Page 51 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

Her heart wasn’t in this at all tonight. There was a lot of wine being poured at the back of the room. She wasn’t great with wine, she always got very drunk, very quickly. She was tempted just to go home and forget the whole evening. She felt so sad right now. She had hurt Bear again with her revelations about what happened after the kiss. She didn’t know whether it would be better or worse for him to hear the real truth of how Star was conceived, although she could never tell him. Right now, he hated her and she didn’t blame him. He hadn’t even bothered to turn up for the dating event tonight, despite promising he would. She hadn’t seen him for the rest of the day and, when she went to his house earlier, he either hadn’t been in or was refusing to answer the door.

Imogen, the lady in charge of the Mix n Match dating events, took to a small stage area and tapped the microphone to get everyone’s attention.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to our Mix n Match dating event,’ she said. ‘Tonight is what is known as a group dating event. Simply put, you can spend the night mingling with as many different people as possible to see if you feel a connection with any of them. And to get the conversation going, tonight is also a wine-tasting night. In a moment, ladies, you will line up on one side of the long table at the back and, gents, you will line up along the other side. You can try as many of the wine samples as you’d like by moving up and down the table and feel free to discuss the wine with the men or women opposite you. What you like or don’t like about the wine, how it tastes, how it smells, what it makes you feel. And of course you can talk about other things as well.’

Everyone started looking round at the long wine table. That was a lot of wine to try. Thankfully, the wine samples were in small shot glasses so it literally was a taste.

‘Now this is not just a wine and mingle night,’ Imogen went on. ‘Mix n Match go much deeper than that. Tonight we will be looking specifically at body language. You can tell a lot about someone from their body language, the way they move and interact, even tiny things could be a big sign of attraction. Our body language is stronger than any words and some of it is very subtle. Men, if the ladies touch their hair or lick their lips when they talk to you, then chances are they are attracted to you. Eye contact is another big one from both sexes. Dilated pupils are not something you can control but if our pupils grow wider then we’re excited about something or someone. Touch is the biggest way to show you’re attracted to someone. We touch things we like, clothes we see in a shop, jewellery, people are no different. Facial expressions, other gestures and smiles are also important parts of showing you are interested.’

Meadow thought about this. While she agreed with most of what Imogen was saying, some of these things could be faked.

‘Now fortunately, you don’t have to be experts in body language or even have to be aware of it tonight. Our sophisticated computer program will do all of that for you. When you came in, you were given those tiny cameras that fit over your ears. The camera will pick up everything from the person you are talking to, just as their camera will pick up your reaction to them. All the information will be fed back to the computer and if it sees a mutual attraction, as in both of you are giving off body language to say you are attracted, the computer will match you and send a signal to those wristbands you were given. If your wristband beeps or vibrates while you’re talking to someone, it means you are both attracted to each other, which might make the conversation easier. Feel free to move over to the sofas to continue talking to someone you’ve been matched with and see if you have anything in common beyond that initial attraction. Of course, the attraction might grow the more you talk and get to know someone, so don’t be put off if your wristbands don’t beep or vibrate straightaway. If you have any questions, please do come up and ask. Although a lot of the questions will be answered in your leaflet. Enjoy your night.’

Everyone started moving off towards the wine table and Meadow followed. Staff were directing men to one side and women to the other. She moved to an open space at the table and looked down at the tiny shot glasses in front of her filled with what looked like a rosé. There was a card next to it explaining what the wine was, and the different flavours to expect. She glanced up at the man opposite her who was staring at her intently, not blinking. Christ, someone was trying hard on the eye contact part. It was actually a little creepy. Not wanting to engage in conversation with him, she focussed on the wine, taking a small sip from the shot glass, and then another. It tasted good, kind of fruity like strawberries, although she was no expert when it came to wine.

‘What do you think?’ Creepy guy was still staring at her with wide unblinking eyes.

‘It’s nice, fresh and fruity. Not dry. What did you think?’

‘I don’t drink wine.’

‘Ah, this isn’t ideal for you then.’

‘I can still talk to pretty ladies. You’re very pretty.’

She forced a smile and hoped the cameras would be able to tell it was fake. ‘Thank you. I’m going to go and try some more wine, it was nice to meet you.’ Meadow finished her shot and threw it into the small bin in the middle of the table and then moved off much further down the table to the next available space.

The next wine looked to be sparkling which she liked, so she picked it up and took a big sip. She looked over at the man opposite and at least he looked fairly normal. Nice-looking too.

He leaned over to hold out his hand. ‘Hi, I’m Max.’

‘Meadow.’

‘That’s a lovely name.’

She smiled. ‘Thank you.’

‘I feel like we’re in some futuristic film with these cameras strapped to our heads. I feel a bit like The Borg.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is,’ Meadow said.

The light faded from his eyes as if she had just told him Santa didn’t exist.

‘Oh, really? Surely everyone has heard of The Borg.’ He put on a robotic voice. ‘“You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”’

She shook her head. ‘Sorry.’

Max finished his shot of wine and moved on without even saying goodbye. For all her cheerleading of face to face meetings, this was not going well.

She finished her shot and was just about to move on when someone took Max’s place opposite. He was a good-looking man, although his smile was just teetering on cocky rather than happy. To be polite she picked up another shot of wine and took a sip. ‘Hello, I’m Meadow.’

‘Isaac.’

‘And what is it you do, Isaac?’ Meadow asked.

‘I deal with hedge funds.’

Meadow wasn’t entirely sure what that was either, other than it was some kind of investment thing, but she didn’t want to disappoint him like she had with Max so she just smiled politely and waited for him to ask what she did. He didn’t.

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