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of a door marked ‘public bar’.  I looked around the room as she collected our dishes and found that Joel and I were the only patrons left.  I glanced at my watch, it was just after eleven.  I guess that was kind of late to be finishing dinner.
    “I think that’s our cue,” Joel said standing.
    I grabbed my bag and stood beside him.  He placed his hand gently on the small of my back and guided me in the direction of the exit instead of the bar.  I paused and shot him a questioning look.
    “You’re dead on your feet,” he explained.
    “Gee thanks,” I said, nudging him with my elbow, and thoroughly enjoying the small amount of contact too, before walking out the door.
    “I’m working tomorrow and you’re obviously tired so…”  My yawn right then proved his point.
    “Maybe you’re right,” I said with a shrug.  We walked side by side in silence to my car.  “I had a good time tonight.”
    “Me too.”   Joel smiled at me timidly.  “And we didn’t even need our getaway cars.”
    We both laughed.  When our laughter fizzled out, I took my keys out of my handbag.  Joel and I looked at each other in an awkward moment of silence.
    “I’m sorry our date was so short.  I feel like we didn’t even get a chance to get to know one another,” I said in a moment of honesty, surprising myself that I had the confidence to say such a thing.
    “Next time?”
    “I’d like that,” I replied, unable to hide my smile.
    “I’ll give you a call,” he said, leaning towards me and giving me a sweet peck on the cheek.
    The soft warmth of his lips combined with his intoxicating cologne had me catching my breath.  He moved back to allow me to unlock the door and get in my car.  I started it before shutting the door and pressing the down button for the electric window.  Joel stood by, watching me, with his hands in his jeans pockets.
    “Bye, Joel.”
    “Good night, Olivia.”
    On the drive back home my night kept replaying over and over.  That was probably the quickest date in history!  We didn’t even really get to talk that much.  I didn’t learn anything about the guy.  He’d not told me what he did for a living, only that he was working tomorrow.  But then, I hadn’t told him where I worked either.  I didn’t even know how old he was.  I guess early to mid-thirties, but I suppose age was irrelevant, just a number.  I didn’t know if he had any hobbies, what his taste in music was like… I knew nothing about him.  And yet I felt so comfortable with him, kind of like I knew him already… that doesn’t make any sense.

 
     
    H e didn’t call.  He’d said that he would, but I didn’t hear from him all weekend and by Tuesday I was convinced that I would never hear from him again.  Why the hell did he say he would call if he had no intention of doing so?  It was the age old question, I guess.  It’s not like I was the only girl that had expected a guy to call and been disappointed when he didn’t.  In fact, it had happened to me before, more than once.  But this was Joel.  I barely knew the guy but I felt a strong connection to him.  Our, too short, first date had been unlike any I had been on before.  I thought we’d clicked.  I thought it went well.  Unfortunately though, it seemed our first date may have also been our last.
    My week continued like any other.  Marg was still on holidays.  Jess had made it back into work on Monday, but Karen sent her home again by mid-morning.  She was still fighting a terrible cold and shouldn’t have bothered coming in to spread her germs.  So it was just little ole me.  Again.  I’d finally finished peeling off all 15,000 labels as well as relabelling the bottles through the machine.  They had been despatched and I was finally allowed to move onto other jobs in the queue.
    Thursday was my birthday, the big 3-0.  By the time it had rolled around, I had resigned myself to a life of lonely misery and was considering getting a