Page 88 of The Plus One Professional

“Why are you so interested?”

She shook her head slightly as her eyes widened and her hands flew up in the air. It was the universal preteen gesture for, “I don’t know, why are you so lame?”

“Lindsay made some mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But it was how she behaved after those mistakes that was a deal breaker for me. Instead of talking to me and being honest with me about how she was feeling, she just left. I know we were young, but I can’t be with someone who I don’t trust.”

“So communication, honesty, and trust…those are important to you?”

“I think they’re important to everyone.” Or they should be.

“So, what did youlikeabout Lindsay? I mean, what made you want her to be your girlfriend?”

I thought back to when I met her. “She was sweet. And funny. And she was really good at Halo.”

At twelve, that was a big deal. A girl who not only played a first-person shooter game but kicked ass at it had been impressive.

“So you want to be with someone who plays video games,” she said as if she were confirming the information I’d just given her.

“Not now. But then I did. We met when we were twelve.”

“You and Lindsay got together when you weretwelve?” Carly shrieked.

“Yeah.”

“How did I not know that?”

“Probably because you weren’t born yet.”

She shook her head as if me and Lindsay meeting so young was a mindblower, which maybe it was. “So, what are you looking fornow?”

I’m not looking for anyone. I found her. Bailey.

“What’s with the twenty questions?”

Carly’s nose wiggled like Samantha onBewitched. It was her ‘tell’ that whatever was about to come out of her mouth was a lie. She’d done it since she was a toddler. “It’s for a school project. I need to interview people.”

Sara and I had both agreed not to let my niece in on the fact that we knew when she was lying. We felt it was better for us if she didn’t know we were on to her. This way, when she got into her teen years, we’d have an insight into things she was being dishonest about. We weren’t there yet, but she was a year away and still none the wiser.

I’d take that as a parenting win.

“Okay, shoot.” I played along.

“What are you looking fornow?” she repeated impatiently, as if I should have already known that was the question.

“I’m not looking for anyone now.”

She closed her eyes as she sighed. “Fine. But if you were, in an alternate universe, looking for a partner, what would you look for?”

“Someone who is hardworking, loves family, is sweet, kind, nurturing, funny, makes me feel safe, and who I know will be there through good and bad times.” I heard myself describing Bailey. Except for the good and bad times trait; I didn’t have proof of that. But she’d been loyal to Simon for over twenty years, through more bad than good times, so considering her track record, I figured it was a pretty good possibility.

“Okay, good.” Carly typed on her computer as she nodded. “What else? Like what color hair, eyes.”

“I mean, it doesn’t really matter.”

“Oh, right. Why do I always forget that you live in a black-and-white movie?”

When Carly was young, that’s how I described what I saw to her. I showed her black-and-white movies. I told her that’s what my world was like. And it had been, until Bailey. She brought color back into it.

“Okay, what about age?” Carly looked up from her screen.

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