I was relaxing at a café on my day off when a stunning woman suddenly sat at my table.
“Hi, I’m Meredith.”
I looked around.
“Do I know you?”
She smiled.
“No. But I have a strange proposition.”
She leaned closer.
“Want to make $500 for three hours of your time?”
Naturally, I asked,
“What’s the catch?”
She explained that her strict father kept trying to set her up on dates.
So she had told him she already had a boyfriend.
There was just one problem.
Her fake boyfriend had suddenly bailed.
And now she desperately needed someone to pretend to be her partner over lunch.
I hesitated.
Then she smiled.
“You’re good-looking.”
$500 and a compliment?
I agreed.
We arrived at an expensive restaurant.
Meredith suddenly became nervous.
I laughed.
“You’re the one who hired me. Why are you nervous?”
She looked at the entrance.
“Because my father is… intense.”
Then the doors opened.
An older man walked in.
I looked at him.
My jaw dropped.
I knew him.
He was the owner of the company where I worked.
My boss’s boss.
The man who had interviewed me for my current job.
I turned to Meredith.
“You didn’t tell me who your father was.”
She looked confused.
“Why? Do you know him?”
Before I could answer, he spotted us.
He walked straight toward our table.
Then he looked at me.
And smiled.
“Well,” he said.
“I suppose this is the young man you’ve been telling me about.”
I swallowed.
“Yes, sir.”
Meredith squeezed my hand under the table.
Her father sat down.
Lunch began.
He asked me about my job.
My education.
My family.
My plans for the future.
It felt less like a date and more like a job interview.
Then, halfway through lunch, he suddenly asked:
“Would you still date my daughter if she weren’t paying you?”
I nearly choked.
Meredith’s eyes widened.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
Then I said,
“Yes.”
Her father leaned back.
“Why?”
I could have given him a clever answer.
Instead, I told him the truth.
“Because I think your daughter is brave, funny, and probably much nicer than she wants people to believe.”
Meredith stared at me.
Her father was silent.
Then he smiled.
“Good answer.”
Lunch ended.
Outside the restaurant, Meredith handed me the $500.
I took it.
Then she said,
“You know… you don’t have to disappear now.”
I smiled.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
She laughed.
“But there’s something you should know.”
“What?”
Her father had secretly offered me something during lunch.
A promotion.
Apparently, he had been looking for someone trustworthy to manage a new division.
He had recognized my name before we even sat down.
The fake date wasn’t entirely an accident.
He had wanted to meet the person his daughter claimed to be dating.
But he also wanted to see what kind of person I was when I thought nobody important was watching.
I looked at Meredith.
“So your father hired me because of a fake date?”
She smiled.
“Technically…”
She paused.
“He hired you because you passed the test.”
I laughed.
“And what about us?”
She smiled.
“Well, you already have $500.”
She stepped closer.
“Now let’s see if you can earn a second date for free.”
