I Shall Not Want Read Online Free PDF

wouldn’t exactly call it a break.”

    Cindy cursed the need to take a risk that had driven her to stand in the cold on a Saturday night outside a hotel ballroom. She sucked in her breath. The doors to the ballroom opened toward the parking lot, so she hadn’t had to walk through the lobby enduring the stares of others.
    Half a dozen people walked past her. A couple turned to stare at her as she shifted her weight nervously from one foot to another. She wore an emerald green dress and a pair of matching pumps. The shoes had been a mistake. They pinched her toes horribly, and sooner or later she would need to sit down either by going back to her car or by proceeding inside.
    She thought of half a dozen excuses why she shouldn’t go in, shouldn’t take part, shouldn’t take a risk. Come on, just make a decision.
    She turned, deciding to go home instead. She paused, though, as a man she knew walked up to her, a look of surprise on his face.
    “Joseph!” she blurted out.
    He smiled. “What are you doing here?”
    “Taking a risk,” she said, without thinking. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know…”
    “Home doing serious things instead of out participating in speed dating?”
    “Yeah.” She colored in embarrassment. It was bad enough she had signed up for speed dating, but she hadn’t wanted anyone else to know.
    “It can be difficult to find women who like me for me and not for my bank account. It was Derek’s suggestion that I try speed dating so that, you know, it would be nice and anonymous during the whole first-impression stage. He set it up and was insistent that I go. I figured coming here and doing this was better than sitting at home watching the cleaners try and remove all the blood from the office.”
    “I’m sorry.” Her stomach twisted as she remembered what that blood had looked like.
    He shrugged.
    “At least the event seemed to go okay yesterday… despite everything.”
    “I am grateful for that,” he said.
    “Yeah.”
    “So why are you standing out here?”
    “Chicken to go in,” she admitted.
    “I sat in the car for ten minutes,” he said with a grin. “I hate dating.”
    “So do I.”
    “Well, then, let’s go in together for moral support.”
    “Works for me,” she said. “Although it might be a little odd given that we’re supposed to be a couple.”
    “Oh, you saw that, huh? I’m sorry. I already called both papers and tried to set them straight.” He turned bright red.
    “It’s okay, although my mother called at five a.m. to ask me about it.”
    “You want me to call her too?”
    “No! I think that would just end up making it worse.”
    They ended up being the last two to sign in. Small tables were arranged in a circle with two chairs at each table that faced each other. Cindy was given a pen, a notepad, and a nametag with the number 20 on it. The men were assigned letters, and Joseph ended up with T . She took her seat at one of the tables in the interior ring, her back toward all the other women.
    The men all started at a table and after five minutes would rotate clockwise until they had gone all the way around the room. Each pairing had just five minutes to talk and impress each other. At the end of the evening, everyone would turn in their notepad, identifying the numbers or letters of the people they were interested in. The organizers would then go through and see if there were any matches. If Cindy and a man both were interested in each other, they would be given contact information and encouraged to go out on a real date.
    Cindy clutched her pen, her heart pounding. She was crazy for doing this.
    Joseph sat down at her table and gave her a tentative smile. “This way we can ease into this,” he said.
    The bell rang to start the session, and he leaned forward. “I enjoy travel, and my dream destination is Ireland. I also love dogs. I breed and show poodles. I own my own company. I’m involved in charity work.”
    Cindy couldn’t