to be someplace.
Ginny never did catch on to my devious way of setting up a blind date. I knew she wanted to work on her class plan so we left the park right after Clifford made his departure.
Ginny took her seat at the dining room table, and I followed Barbara outside to the covered patio.
"He didn't like me," Barbara said as soon as we were alone.
