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Zara had no idea how she’d let herself be talked into this.

‘Go on, get in,’ Anderson said, nudging her into the bar.

‘I’ve changed my mind,’ Zara said.

‘Tough. I’m not letting you,’ Anderson said. ‘You can’t go on like this.’

‘Like what?’

‘Being a spinster.’

Zara almost flinched at the word. ‘I don’t mind it.’

‘That’s not what you said before.’

‘I’d had a few,’ Zara said. This was why she’d stopped going out, she remembered. It wasn’t just that she was too busy. It was that when she went out, she drank, and when she drank, she got a bit too honest. She didn’t even know what she’d said to cause Anderson to sign her up for speed dating.

‘Look, I’m on the apps,’ Zara tried. ‘Why don’t we go somewhere else, and you can help me swipe?’

‘You said they’re terrible,’ Anderson replied. ‘And they are. We’re trying something new.’

‘You’re doing it, too?’

‘I meant the royal “we.”

Anyway, this is just a women’s event. I’ll be at the bar next door.’

He watched her expectantly.

She let out a breath, steeling herself as she walked through the door of the speed-dating venue, a brightly lit, too-loud bar. Just survive the night, she told herself. She was doing this for Anderson. Mainly so he’d shut up about her pathetic dating life. If she gave him this, she’d tried. And no one could prove otherwise.

The room buzzed with nervous chatter. Small tables were scattered around, candles flickering in the dim light. The idea of sitting down with a stranger, pretending to care about their hobbies or how many siblings they had, was almost laughable.

She saw a woman with a clipboard, and she headed over to sign into the shit show. She got checked in and sent to sit down.

Zara slipped into her seat at one of the small tables, glancing around to see who she might be stuck with first. Her eyes scanned the room absently until they landed on someone she wasn’t expecting. Her breath caught in her throat.

Tess had just walked in.

She looked as reluctant and uncomfortable as Zara felt. Her presence was probably the one thing that could make tonight worse. They hadn’t exactly ended things on great terms the last time they crossed paths. Though she looked presentable. Nice, even? No, Zara was sticking with presentable. It was a much more neutral word.

Zara fumbled with her drink, her heart racing. The last thing she needed was to deal with her tonight. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Tess. Well, maybe she didn’t. She was hard and unforgiving and just plain mean sometimes. Zara might cut herself a little break on not liking the cinema owner.

While Zara was giving serious thought to bolting, Tess turned and spotted Zara. Both women stared at each other like deer caught in headlights. Tess quickly looked away, but the damage was done. They’d seen each other.

Zara groaned internally.

The event host clapped their hands, announcing that it was time to start. A woman sat down opposite her, a blonde with pink nails. Attractive in a way that didn’t appeal to Zara at all.

‘I’m gonna get straight to the point,’ the woman said flatly. ‘I’ve just gotten divorced, and I’m only here to get some pictures of me with loads of women and stick it on the Gram so my ex thinks I’m getting a lot of sex. You look alright. Can I grab a snap?’

Zara sighed. This was going to be a long fucking night.

***

Seven three-minute dates later, Zara was actually relieved when Tess finally sat down in front of her. The women here were, in the kindest phrase Zara could think of, not exactly girlfriend material.

‘Hey,’ Zara said softly, offering a small, awkward smile. ‘Didn’t expect to see you here.’

Tess gave a nervous laugh, straightening her worn, holey t-shirt. As ever, Tess was informal. Though the way she wore things made her look better than anyone else in the place, Zara was forced to admit.

‘Yeah, me neither. But Fi said if I did this, she wouldn’t say anything about me being dead from the waist down for at least a year. I took that deal.’ Tess rolled her eyes.

Zara nodded. ‘Anderson did the same to me. I practically came at gunpoint.’

They fell into silence for a beat, both of them staring at their drinks.

‘So… how’s the renovation going?’ Zara asked. Might as well talk about the only thing they had in common.

Tess half-smiled. ‘A mess, honestly. We had to stop for a while because we ran into some… There was an infestation.’

‘Oh no,’ Zara said sympathetically. ‘What?’

‘Moths. About a billion of the buggers flew out of a crevice and ran everyone out. Took some time to clear them properly. Explains why the soft furnishings were deteriorating so fast.’

‘How long had they been down there?’

‘Years, most likely. They weren’t that hard to shift though, thank god. Only took a few days.’

‘Lucky. In a way,’ Zara said.

‘Could be worse,’ Tess agreed sourly. ‘The official motto of The Eclipse Cinema.’

Zara searched for something positive to say. ‘But you got the permanent licence for the outdoor cinema, right?’

‘How did you…’ She started to say and then stopped. ‘Of course you know.’

‘Is Fi happy?’

‘She’s pretty thrilled. She wants to handle it solo.’

‘You letting her?’

‘I’ll do a few, see how it goes. Might co-manage with her at some point,’ Tess said. For the first time, she seemed to relax a little. The tension in her shoulders eased, and she leaned forward slightly.

Zara felt the urge to point something obvious yet surprising out to Tess. ‘So, you’re at lesbian dating.’

Tess looked around her. ‘That’s factually correct.’

‘I guess I didn’t know we had that in common,’ Zara said.

Tess seemed to only realise at the moment what she meant. ‘Oh yeah. Right.’ She shrugged. ‘How you finding it?’

‘What?’ Zara asked.

‘Uh, lesbianism?’ Tess asked wryly.

A laugh exploded out of Zara, which caused people to look over. She stifled it somewhat and said, ‘Oh, you know. Fine.’

‘Fine?’

‘Ups and downs,’ Zara said. ‘How about you?’

‘Ah, well. My lesbianism has been theoretical for quite a while, so not much to say about it,’ Tess said with a half-smile.

‘Theoretical lesbianism?’ Zara asked, amused.

‘The cinema is my wife,’ Tess explained. ‘And she’s very withholding.’

Zara laughed for the second time in a minute. Was Tess capable of making jokes that weren’t mean? Where was this hiding?

BING!

‘Oh!’ Zara exclaimed. That three minutes had seemed like a few seconds. She was a bit disappointed to be moving on so fast. It might have been nice to talk a bit longer with this version of Tess. She was more than the angry cinema owner. She was a person. Zara nearly liked it.

‘Well, we have to be moving on, I guess,’ Tess said, grabbing her drink. ‘See you on the other side.’

Zara smiled as she watched her leave, quickly replaced by another date. A woman with a red mullet. ‘Hi, I’m Sarah.’

‘Hi, Sarah. I’m Zara.’

‘Sarah and Zara? That’s not going to work, is it?’ the woman snapped at her, oddly angry.

Zara was open-mouthed. ‘Umm…’

‘What’s your star sign?’ the woman demanded.

‘I don’t remember,’ Zara said.

‘Liar,’ the woman said.

Zara was shocked at such a casual accusation, though she actually had lied. ‘Fine, I’m a Taurus,’ Zara conceded.

‘A Taurus? Why would you waste my time like this?!’ the woman asked angrily.

Zara frowned. ‘I can’t tell if you’re joking.’

But she wasn’t joking. Zara was going to ring Anderson’s neck.