One Fine Day - Olivia Miles

Chapter One

Sarah Preston stared at her phone in disbelief. Cancelled! Her date for tonight had cancelled. At eight thirty in the morning! As if suddenly, halfway through his second cup of coffee, he decided that he’d rather do something else with his evening. Something better.

And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, he hadn’t even rescheduled. Hadn’t said much of anything really. Sorry, but I can’t make it tonight after all. That was it. Hadn’t even apologized. And boy, did he have an apology to make, not just for cancelling at the final hour, but for the new dress that hung from a hook on her closet door, and the new shoes to match, and the manicure that she had gotten last night after work. The one that was already chipped because in her fury she had reverted back to biting her thumb, the way she used to do back in school, when she was feeling particularly worked up about something like the Sadie Hawkins dance or term exams.

Between all of these items, half her weekly paycheck was gone. For nothing!

She stared at the brief message, even though she had it memorized, her mind trying to push back the excuses as quickly as they formed; after all, why should she be making up excuses for a man who hadn’t even bothered to offer up one to her?

A man she hadn’t even met. That was the worst of it. He hadn’t even given her a chance.

She flopped back onto her unmade bed, and stared at the overhead fan that was on overdrive. The weather was warming up, and the rain that had made the flower beds soggy and everyone’s spirits damp all week had finally stopped. Sunlight poured in from the windows, showing promise of a beautiful weekend, the kind she usually looked forward to in Oyster Bay. Tourists had been flocking to town since Memorial Day weekend, and Main Street was bustling. She’d planned to wear those navy strappy sandals tonight with a bright pink handbag that would look adorable against that chambray sundress. She’d planned to tuck a pink cardigan of a similar shade into her bag in case the ocean breeze made her chilly come sundown. She’d planned to wear her hair up, off her neck, in case they sat outside and the humidity lasted into the evening instead. She had covered all her bases. Except the part about him cancelling.

She’d planned a lot of things. Too many. If she was being honest with herself, she shouldn’t have even flirted with the notion that if things went well tonight, she might be able to casually invite her date to her friend Hannah’s wedding in three weeks.

Now, she would be going to the event alone. As usual.

Sarah didn’t know which was worse, frankly, that her date had cancelled on her without even giving her a chance, or that she would have to go to Hannah’s wedding alone, when she’d actually dared to think that this time, she wouldn’t be stuck at the singles table with her boss Chloe. Once, there was a time when she held out hope that there might be an eligible bachelor at the singles table, but this was Oyster Bay, everyone knew everyone, and there were very few surprises. Besides, Hannah was marrying a local: Dan Fletcher. There wasn’t even the hope of an out of town guest.

Sarah finally stood up after five more minutes of self-pity, straightened her skirt, inspected her chipped manicure, and decided that it was time to get to work. It was time for a lot of things, actually, but online dating was not one of them. Nope. Not for her. She’d forced herself to do it, for a thirty-day trial run, and the hope that had swelled within her the day she uploaded her profile was now almost tragic, really. She had even asked Hannah, who was a professional photographer, to take some photos of her down at the beach, and they had turned out lovely, truly, not only because of Hannah’s artistic eye, but because Sarah had actually paid money to have her hair cut, layered, and blown out at the salon beforehand. Plus a “free” makeover where she got roped into buying a lipstick that was quite flattering, at least.

She’d put her best self out there. Written a peppy, breezy bio that she’d asked Hannah’s sister Evie, a therapist and advice columnist, to review, as well as Abby, who was her closest friend in town and who possessed the kind