Page 8 of Fireworks & Forehead Kisses

As an adult, I’d often wondered what my obsession with being married was. Was it because I had an unstable homelife? Not only was my house not exactly nurturing, but, as an Army brat, I spent my childhood moving from town to town, constantly being the new girl until I was nine. Then my parents died, and my sister became my guardian. She was eighteen, trying to support us while she went to college and worked, so things were hard. I never had any semblance of the sort of idyllic family I saw portrayed on TV and in movies. Maybe that’s why I wanted it so badly.

“Lee Lee, you look so pretty!” I opened my eyes as Luna stood back and admired her masterpiece. Two thick blonde curls fell over her forehead, and she pushed them back out of her eyes.

“Thank you! Can I see?”

She lifted the handheld mirror up in front of my face. I had two squares of blue eyeshadow on my lids, round circles of pink blush, and red lipstick that looked like it was applied during an earthquake. I looked like a clown going to an ’80s-themed party.

“Beautiful!” I enthused right as the timer went off on the oven.

“Dinner’s ready!” She clapped.

“Go wash your hands,” I instructed.

Luna ran to the bathroom, and I heard the water running then turn off before she plopped herself down in front of the television, where we usually ate dinner. Her mom had a rule about eating at the dinner table, but Auntie Lee Lee liked to eat in front of the TV.

I took the baking tray out of the oven and plated the chicken nuggets and French fries, then squirted some ketchup and BBQ sauce on the side. Thankfully, I wasn’t in charge of Luna’s nutritional intake on a regular basis. Otherwise, there would be problems since I still had the diet of a college student. For years, I’d lived off of Cup O’ Noodles, Bagel Bites, hot dogs, chips, and junk food. Thankfully, good genetics and a fast metabolism had saved me from putting on the freshman fifteen after I moved outof my sister’s house. If not, it probably would have been more like the freshman forty.

Now that I was no longer in school and had a real job, it might be time to think of trying to eat healthy and maybe exercise. By the time I got home from my interview, if you could call it that, I’d gotten the details for the job I’d be starting on Monday. It was arealjob. I had health benefits and a salary. This was the first time I wouldn’t be working for an hourly wage. There was the small problem of me not truly understanding what my job was actually going to be. My title was COO of Wolfe Clothing. I thought the C stood for creative something, but when I looked it up, I saw it was Chief Operating Officer.

Part of me was wondering if I might be getting pranked. The salary was quadruple what I thought I’d be able to make coming out of school, and I was 99.9% sure I was not qualified for the position, not that I was even sure what the position entailed.

Luckily, I had always been a fast learner. Also, if it didn’t work out, at least I’d have a good story to tell. The time I was hired to be a COO without any qualifications for a woman who lived inThe Notebookhouse with Budweiser horses.

I set Luna’s plate down and mine on the coffee table in front of her. Then, I went to the kitchen to grab her juice box and my Dr. Pepper. When I returned, Luna was pointing at the screen.

“Lee Lee, look! The show you like!”

“What show, baby girl?”

I glanced at the television and saw that there was an advertisement forMarried by a Matchmaker.

“Yep, it sure is.”

“If you are single in the Atlanta area between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five and are looking for a husband or wife, you can apply for the upcoming season of Married by a Matchmaker!” the host announced.

Suddenly, a memory came back to me of Daphne, Nadia, Zoe, and me sitting around the booth at the bar the other night. The same commercial had come on the big screen, and I remember telling them thatIwas going to apply for the show. I was a few shots in at the time and had totally forgotten until this moment.

“What’s single, Lee Lee?”

“It means that you’re not married,” I explained as I lowered down beside her and set our drinks on the coffee table.

Luna spun toward me and put her tiny hands on my cheeks as she gasped. “Like you? You’re single!”

“Yep.” I nodded. “I am.”

She pushed my cheeks together, causing my lips to make a fish face. “Does that mean you can go on the show?”

“It means that I could apply to go on the show,” I said through my squishy face.

Her hands dropped, and she stood and hopped up in the air. “Does that mean they would give you a husband?!”

“If I got picked, then yes.”

“You have to go on the show!” Luna clapped her hands together.

Did I?I’d just got this new job. Applying for a reality show wasn’t the most responsible thing to do.

“Lee Lee’s got a husband! Lee Lee’s got a husband! Lee Lee’s got a husband!” Luna started chanting like she was doing a conga line when the front door opened and Hank and my sister walked in.

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