Page 32 of Someone Like You

‘This is Ritu,’ says Poppy. As she progresses through a series of images of an attractive South-Asian woman with curly, shoulder-length hair, Poppy gives me an in-depth biography of Ritu. In broad strokes, she’s a high school English teacher, the oldest of three sisters, and the only one who’s not married. She’s also an avid traveller and has three cats.

In my periphery, Poppy looks my way and I turn to her. ‘Any preliminary thoughts on Ritu?’ she asks.

‘Umm, just that she’s an avid traveller and Raff’s about to be tied to London with his new role at Baked to Perfection – at least for the foreseeable future. Thatcouldlead to a clash in priorities and, eventually, resentment – on both their parts.’

Poppy’s eyes meet mine in the semi-darkness. ‘That’s an astute observation. Though, Raffhastravelled quite a bit in the past. Don’t you think he’ll come back to it once he’s got the lay of the land at Baked to Perfection?’

‘Hmm, maybe. But that could be months or even years from now.’

‘She’s only the first of eight,’ says Ursula. ‘I suggest we proceed.’

I turn back to the screen and at the press of a button, a blonde woman with striking green eyes appears. ‘This is Eilidh,’ says Poppy.

And just like that we’ve ‘swiped left’ on Ritu. I don’t feel entirelycomfortable being in this position, learning about these women and judging them on so little information. Maybe that’s why I’ve never used dating apps for anything more than casual dates. What can you really tell about a person based on their most flattering photo and some BS they’ve written in their bio?

Eilidh seems nice enough, but she has celiac disease and how would that work? Sure, sometimes Raff bakes gluten-free recipes, but he’s about to work in a bakery! What’s he supposed to do? Wear a hazmat suit to work so he doesn’t come home covered in flour and make his girlfriend sick?

What started out as a novel assignment becomes more laborious as we go on. By the time we finish, we only have two potential matches – Jane, who works for a not-for-profit, and Ava, who’s a vet. We also have an alternate – Julia, an artist who I wanted to kibosh solely for her obsession with German rave music, something Raff can’t stand. But Ursula insisted we make her the alternate in case the others don’t pan out.

‘And we’re done,’ says Poppy brightly.

She brings up the lights, and I blink until my eyes adjust.

‘Thank you, Poppy,’ says Ursula. ‘Richard’s taking me to dinner, so I’ll be off. Nice to meet you, Gaby. No doubt we’ll see you again soon.’

We say goodbye to Ursula and Poppy collects our glasses, then leads us out of the screening room. ‘I’ll pop these in the dishwasher and be right back.’

With the office to myself for a few moments, I feel a pang of… well,something– unease, maybe. Was I too harsh on those women? They all seemed nice enough – and interesting – and I know from Freya the agency prides itself on the calibre of its clientele, including potential matches. Maybe that’s why it feels icky to dismiss them based on a single preference or trait.

‘Ready?’ Poppy asks, and I land back in the present.

‘Yeah, sure,’ I reply.

She stops by her desk to collect her handbag and we head towards the exit.

‘Poppy?’

‘Mmm?’ she asks as she keys in a security code. A loud beeping sound blasts, and she ushers me quickly through the double glass doors, then takes a set of keys out of her handbag and locks up.

‘Back there… was I too judge-y – about the women? It’s just that I know Raff and?—‍’

‘No, no, not at all. It’s important we get this right, and you’re across details that may not seem to matter on the page but could be a dealbreaker in the real world.’

‘Exactly. That’s all I was trying to do.’

She presses the button to call the elevator and the doors open right away. As we step inside, something else occurs to me. ‘Can I ask… if I hadn’t come in today, how would you have… you know?’

‘Narrowed down the shortlist?’

I nod.

‘By further scrutinising every compatibility marker, then considering which of the potential matches to introduce to Raff first.’

‘So,matchmaking?’ I ask with a smile. ‘It’s much more complex than I originally thought.’

‘It’s not an exact science, but we have a high success rate and where we fail, we take those learnings and adjust. You’ve saved us several days’ work.’

‘Then I’m glad I could help. And do you always do it like that?’

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