If there was anything worse for April Vedora than being stood up, it was being stood up on April Fools’ Day. A week before her birthday at that. And two days after having really bad sushi and spending half the night getting intimate with the toilet bowl. The only thing that could make life worse was if it rained while she sat on the picnic table by the wishing fountain in Miracle Park, waiting for her first ever internet date to turn up, which by the way, had taken at least eight months to pluck up the courage to agree to. So much for courage. Courage could go and get flushed, like the bad sushi.
‘Stupid creep,’ she huffed, as she stood and smoothed down her long, paisley skirt, having given the guy exactly one hour and ten minutes to turn up. She’d sent a text twenty minutes prior, which had met with no reply.
April gazed into the distance at the blue-skied horizon between the trees framing the park, blurring her peripheral vision and the evidence of perfect lives, lovers, and happy families that littered the park like colourful confetti. Her zone-out was broken by a soccer ball hitting her left leg, which had it not been for a sudden loss of balance due to the impact, she wouldn’t have noticed. She leant on the picnic table to steady herself. The moment was like life, really. A bump here and there, sometimes you’d fall, sometimes you wouldn’t, and even though sometimes you got sick of the repeated bumps and falls and didn’t care whether you got back up this time, the human instinct was to put that hand out and regain balance. The innate desire to keep going, get back up again, and move forward. Lately, it seemed like all April was focused on was moving forward, but when would she have a chance to get somewhere, be somewhere: not always in a state of needing to aspire to something greater? The ever-rolling wheel of life. Did it ever stop?
‘Sorry, lady,’ said a blond-haired boy as he came to retrieve his ball.
‘No worries, kid,’ she replied.
No worries? Little did he know.
She didn’t know if she wanted kids. Maybe a few years ago, when her life had been completely different, but not now. Things had changed big time, and priorities had shifted. Besides, having set up a new business, she’d need at least three to five years of building it up to make enough of a profit, and a family lifestyle would make it difficult. Anyway, even if she did want children, it would take two, and she was missing that vital component. And after the no-show of today, her love-life was looking like a no-go.
The breeze ruffled her wavy chocolate-coloured hair as she walked across the main street. She distracted herself with inane thoughts as though she was simply out for a Sunday afternoon stroll and hadn’t just been humiliated …
I really must book my next appointment with the hairdresser. Need more garnet highlights before the last ones grow out too much.
And when was the last time I went to the dentist? Should do that too.
But maybe I’ll book a massage first. Yes, massage first, then dentist. Or maybe the other way around.
Okay: hair, then dentist, then massage. Done.
She nodded discreetly to affirm her mundane decision, then eyed the appealing window display in Mrs May’s Bookstore. An explosion of colourful children’s books mixed with an array of Easter eggs sat on the display shelf. April was sure there had been more Easter eggs last week when she’d walked past. Some little darlings had probably nicked a few when their parents weren’t looking. Then again, she wouldn’t be surprised if they’d been eaten by someone else …
‘Been eating the display items again, Olivia?’ April asked as she walked through the open door into the store.
Olivia, granddaughter of Mrs May herself, glanced up from her computer at the counter. ‘Me? Never.’ She winked. ‘Want one?’
April shook her head, then eyed the display. ‘Actually, yeah, I could do with one.’
Olivia moved from behind the counter and grabbed a couple of eggs. ‘Bad day? Oh! I almost forgot, your date! What happened?’
‘Absolutely nothing. Looks like Mr Maybe-He’s-Perfect-For-Me is more like Mr I-Like-Standing-Women-Up-Just-For-Fun.’ April sighed.
‘Oh no!’ Olivia popped the small chocolate egg into her mouth, then mumbled, ‘Idiot.’
April savoured the temporary sensation of smooth chocolate melting in her mouth. Temporary. Like everything good in life.
‘Here,’ Olivia handed April a book. ‘Might make you feel better.’
She chuckled at the cover showing a rugged Australian landscape decorated by a bare-chested man in jeans, boots, and an Akubra hat. ‘Really?’
‘I’ve read it. It’s a heartwarming and … stimulating read, in more ways than one.’ Olivia tilted her head and cast a suggestive glance out the corner of her eye. ‘And it has a happy ending.’
‘Happy schmappy. Why can’t our lives be like books?’ She got her purse out to pay for the book and Olivia pushed it away.
‘On the house, my gift to you, hun.’
‘Aw, you’re too kind. Let me buy you coffee sometime.’
‘Just give me the biggest slice of your birthday cake next weekend and we’ll call it even.’
‘Deal.’ She smiled at her new friend. They’d only known each other since April opened her candle store six months ago and had introduced herself to some of the local business owners. Olivia and April had clicked and bonded over chocolate.
‘Hey, forget about that guy. Block him and try someone else.’
April waved her hand. ‘Nah, I think that’s it for online dating.’
‘What, one bad experience and you’re calling it quits?’
‘You can talk, Miss I-Don’t-Need-A-Man.’
‘I’m perfectly happy being a single mum, thank you.’ She tucked her tousled hair behind her ears.
‘Then I will be too. The single part, that is, not the mum bit.’ She smiled.
‘So no more men for now? Oh, I was looking forward to living vicariously through you.’ She pouted.
‘For now, I’ll live vicariously through this book.’ April held up the paperback. ‘With Mr I’m-Too-Hot-To-Wear-A-Shirt Cowboy.’ She held it to her cheek, put her hand on the man’s abs, and moaned.
‘Careful, you might scare the customers.’
‘Or they might think it’s a really good book and buy a copy.’
‘True.’ Olivia’s expression turned all motherly; a tilt of the head, concerned creases around the eyes. ‘Seriously though, don’t give up. You deserve someone great after all you’ve been through. You never know, this time next year you might get your own happy ending.’ Olivia patted April’s cheeks and went off to help a customer.
Happy ending? Right now she’d settle for a happy beginning.