Page 47 of Marrying Off My Husband

As I drove to Eve’s, my mind went back to Eve’s statement about being unlucky in love. Had her sister’s stealing of her boyfriend been what soured her?

Whatever had made her say those words made me feel extremely guilty for using her. But I couldn’t call it off with her because Louise would have me drawn and quartered.

Plus, we needed to be on good terms when we went to Savannah next weekend.

Too many things burned through my mind as I knocked, rocking on my feet as I waited for her to open the door.

It opened seconds later, and my breath caught in my throat as I spotted Eve in a pink sundress. And then, like a complete idiot, I stood there staring at her like a predator.

The grin she’d sported when she’d pulled open the door slowly slid away, and she glanced down at her outfit as though something was wrong.

“Hi,” I finally managed.

“Hi,” she said, “uh, is everything okay? You seem…upset.”

“Everything’s fine, I just…you look really beautiful.”

“Oh,” she said with a fleeting smile as though she hadn’t expected the compliment, “thank you. Ah, just let me grab my purse, and we can go.”

Within a minute, we were on our way to my private portion of beach where I’d already had a picnic set up.

I led her down to the sand, and we settled onto the blanket already laid out for us.

The sun lowered in the sky behind us, painting the waves with a reflection of the orange and red sky forming in the west.

I poured champagne into the flutes and handed her a glass before unpacking the food.

She accepted, her features pinching as she said, “So, I’ve been putting some thought into finding someone for Louise, but I think we may need to rely on an app. I mean, unless you have someone in mind… I just don’t know very many people.”

I slid a plate closer to her, my features pinching as the guilt roiled in me again. This poor woman was stuck on a date with me after being taunted by her sister about it, and still she plowed ahead, trying to help me.

Maybe it was best to get it out of the way first, though, and then we could actually talk.

“Oh, uh, yes, I agree. I actually wrote a little program that will go through and collate information from all the dating sites out there and pick the best selections.” I pulled my phone from my pocket, and showed her my custom-built app.

“Oh,” she said with a chuckle. “MatchMerge, that’s cute.”

Heat rose in my cheeks at the compliment before she glanced at the first few matches. “Oh, this second one doesn’t look so good. Louise hates tattoos, and he’s proudly showing a few in his photos.”

“Good catch,” I noted, reaching over her shoulder to tap the note functionality I created. “You can just put a note here for future reference, and then tap the red X to dismiss him as a match.”

“Okay,” she said, typing in the note before she saved it and dismissed the tattooed man.

I leaned away, our close proximity making me nervous.

“Done. And the first one looks like a good option.”

“I’ve already set something up with him for Tuesday. Uh, with Louise and him. Not me and him. That sounded weird.”

“I knew what you meant,” she said, handing my phone back. “That sounds perfect. I hope it’s successful.”

Did she mean because she wanted to ditch dating me as soon as possible?

“Uh, I wondered if you were busy then because we could…maybe monitor it and take some notes on what’s working and what isn’t to help us in the future.” I shifted on the blanket, wondering if she’d turn me down. After all, dating me was likely enough time spent together.

“Sure, I’d be happy to help.”

I grinned at her in a silent thank you. “So, uh, I heard Louise pressed you into service to travel to Savannah with us.”

---