Friday, shift
Gil came into the lab about an hour early in order to finish up an experiment he had been working on without interruption from the others. Unfortunately for him, Catherine had come in a half hour earlier and was waiting for him in his office.
"Hello Gil."
"Catherine. You're here early."
"We need to talk."
"About?"
"I think you know what."
"Tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Look, Catherine…"
"Gil, I know you haven't found anyone for me to go out with yet."
"How did you…"
"…Know? Gil how long have we known each other?"
"In days, months or years?"
"Months and days, smart ass."
"247 months and 22 days."
"Correct. So don't you think in that amount of time I might have learned how to tell when you are lying?"
Gil didn't say anything, but Catherine knew that was what he would do.
"Look, Gil, it's fine. I'll just stay home and do some work around the house."
"No, Catherine. I've still got one more day. I'll find someone. I promise."
"Gil, It's alright. Honestly, I thought you'd find a way to weasel out of this. I didn't expect you to even try and I know you have."
"You have no idea."
"Oh I'm sure I do. It's difficult finding a decent man, even more difficult when you had a kid."
"What does having a kid have to do with anything?"
"Gil, most men don't want the extra baggage in a new relationship. They want you to themselves. A kid is competition to them."
"Only if they don't care."
"True, but you don't know that until you invest some time together. And staying home waiting on the perfect man to show up at your door doesn't work. You have to go out and meet people."
"But your tastes in men leaves a lot to be desired."
"Yes, Gil. I know that. Trust me, I know that. It's still safer than internet dating though."
Gil's face reddened when she said this.
"You've tried internet dating, haven't you?" Catherine was surprised. She knew her friend dated but she never imagined his having to resort to finding someone over the net. He had woman falling all over him whether he wanted to admit it or not.
"No."
"Gil, we just had this conversation not five minutes ago. I know you are lying."
"I haven't, honest."
"Gil…"
"…at least not for myself."
"What do you mean, "at least not for myself?"
"Promise me you won't overreact."
"What have you done?" Gil decided now would be a good time to put some distance between the two of them. He walked around to the other side of his desk.
"Promise me."
"Gil…"
"Catherine, just promise…"
"Fine. Whatever." Gil looked at her. He knew she was lying. Catherine raised her hand and crossed her heart in hopes of pacifying him. "I promise I won't overreact. Now spill it."
"I sort of registered you on E-Harmony."
"YOU WHAT?" She cocked her head to the side and Gil suddenly had the urge for a shot of whiskey.
"You promised you wouldn't overreact."
"I'M NOT OVERREACTING!" She wasn't but to anyone passing by Gil's office at the moment it would have sounded that way.
"I was going to delete it as soon as I got home today."
"Sure."
"Honest. Sara managed to completely screw it up."
"What was Sara doing with it? And how did she know about it?"
"It was an accident. My cell phone kept going off, I dropped it, she picked it up and read the messages. She insisted I let her help me or she was going to tell you about it."
"And you let her?" Catherine closed her eyes, bit her lips and took a deep breath.
"I was afraid of how you would react if you knew."
"And how was that?"
"Like this. Look, Catherine, I didn't mean for her to know about this. And I've sent back rejections to all the men that wanted to contact you. It was a bad idea. She did find you a date for Saturday though." He knew this was probably not the best thing to say at this point but it had to be better than lying to Catherine again.
"You let Sara…what on earth…"
"…I canceled it. She found him at a casino. She didn't even run a background check on him."
"Why would she need to run a background check?" Catherine was beyond furious now. Gil had managed to completely screw this up. First Greg, then Sara, then background checks on the men he was asking.
"To see what kind of person he is. Has he had trouble with the law, is he employed, is he responsible, does he move around a lot."
"Gil, you don't run a background check on someone you are going out with."
"But I wanted to make sure you are safe with whoever takes you out."
"No wonder you can't find me a date. You are scaring them all away."
"Catherine…"
"Don't Catherine me."
"So I shouldn't have canceled your date with Harry Dick?"
"What?"
"That's the name of the man Sara found for you. Harry Dick."
"Ok, I'll give you that one."
"Give me one more day. I promise I'll find the perfect date for you."
"Gil, it's ok."
"One day, Catherine. I promise." He gave her his best baby doll eyes look in hopes that she would let him have his way.
"Fine."
"Now, so you have time to rest before your big night why don't you take the night off. We don't have much going on and if something comes up I can always call you in." He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the locker room to gather her things. He walked her to her car and made sure she left.