The Blind Date

Jessica James suffered appalling abuse as a child. Used by her drug addicted mother to fund her habit she escaped at the age of ten when her grandfather came to her rescue. She now has a fear of men, yet she seeks the type of man her grandfather was to be her daddy, her protector, her comfort blanket. Jessica is a little and she yearns to relive the happiest year of her life and make this moment permanent. A time stood still. To become a latter-day female Peter Pan? To achieve this she seeks a special man, someone who will emulate her late grandfather. Jessica, or Jess as she prefers to be called, is 28 and heads a sales department in a pharmaceutical company. She's certainly no shrinking violet, although in the privacy of her own home she transforms into a totally different person, especially when her best friend Amy stays over. Her life suddenly changes when she meets a man on social media who threatens to turn her whole life upside down. Jessica feels she has met the man who can fill a huge void in her life and after an incredible first date, she could never have imagined taking place, Jessica believes her life is now complete. Then a dark cloud emerges which risks destroying her dreams being fulfilled, can she emerge from this darkness and is the man of her dreams really the answer to her prayers?

‘So, this was your man, were you disappointed?’ Jess got up and brought a cafetière of coffee back to their seating positions together with two cups. She tossed a towel at Amy too. ‘For fuck’s sake Amy please cover it. I know I was eating it last night but a girl can get full up you know, especially when she knows she has to go on a strict diet!’ Jess hoped Amy wouldn’t immediately pick up on the message behind the comment, thus preventing her from explaining that things would have to change and soon. Thankfully the words seemed to drift over her head. ‘No Amy, when he said we had to go, I put the brakes on. There was this chopper parked nearby, but so were a long line of expensive cars. My immediate reaction was I wasn’t going to climb into a car with this stranger who looked like he was wearing clothing he could just remove and destroy after he’d raped and beaten shit out of me! Then the girl receptionist intervened and reassured me I should go, that I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t. Then I noticed the reception area filling, something was up. Then it dawned Amy, I was heading towards the parked helicopter and this lovely guy, his name was Robert by the way, was its pilot. Everyone was piling in to watch us take off. Imagine, me, Jessica James in a fucking helicopter, how good was that!’ Jess looked up; Amy’s mouth was open. ‘You jammy cat! So, you really did fly to Paris then. Oh my god, I think I might even consider giving Charles a blow job if he promised me that!’ Jess replied silently by sticking two fingers in her mouth and feigning vomiting onto her kitchen floor. ‘We took off, everyone was waving, I gave the queen’s wave back. I honestly felt like royalty Amy, it felt that good. Then we flew to Paris, we skirted the Eiffel Tower and landed quite close to Notre Dame cathedral. I was taken to this luxury boat moored nearby and that’s when I met Keats.’ Jess stopped at this point. She poured two cups of coffee and closed her eyes briefly as she recalled that moment.