It was supposed to be the perfect third date.
Everything was sorted right – Susan and I talked for several weeks, and after a few successful trips I felt as if this could be the beginning of something special. But life, as he often does, threw Curveball on me that night.
The dinner I had planned to be a simple, romantic evening, quickly turned into something I had never seen. When I sat down at the table, ready to distribute the night, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going very badly.
I knew a little, the explosion from my past was about to show and turn everything upside down.
My third date with Susan was supposed to be the only one. We met Tinder and after a few data I felt optimistic.
That night I chose a quiet Italian restaurant tucked from the usual crowd. Susan arrived and looked stunning in naval dresses that praised her character, her hair flows beautifully. I couldn’t help but think it could be something special.
But then I heard the voice I knew.
“Oh, hey, rob! Fancy will learn about you!”
It was Linda from the accounts standing at the entrance, with three children behind it, each of which threw themselves with energy and noise.
Susan looked between Linda and me, clearly confused. “Is that your girlfriend?” She asked, and her voice was uncertain.
“Just a colleague,” I said, forcing a smile when Linda and her children pushed into our booth.
Linda has always been a bit of a mystery. She was a single mother of three, aged two, eight and twelve years, which is the result of two unsuccessful relationships. It was attractive, but also in a way intimidating.
However, today, when she slipped into the stand next to me with her children, her presence felt suppressed. “Lindo, what are you doing here?” I whispered and tried to keep my voice. I looked at Susan, who quickly moved from surprised to the irritated.
“Did you promise to watch the kids, and here are you … for dinner with her?” Linda said, nodding at Susan as if she were unwelcome.
“I promised nothing,” I tried to explain, and my voice barely audible.
Linda shrugged and a smug smile played on his lips. “I didn’t want to destroy your date, susane, but you should know what kind of guy you see. He led me – and children – months.”
Susan grabbed her purse and got up, furious in her eyes. She turned to the heel and went out.
I turned to Linda, I barely be able to contain my anger. “What the hell have you just done? You destroyed my date!”
Linda randomly leaned on a chair, a piece of bread stick in one hand as her children were immersed around her. “You should thank me,” she said, and her voice calm.
She pulled her phone and pushed the purpose. “For saving you,” she added with a grin and overturned the phone to show me a photo. “Do you know that?”
I crawled in a blurred picture and immediately recognized my face. “That’s … Susan. What’s the matter?”
Linda grinned. “That’s mugshot. My brother is a cop, and when I threw some papers on the station yesterday, I noticed her faces on the notice board. She wanted to fraud.” She stopped and watched me carefully. “She brought a man.
She gets closer to them, earns confidence, then cheats them out of thousands. I didn’t put it together until I saw the picture you posted it tonight. So I called my brother and now?
I was without a word for a moment. My anger has exhausted, replaced confusion – and something like gratitude.
I stared at Linda and emotions swirled in me. If what she said, it is true, just saved me from the disaster. But how did she download it? And could I really forgive her for disrupting my date?
Linda leaned and enjoyed my mess clearly. “You know, Robe, you should really thank me now.”
I shook my head, a mix of amusement and frustration in my voice. “You’re incredible.”
When I looked at her – chased, but somehow radiant, with her children, every word hangs at her – I realized that something had changed. Linda wasn’t just a courageous, angry woman who crashed in the evening. There were more. She saved me, but she also opened my eyes to something I hadn’t seen before.
“Lindo,” I said, and found a voice, “can I and the kids take you for dinner? Everyone.”
Her oldest grinned. “Pizza!”
“Act?” I asked and grinned back.
Linda and I are still together, two years later. I adopted her children and reminds me every day what it means to love and be loved.
In the end, what began as a disastrous date changed to the beginning of something really unexpected. Lind’s unexpected interruption, though frustrating at the moment, eventually saved me from a dangerous situation I had never seen.
What I originally perceived as an invasion of my privacy and my evening finally revealed the side of Linda, which I had not noticed before – her courageousness, her protective instinct and her love for children.
While the evening did not go according to plan, it led to the new chapter of my life. Lind’s unwavering honesty, her willingness to enter and prevent me to be injured, created a bond that has increased over time.
Two years later, we were still together and her children became my own. They remind me of simple truths every day that love can come in the most anticipated forms, and sometimes the most unpleasant moments can turn into those that change everything.