My Blind Date Took Me Sightseeing; Later She Regretted It

At twenty-eight, I went on a blind date my mother had set up.

The woman was a tour guide. After we ate, she smiled at me and said,

I get a decent feeling about you. But do you think you could handle the kind of place I work?

I messaged my assistant to push the meeting to tomorrow.

I won't know until I've seen it.

She paid out of her own pocket for a thousand-dollar scenic tour package for me.

I decided I'd pay her back once it was over.

Then I got on the boat, and she stood on the shore and waved at me.

"Good luck."

When we reached the middle of the lake, the driver cut the engine.

"This is where the trip ends."

My father died when I was three. My mother raised me on her own, through every hardship, and put me through college.

No matter how unreasonable her requests were, I did my best to say yes to whatever she asked.

The year I graduated, all I wanted was to find a steady job and stay close to her, a quiet, safe life.

She pointed at a startup segment on TV, her whole face lit up.

"Son, I don't think you're any worse than these college kids."

That one sentence, and I set out alone on five years of building a company.

By twenty-eight, the company was valued at over fifty million.

My mother came to me one day, her face clouded with worry.

"That house is so empty and quiet. All I do every day is grow vegetables and chat with the neighbors."

"But everyone else has grandchildren by now, and you're twenty-eight already."

I've always been a little slow when it comes to feelings, but I nodded anyway.

"Mom, don't worry. I'll find the right woman soon, get married, have kids."

She perked up in an instant.

"Son, there's a matchmaking agency just outside our neighborhood. I even paid five thousand dollars for a membership."

"Just remember, when they call you, you make sure you go."

I agreed with a smile, had a meal with her, then had my driver take her home.

My assistant, Eve Chavez, knocked and came in, setting a contract on my desk.

"Mr. Whitney, there are some issues with this contract. I think a second round of negotiation is warranted."

I skimmed it, then looked up to test her.

"Tell me. What do we need to watch for in a second round?"

Eve blinked, then answered without hesitation, sure of herself.

"The background check on this scenic resort is too perfect. And that's exactly the problem."

I nodded my approval and gave her an encouraging look.

"In that case, you take the lead on it."

As I finished speaking, my phone rang. An unknown number.

I didn't bother hiding it from Eve. I put it on speaker, and the voice on the other end was all warmth.

"Is this Mr. Whitney? We've found a match for you. We've set the date for Saturday at three in the afternoon. Does that work?"

I almost turned it down flat, but then I remembered my mother's instructions.

"The time works. What about the rest of the details?"

The caller said they'd send the information to my phone, then hung up.

When I looked up, Eve was frowning.

"Mr. Whitney, are you going on a blind date?"

"With all due respect, these matchmaking agencies don't have the best reputations"

I raised a hand to cut her off, my face blank.

"Sorry. This is a private matter."

Eve didn't say anything more. She took the contract and left.

I read the message from the agency and added the woman on the messaging app.

She accepted quickly and sent back a question mark.

I gave a brief introduction of myself, without saying my name.

Mr. Whitney, just call me Carmen Finch. If you don't mind, Saturday at three thirty, we'll meet at the Summit Club. Does that work?

The moment I saw it, I shook my head slightly. The other side seemed to be a gold-digger.

The Summit Club started at three thousand a head. Just to meet, was there really any need for that?

But before I could turn it down, her second message came through.

I happen to like their taste. I'll pick up the tab.

Third floor of the Summit Club. Two people, six dishes, one soup.

"Let me start over. I'm Burton Whitney."

I had to admit it: something about Carmen sat easy with me.

She wasn't the prettiest woman I'd ever seen, but she was the kind you liked looking at.

"Mr. Whitney, feel free to keep telling me about yourself. Or should it be ladies first?"

She was polished and courteous, and after I nodded, she introduced herself without any fuss.

"My parents are both still living, and I have an older brother who's already married."

"As for a place of my own, I think we're actually in the same complex."

"I work as a tour guide. Industry-certified, top-rated."

She stuck her tongue out, and it came off oddly endearing.

"Second half of junior year I dated a guy. He landed a government job and dumped me."

I ate slowly, and so did she, chewing without hurry. She finished and gave me a wink.

I set down my chopsticks and gave a serious, plain account of my own situation.

Then I thought about it and added one more thing.

"My mother set up this date. Honestly, marrying anytime soon wasn't part of my plan."

"And now?"

She tossed the question back but didn't wait for an answer. She stood, wiped her hands with a napkin.

"Excuse me. I'm going to the restroom."

While I waited, a small hope stirred in me.

If Carmen just walked out and didn't come back, that might be for the best.

Ten minutes later, she returned.

The rest of the meal went pleasantly enough. When it ended, I moved to pay, but she stopped me.

She waved a membership card.

"I put extra on it during a promotion. Waste not, want not."

"You're a little different from other women."

She blinked, then let out a small laugh.

"Anyone ever tell you how blunt you are?"

My assistant, Eve Chavez, who was also a year behind me in college, had said it more than once.

In the Summit Club parking lot, beside her red sedan, she put out her hand first.

"It was nice meeting you. Would you mind seeing where I work?"

I shook it.

"I respect everyone's line of work. Being a tour guide is a fine profession."

She smiled.

"In that case, want to come try it out with me?"

I hesitated, then agreed.

I rode in Carmen's car out to the Greenhill scenic area, a dozen or so miles away.

She didn't buy tickets. She swiped her employee card.

In her own favorite words:

"Staff perk. Waste not, want not."

We toured a good number of spots, and finally stopped in front of a rushing stretch of river.

"This is the real challenge our resort offers. You brave enough to try?"

She gave me a taunting look, and a man's pride wouldn't let me back down.

When she saw me nod, she smiled and swiped the card again.

Payment successful. One thousand dollars.

I frowned. She waved me off.

"I've got a bit of an alpha-woman streak. You don't mind, do you?"

I made up my mind to pay her back once it was over.

Once I was on the boat, Carmen called out to me from the shore.

"Good luck!"

I was alone on the boat, and the operator was a young girl too.

Once the little boat got going, she tossed me a life vest.

"Put it on. Could save your life when it counts."

When it comes to the professionals, I've always deferred to the professionals.

I picked up the vest and started pulling it on from behind.

Halfway through, I realized it just wouldn't fit.

The operator gave me an apologetic little smile.

"Sorry, you're a bit on the heavy side."

"I've got my own spare here, but you'd have to pay for it. Would you be willing to?"

Thinking about the thousand dollars Carmen had already swiped, I frowned.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a camera blinking on the driver's console.

"The thousand-dollar package doesn't include a life vest?"

She wagged a finger at me.

"I already gave you a vest. You couldn't get it on. What am I supposed to do about that?"

"Of course, if you can swim, forget I said anything."

"But I should warn you, this lake looks calm and flat, but every now and then you'll hit a strong current."

Then she just stood there, watching me with a half-smile.

I sighed inwardly and pulled out my phone.

"Where do I scan?"

She produced a QR code from behind her back.

"Eight eighty-eight. Thank you for your business."

I looked up at her and said nothing more.

Once I'd paid, she handed me a brand-new vest, and it slipped on easily.

The boat suddenly started to rock. On reflex I grabbed the rails on both sides, then buckled myself in with the safety belt.

By the time the boat steadied again, the operator was on the phone with someone.

"That's right, our resort's about to get new investors, so hurry up and send a few more people my way. I'll give you a big commission."

"Everything's priced up front here, no scams..."

As she said it, she turned her head and smiled at me.

I quietly looked away, out at this little lake I remembered.

It had been a reservoir once, but as more and more tourists came, they turned it into a small lake winding around the mountains.

It had a pretty name. Greenhill Lake.

When I was very young, my mother had once told me.

"Remember when your dad took you swimming at Greenhill Reservoir?"

"You splashed right in, swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of water, and when you finally spat it back up, there were two little fish in it."

Except now, looking at the green mountains rolling away in every direction, along with the grief, something angry rose up in me.

I still wasn't sure exactly what role Carmen played in all this.

But one thing was certain. She was part of it.

I wasn't angry that she'd fooled me. I was angry that she'd fooled my mother.

Eve messaged me on the app.

Mr. Whitney, about the investment in the Greenhill resort, I don't think we even need to run a background check.

Something stirred in me, and I asked her.

Why?

Eve sent a cute smiley face, followed by a long block of text.

I just went to the PR team and had them dig into the Greenhill resort.

And guess what. They handed me a whole stack of files and said the Greenhill resort is already a notorious tourist trap all over Rivertown.

Aside from a few out-of-towners who don't know any better, locals basically never go.

"You can play on your phone anytime. Coming all the way out here and not looking at the scenery? What a waste."

At some point the operator had come to stand right in front of me.

Only when I looked up did I notice the boat had stopped.

"There's something I need to handle. When can we get back to shore?"

The operator gave me a strange smile.

"You didn't really think a thousand-dollar package was that simple, did you?"

I was about to ask why.

She snapped my safety belt open and shoved me hard, out over the side.

The next second, I dropped into Greenhill Lake.

"Don't get distractedreally take in how beautiful Greenhill Lake is!"

The operator was shouting at me from the boat, but I could barely make out the words anymore.

My phone had gone somewhere. If it weren't for the life vest, I'd already be at the bottom of the lake.

It's a little ridiculous to admit, but I can't really swim.

My mom used to tease me about it.

"When your dad was alive, she could go anywhere she wanted in Greenhill Reservoir. How did you turn out to be such a landlubber?"

She could tease all she liked. I never had any intention of learning.

It was one of the few small pleasures in the arguments between me and my mom.

"No way. You seriously can't swim?"

"That Carmen Finch, honestly. Why drag you out here if you can't swim? Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

The operator kept up her chatter, but her face said otherwise.

I could tell she didn't take any of this seriously.

After thrashing around uselessly for a while, I gave up.

Oddly enough, once I did, I steadied out and floated on the surface.

"Pull me up."

I shouted it at her.

She raised her arm and checked her watch.

"Not even ten minutes yet. We'll talk in ten minutes."

I don't know how much time passed, but I think I'll remember this scene for the rest of my life.

One person sitting pretty on a little boat, still in the mood to make calls and reel in more customers.

While the customer she'd reeled in was soaking in the lake.

"Now I'll give you two choices."

After a few more calls, the operator took up the tow rope, stood at the bow, and called down to me.

"Option one, I throw you this rope and you cruise Greenhill Lake behind the boat. That one's free."

"Option two, I personally take you down into the depths of Greenhill Lake so you can appreciate how magnificent it is."

"That one's a bit pricier. Ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight!"

Even with my patience, there was no way I could smile at her now.

"I'd love to pick option two. But where's my phone?"

She pointed at my life vest.

"If your phone's waterproof, congratulationsthe vest has a strong magnet, so it shouldn't have fallen into the lake."

"And if it isn't, no problem. My payment machine can charge by face scan."

I reached up and patted myself down, and sure enough, there was the phone.

That only made me angrier.

I'd assumed they were making it up as they went. Turns out it was planned from the start.

"Pull me up first, then I'll scan and pay you."

The operator nodded and tossed the rope over without hesitation, as if she wasn't the least bit worried I'd back out.

I gripped the rope and was hauled up beside the boat, and then she reached down with both hands and dragged me straight aboard.

I stood on the little boat, dripping wet, and asked her, half curious.

"You're that strong?"

The operator gave a smug little laugh.

"I'd rather change the subject. I'm a born-and-raised local."

"And on this boat, don't even think about starting anything with me. You can't beat me."

Then, like a magic trick, she pulled a few certificates out from behind her.

"Runner-up, martial arts championship. Asian title belt"

"You look like a reasonable guy. You wouldn't go looking for trouble, would you?"

That only made me more puzzled.

But she was pushing me to pay, so I took out my phone and scanned again.

"Payment successful."

At the pleasant chime of money landing, the operator flashed me a grin, two rows of white teeth.

"Thanks. Come again next time."