I was nervous at my first Speed Dating event. I’d prepared as best I could, and even wore a tie to look gentlemanly. Each table had been given little prompt cards in an envelope to get conversation flowing. A pretty woman with red hair in a ponytail sat in front of me and smiled. I liked her immediately and became tongue-tied. We shook hands and I forgot my name but luckily, she clocked my name badge.

“Ok, Dave let’s do this shall we?”

Reaching forward she opened the envelope that had been sitting on the table and took out one of the prompt cards. “Name a secret talent you have,” it read, and she told me how she was a high-level yoga instructor who could bring her feet over her head, but she wasn’t going to do it right here in this bar.

“How about you?” she asked, taking a sip of cool white wine. I scratched my head for a moment and then laughed. “I’m really good at arithmetic.”

“Prove it!” she challenged with a smile, “Erm, what’s 7 times 6?”

“42.” I said, a little annoyed at the simplicity of her question.

“Well, I knew that,” she said. “Everybody knows that.”

“How about you tell me your phone number and I will add up and multiply all the digits for you in less than two seconds.”

Her forehead gave way to a frown. “Woah, bit early to be giving out phone numbers isn’t it, Dave?”

I chewed my tongue. “Fine,” I said, looking around the room. “Use the number of the bar.” I shoved a beer mat towards her.

After polishing off her glass of Pinot Grigio and wiping her mouth, she flipped the mat over and read out the number to me. I closed my eyes and focused for a moment, humming quietly. I sensed she was staring at me.

“If you add them up you get 52, if you multiply the digits together then the total will be 2,688.” I leaned back and opened my eyes. There was a pause.

“But how do I know if that’s true? You could be making it up for all I know,” she said with an incredulous look on her face.

“I’m not making it up; why would I make it up? You can check.”

“I didn’t bring a calculator speed dating, darlin’,” she said, looking around the room at the men on the other tables.

The bell rang and she rose without shaking my hand. I shrugged off the rejection, knowing there were still another nineteen women to meet. I stole back the coaster and put the prompt card back at the top of the envelope. Casually I sipped my beer, glancing down at the square of paper on my lap with the notes I had made the other day. Yeah, I was right: it was definitely 2,688.