His Heart Knew Before He Did novel Chapter 3

Lydia froze for a few seconds before realizing it was Xavier.

She kept it brief: [What do you want?]-

He replied instantly: [We didn't eat at the blind date today, just had drinks. Total was twenty bucks. Since it didn't work out, we're splitting the bill.]

Splitting a twenty-dollar tab...

That was a whole new level of cheap.

Not only was Xavier flippant, but he was also a spectacular cheapskate.

Lydia decisively sent him a ten-dollar digital transfer.

She wanted absolutely nothing more to do with him.

But Xavier didn't accept the money. Instead, he sent another message.

[I want cash. Same place tomorrow morning. I'll be waiting.]

Lydia wanted to laugh.

Was this guy out of his mind?

She aggressively typed out a response, realized it was too much, deleted it, and retyped.

[I'm busy in the morning. Let's do the afternoon.]

A long while later, he sent back a single, cold word.

[Fine.]

Early the next morning, the matchmaker dragged Lydia out for more dates.

Throughout the morning, she met three different men.

One was a tenured math teacher in town.

One was an obstetrician from the county.

And the last was a divorced businessman with a kid.

They were either creepy, overweight middle-aged men or overly confident losers.

The dating pool was an absolute disaster, getting worse with every candidate.

Just when Lydia thought the nightmare was over, the matchmaker rushed her to the next location.

The final prospect was a twenty-five-year-old named Marcus Kane.

He was a sweet talker, relentlessly praising her luminous skin and gorgeous looks.

But she still found an excuse to politely decline.

After all, she was barely surviving; romance was the last thing on her mind.

Wrapping things up quickly, Marcus took it in stride, chuckling as he spoke.

"Hey, if we can't date, we can still be friends!"

"You were busy this morning, turns out..." Xavier drawled, "you were just going on more blind dates?"

Lydia didn't have a good impression of him and replied dryly, "I have no choice. I'm getting older, and my family is rushing me."

Xavier held the cigarette between his lips, staring at her with a smirk.

"Xavier, you two know each other?" Marcus caught the scent of gossip.

"Yeah," Xavier put out his cigarette and shoved his hands into his pockets, showing zero hesitation. "She was my blind date. Yesterday."

"You should have said so!" Marcus clapped his hands, loving the drama. "So she's basically yours!"

Birds of a feather flock together.

He really was Xavier's friend—both of them were completely absurd.

Lydia completely lost the desire for a free ride. She looked at Xavier. "Coach Vance, I'll pass on the ride. I have things to do, so I'll be going."

She pulled a crumpled ten-dollar bill from her pocket and pressed it onto the hood. "Your ten dollars in cash for the split tab."

After a few steps, Lydia turned back, pulled out another ten-dollar bill, and set it down with a sarcastic smile.

"The rest is my treat."

Xavier glanced at the twenty dollars on the hood, then looked at Lydia's retreating figure.

A barely noticeable curve tugged at his usually grim lips.