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“Can I ask you something really personal? Fell free not to answer if you think it’s inappropriate,” I ask cautiously.

“Yes, sure!”

“What do you do with your dogs when you have a partner coming over? I mean, when there’s intimacy in the bedroom.” As soon as the question leaves my lips, I’m terrified of hearing the answer.

She smiles like this is a normal conversation topic. “Oh, it’s not a problem. They move over to the nightstands and keep quiet. They like to watch.”

And there it is. The last straw. I’m not going further than this. I discretely move my hands under the table and fire off a text to Matthew—a fatSOS. Not even two minutes later he’s calling me.

“Sorry, it’s my campaign manager, I have to take this.” I excuse myself as I stand up and walk away from the table for some privacy.

“Please, come pick me up,” I whisper-shout over the phone.

Matthew chuckles. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Trust me, it’s worse. Send a car immediately.” I don’t like to play the boss voice card with him, but this is an emergency. “Please,” I add more quietly.

“Okay, okay! Don’t panic. I’m coming to pick you up. We need to talk anyway,” he adds, chuckling.

“Thank you.” I end the call and take a deep breath to calm down before going back to my date.

I look around, taking in the other tables. It’s an upscale restaurant where only rich and famous people hang out. It’s trendy but not tacky like most you see these days. A friend of mine, Sady, co-owns this place and is also the chef. I chose this place, calling in a favor and asking him for a private table in the back, just in case the date didn’t go well. And thank God I did. If anyone eavesdropped on this conversation, I would have lost any chance at a career in politics.

“Sorry for the interruption. Something came up and I have to go.” I look Cassandra straight in the eye. I want to be sure she understands that the night ends here.

“Oh.” She pouts for a heartbeat, but then she recovers and puts on her cool expression. “We should continue this some other time. Maybe somewhere more private,” she proposes coyly.

I shiver just thinking about it. “I’m swamped with the campaign, and I don’t want you to wait for my call. Feel free to see other people, no hard feelings here.” There is no other way to ditch someone. I’m not famous for gracefully dumping my dates. Far from it. I know how insensitive I come across, but I despise this whole dating thing. It’s one of the many reasons I don’t date. Sex without strings? Here for it. Dating? Not so comfortable with that.

“Did you already choose someone else from the list?” she asks. I can’t tell if she’s offended, and to be completely honest, I didn’t get into the details about how my father picked these women. It never occurred to me that he may have asked them to date me. It’s quite humiliating when I think of it like that.

She may sense my surprise because she adds gingerly, “It wasn’t a secret, was it? I was contacted and asked if I wanted to date a politician, that it was an arranged relationship, and I thought it was something people knew about. Considering the number of women you’ve gone out with in the last two weeks, I just figured there’s a list you’re choosing from.”

Damn! That sounds even worse than I imagined it would. I shake my head. “I don’t shout it from the rooftops but yes, there is a list. Nothing personal, really. It’s just this date didn’t click. Does that make sense?”

She sighs and nod. “Yeah, I can relate. I agreed to go out with you only because if I tell my parents I’m a lesbian they’ll disown me. I thought a fake relationship with a silent agreement to see other people would be better than ending up alone.”

Yet another reason I wasn’t on board with this charade. We would be two miserable people dragging along through life. The fact that you can learn how to love the person you live with is utter bullshit and this is proof.

“Trust me, I’m not the solution to your problems. On the contrary, you’d be under scrutiny twenty-four-seven and you couldn’t have any other relationships even if you wanted to. You would be miserable, I would be miserable, and we would live the worst life ever.” I suddenly feel more relaxed with Cassandra than I have with anyone else.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. I should probably choose someone more low profile.” She shrugs and I understand that nothing will change her mind. She’ll carry on without any intention of coming out to her parents. But who am I to judge? I’m doing exactly the same thing.

***

“Please, tell me you have good news,” I ask Matthew as I sit across from him in the car he brings to pick me up.

He can’t hide a smirk as he studies me like I’m some kind of strange phenomenon. He stays silent for a while, biting his lips to keep from laughing, but I can see in his eyes that he can’t hold it in too much longer.

“Go ahead. Make fun of me.” The corner of my lips curve in an amused smile.

He raises his hands and shakes his head. “I’m not making fun of you, but I’m curious to know why you ran out of that restaurant.”

I sigh out loud and rub a hand over my face. “She’s a lesbian and her dogs watch from the nightstands while she has sex,” I blurt out.

He looks at me for a long moment, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. “She what?”

“Don’t ask.”