Page 5 of Something Blue

Sadie stifled a laugh. Carrie’s husband was handsome, despite his slight potbelly. “Okay, so there is one good-looking guy with a mustache, but my general rule is no facial hair.”

“Fine.”

Unfamiliar faces continued to scroll by.

Sadie groaned and leaned her head against her friend as her eyes started to droop. Right before they closed, a familiar face flashed by. “Wait, go back.”

“Who? Him?” Carrie asked, scrolling back one guy.

Sadie froze as her high-school heartthrob smiled back at her. What was he doing on a matchmaking site?

“Russel Smart,” Carrie read. “Business owner. Twenty-nine. Lives in Anthem. Phew, he must be rich.”

“His name’s not Russel. That’s Andy Reed from high school. He was the guy every girl wanted.”

“You too?”

“Yep, especially me. He never gave me the time of day, but he must’ve known about my one-sided crush. I was pretty obvious. For Valentine’s, I sang a Love-O-Gram to him with a bunch of members from the choir in the middle of the cafeteria. It’s hard to say if he knew it was me who ordered the song, not that it made a difference. I wonder why he changed his name.”

“There are a lot of crazies on here. I don’t blame him.” Carrie sent him a message of interest.

In seconds, there was a return reply.

“I’m looking for someone to strike a deal with,” Carrie read aloud. “Hmm. I think this guy might be perfect. Should we go for it?”

As she pictured Andy on the beach next to her, Sadie started laughing. “Wow! This’ll be something to see. Chances are he won’t do it, but let’s give it a try.”

3

Andy

As Andy leaned against his chair at the end of his embarrassing day at the office, Tanner came in with a stack of papers. “Can’t I do it tomorrow?” Andy asked. “Today’s been horrible enough.”

Tanner looked at the papers in his hand and back at Andy. “Ah, these? It’s not work. This is for pleasure. I’ve printed out a couple of potentials from the dating app.”

Andy’s heart raced beyond his control. It’s not like he hated women or relationships. Nothing made his heart patter more, but he was successfully married to his work and wasn’t looking to mess it up. Dating Jenna, and all the preceding women, had been an epic failure—one he wasn’t ready to repeat.

“There’s one in particular I think will be perfect,” Tanner said. “She’s pretty cute, too.”

Andy took the small stack and started flipping through them. “I don’t like her eyebrows. This girl doesn’t even have a neck. This one’s got ‘high-maintenance’ written all over her face.” One by one, he put them aside. The last picture he held on to a little longer. She had curly, reddish-brown hair that needed a good straightener. “I’ve seen this face before. Where have we met?”

Tanner smiled widely. “I put her on the bottom for a reason. She’s looking for a temporary boyfriend. Perfect, right? And bonus—she’s a nurse. You know how your mom feels about people in the medical industry.”

He barely listened as his assistant continued to prattle on. Sadie hadn’t written much in her profile, but he hadn’t either. An inch short of five-foot, slender, nice smile. His dad would only accept someone as meticulous as himself. If it weren’t for her bangs or the casual clothes she wore, he would have called it a deal.

“Should I message her?” Tanner asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Her hair is distracting,” he said pointing. “You know Dad has high standards.”

“Those things can be fixed. What if we send her to where our show performers go and give her a new look?”

“Won’t she think that’s demeaning?”

“Most women love makeovers. Plus, I can pick out a few outfits so the two of you will look great together, no matter where you go.”

“I’ll do that,” Andy said with a sigh. “I know exactly the type Dad likes.”

* * *

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