Chapter 24 - Blind Date

As much as they bonded when she was young, Megan and Dizzy are having problems these days.

Toulouse just thinks it's funny to watch a tiny pet attack a large human.

Ouch!

The next morning, as Marie lazily completes her homework, Megan pauses as she chews her cereal.

"Hey, Marie?"

"Mmm?"

"Is something wrong with Mom?"

Marie cocks an eyebrow at Megan before going back to her homework. A.P. Calculus. So. Easy. "I think she's going through a mid-life crisis or something. She hasn't had any friends over in a while."

"'Specially guy friends."

"Especially guy friends, yes."

The two are silent for a few long moments before Megan looks up with a sly smile. "Maybe she just needs more!"

"And how exactly do you propose she gets more? Apparently all the single men in this town are basically extinct."

"Well, I met a bunch of kids online before I went to school...maybe we can find a guy for Mom?"

"First of all, that was a stupid idea, Megan, and I don't want you to do it again. Second of all, why?"

Megan shrugs. "'Cause I want a daddy?"

"And you think we can find one online. Really." Marie chuckles. "What do you suggest, a dating website?"

"..." Marie looks up, a frightening smile coming to her lips. "A dating website..."

"Marie?"

"We could just make her a profile, find her a date, get her to start smiling again..."

"Marie, you look really scary right now."

Megan's words fall on deaf ears. Marie has work to do.

A few days later, Marie approaches her mother about it.

Tiara is notably displeased.

"Please, Mom, pleeeeaaaase?! It'd be good for you! Look, his name's Jamie, all right? He's moving here in a few days and he's gonna be a part of the music industry just like you. It's perfect!"

"Marie..."

"Just try it, okay? Just once. Just meet up at the Watering Hole and look at him. If you hate him, you don't have to stay. I'll take care of Megan and Melissa. Promise."

Well, how can you argue with that?

Tiara dresses to the nines and heads out to the Watering Hole to find this apparent hot toddy.

"Excuse me..." A deep voice sounds beside her. "Are you Tiara?"

...

Hot toddy he is not. Tiara manages to morph her frustration into a stretch.

Well. If she's here, she might as well make the most of it.

"Yeah. Are you Jamie?"

He smiles at her. "I am. Pleasure to meet you. I've heard so many nice things about you."

She chuckles. "Glad to hear that." She pauses, biting her bottom lip. "You...need to know that my daughter put me up to this. I don't normally...do this kind of thing. You know?"

Jamie shrugs with a grin of his own. "That's fine. It's still a nice way to meet new people out here."

He seems nice enough, at least, and not like a serial killer. Tiara feels herself loosen up. "Would you...like a drink?"

As the two share drinks, Tiara finds herself laughing more than she expected. It's sort of refreshing, actually, going out with someone as fond of music as she is. They share a mutual love of country rock, surprising as it is.

"So why'd you move here?"

Jamie hesitates for a moment over his hot wings. "Well..." He sets his fork down and purses his lips in thought. "My band and I back home in Bridgeport, we were really going places. Headed straight to the top. And then shit happened."

Tiara blinks. "What kind of shit?"

"I sort of accidentally had sex with my bassist's girl."

"..." It's time for her to put her fork down next. "How do you accidentally have sex with someone?"

"Well, I mean-"

"No, no, you'd both have to be naked, blind, and EXTREMELY horny. And then you'd have to like...run into each other. At EXACTLY the right angle. And then you'd have to back up and do it again and again. You don't just accidentally have sex."

He smiles sheepishly down into his food with a chuckle. "All right, fine. She got me massively drunk, drugged my drink, and the next thing I know I'm waking up with a very naked woman next to me and a fucking awful hangover. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Tiara smiles back. "It's passable. So. How'd that get you here?"

"They didn't believe it was my fault. Kicked me out of the band, and I got stuck with the kid I didn't mean to father. So now I'm here."

She blinks. "What's her name?"

"LaKecia."

"...LaKecia?"

"Look, her mom named her, okay?"

The more Tiara drinks, the more attractive Jamie starts to become. His freckles start to suit him. His hook nose isn't half bad. Even that stupid goatee is okay.

By the end of the night, when Tiara suggests that he escort her home, she's surprised she actually means it.

It goes about where one might expect.

------

There is not a single even slightly attractive single man in Appaloosa Plains anymore. Not ONE. And if there's anything that Tiara won't do, I've decided it's break up a marriage.

Jamie is a Sim I made a long time ago just for kicks, and yes, that's his backstory, and yes, he does actually have a daughter named LaKecia, haha. I figured, hey, if Tiara's gonna have anyone else's kid, why not his in a brief cameo?