Ailana’s Journal: Part 2—2026-06-30 (Patreon)

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A TERRIBLE PLAN by Sofia Torres

There has to be some proverb about bad plans…

It’s been a few days since I saw Ryan at Dairy Queen and forced him to let me buy his milkshake. I’ve thought a lot about that since. I probably should have thought more. And differently.

I’ve said I’m ready to not spend weekends alone. I’d like someone to date, to be honest. Since I got my green card, I’ve been so busy that I’ve met very few nice men.

Ryan seems nice. And he’s easy to talk to.

At Dairy Queen, Ryan told me he always gets off work at 5:30 on Tuesdays to go to a Bible fellowship at his church. I mentioned my plan to Micah on the phone today and he seemed to think it was worth a shot.

Micah ended up saying, “Well, good luck, and make sure you stay safe! I’ll tell Jasmine for sure.”

I decided to wait for him to come out and invite myself to go. After work, I changed clothes and went to Walmart.

I caught up to him crossing the parking lot. “Ryan…”

He saw me, smiled, and let me catch up. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“You probably think I’m a stalker by now.” I planned that in advance.

“Since you ask, you probably aren’t.”

“I’m not. A stalker. I’m not a stalker even if it seems like I am.” Whatever else I had planned… gone.

I just went for it. “Um…okay…so you said you have a fellowship thing at church on Tuesdays. I thought…you might let me go with you.”

He turned a little and looked at me—the good news was that he was smiling slightly. “You want to go to church with me?”

“You seem really nice. I’m really nice, too. I’d like to…” I changed lanes before I confessed my desire for a boyfriend. “…meet other nice people at your church.”

Awkward pause. Long, very awkward pause.

“I’m single,” he replied.

I stared, and he went on. “No wife. No fiancée. No girlfriend. Since you’re asking me for a date, I thought you’d want to know.”

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My gut was a circus act. I’d never asked. He’d never said. I’d built a plan on an assumption.

He went on. “I assume you’re single? Nice married women don’t ask men out on dates.”

“Yes! I’m… very single… Ryan, I just… assumed.”

“Ryan Page.”

My mind was reeling. Until then, I didn’t even know his full name.

“Oh…Sofia Torres. I am a stalker, aren’t I?”

Ryan shrugged. “I think I’m okay with that. So you want to go to Bible fellowship with me?”

“You told me about it at Dairy Queen. I thought it… would be a nice way… to meet people and spend some time with you.”

“Which?” He laughed a little. “Meet people or hang out with me?”

I took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking you seem really nice. I thought it would be a reason we could spend time together.”

“I would be delighted to spend some time with you, too,” he replied.

“Really?” I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but I threw it out there.

He smiled and nodded. “So… we’ve not got too much time… Do you want to follow me or get in a truck with a stranger?”

I realized I had launched myself off the high dive right into the deep end without looking down.

“I’ll follow you so you don't have to drive me back.”

He looked at his truck, then back at me. “How about this? In for a penny, in for a pound…follow me to Taqueria and leave your car there. We’ll go to Bible fellowship, then I’ll buy you dinner…”

Doubts raced through my head. I knew almost nothing about the man I had asked to take me to church. Until a minute ago, I hadn’t even known his last name. I actually didn’t even know what church he went to.

“Are you sure? And do I look okay for your church? I have nice shoes for Mass and good work shoes. I don’t have anything casual right now.”

“You look great. And I’m sure about church and dinner. Beyond that…I’m sort of making all this up as I go.”

I formulated a way to take back my question: Ryan, sorry… I didn’t think this through. I didn’t even know if you were single! Let’s backtrack and maybe meet for milkshakes after work tomorrow.

Instead, I said, “Okay… I’ll follow you to Taqueria and ride with you to church.”

Now, I read a lot of books. I’ve learned that if a story is told with “I” and “we,” the teller made it through the story. So you already know I made it through the night, and I’m fine.

The Bible fellowship was great. He goes to The Table, a little church a few blocks from McDonald’s. Dinner was also great.

He asked me whether the Spanish and English descriptions on the menu matched.

I joked with him. “You assume I speak Spanish.”

He shrugged. “A surer bet than assuming you were single.”

I blushed, laughed, and confirmed that the menu was correct in both languages. The food was great. The conversation stayed light.

He told me that his parents had retired and gone to Costa Rica as missionaries. “Dad does light fix-it-up work… painting… faucets… things like that. Mom helps out in health clinics and with children’s programs.”

I told him about my family back in Matamoros. He asked thoughtful questions and listened to my answers.

I’ll wrap up by saying it was a very nice first date. And it definitely was a date. He walked me to my car.

“I’d like to exchange phone numbers,” he said. “You can call or text anytime. I like how you were confident about what you wanted tonight. How about I call you tomorrow and ask you to go on a second date with me this weekend?”

You’d better believe I exchanged numbers with him. He asked if he could hug me goodnight, and I said yes.

So now I’m home, safe in my bed. But I feel a lot less like I’m the only girl in the world who’s lonely.

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