Page 70 of April

“Right.” Bryce chuckled, and they walked on.

“What?” Linden asked.

“Nothing. Soph told me Asher is dating.”

“She is.”

“On an app.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Why?”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I helped her create her profile. She got a message request from Stephania.”

“Who?”

“Stephania,” Linden said. “TheStephania.”

Bryce shook her head, still not understanding.

“The supermodel, Bryce.”

“Oh. Asher got a request from a supermodel?”

“Yes.”

“But it’s not legit, right? Someone’s just catfishing her.”

“She told me right before you two walked in that she knows it’s her. But then, we went to lunch, so I don’t know anything else.”

“Damn. Asher’s hot. She’d look good with Stephania.”

“Hey!” Linden said, not knowing why.

“What?” Bryce asked. “Problem?”

Linden just looked toward the spot where she’d met the psychic.

CHAPTER 19

Asher laughed as she read the response from Stephania and typed a message.

Asher Hahn: Can you even meet in public? Do you have to wear big sunglasses with that hat?

She waited, but it didn’t take long.

Stephania: I can probably get away with not doing all that around here. It depends on where we go, I guess. You’re a local. Where could we meet where I might not get recognized?

Asher thought about it. She knew it was way too risky to just agree to let Stephania come to her apartment, where they could be alone, but she was tempted. She supposed they could meet somewhere outside of the city, but that would be a drive, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to go that far when she was meeting a stranger. The closer she was to home and her friends, the better.

This was stupid. Asher shook her head at herself. Why did people engage in this kind of behavior, to begin with? She was trying to arrange meeting strangers on apps. She’d heard horror stories about how people had done this and decided to meet at someone’s house only to have the person they were meeting steal their stuff or worse. When did it become old-fashioned to meet someone in a public place while you were on a walk or grocery shopping? When did it become too hard to find someone in the world, so people resorted to finding them on their phones?Asher missed the good old days a little, but she supposed therewassomething thrilling about this.

Someone saw her picture and thought she was attractive enough to reach out to. Someone was messaging her right now because they wanted to meet with her and go out on a date. It was much easier to scroll through profiles than sit in a bar somewhere, waiting for someone else to approachher, because she had never really been the woman to walk up to a guy and ask him to buy her a drink or for a dance. It was nice to just have to pick up her phone, see if someone messaged her, and decide what she wanted to do from there.

“Hey,” Asher said when she looked up and caught sight of Linden, who must have just returned from lunch.

“What’s up?” Linden asked.