Page 6 of Dashing for Love

Jerry pulls his ball cap off his nearly-bald head and sets it to the right of him on the counter. Tom adjusts his red suspenders before taking his seat next to his best friend and smiling broadly at me.

I pour their coffee. “What’ll it be, boys?” They change their order every day, bless them.

“Jerry wants the hangover omelet,” Tom says.

“And Tom wants the full breakfast, eggs over easy, toast extra crispy, bacon nearly black, extra butter in the grits.”

I write their orders down with a grin, then put them in the wheel for Willa.

I hand Tom and Jerry over to Mom and handle the dining room. It’s a relatively small diner, with a counter that seats eight, then ten four-tops and five two-tops in the dining room. When I’m waiting tables, I can usually handle it all without any issues.

Midway through the morning, my phone pings. I set down the orders for table seven, then pull my phone out as I walk back to the counter.

The notification is one that I haven’t seen in, well,ever.

YOU’VE BEEN MATCHED

Huh.

It’s the Blinding Love app. I stare at the words, in all caps and with no punctuation, and try to remember the last time I used the app.

Realization hits like a stack of pancakes, heavy and solid with a thud.When I was with Annie.Cousin Annie, who’d gone on to find someone who may not exactly be her happily ever after, but someone who is definitely making her happy a full year later.

I look at the words again.

YOU’VE BEEN MATCHED

It’s the first time I’ve matched with anyone the entire time I’ve been on this app. And considering any time I turn other apps on, I match or get interest from people pretty much immediately, not matching with anyone on this one was pretty humbling at first. Am I so off-putting to people that my face is the only saving grace? But I got over it after a month of nothing happening—their loss—and eventually, I forgot all about the app.

I’m surprised the thing still alerted.That’show long it’s been since I’ve used it.

Still. It’s hard not to swipe open the app and see what the person I matched with is like.

The problem is that they’ll see I’ve looked.

I shove my phone into my back pocket and keep working.

Ox shows up at lunchtime, bellying up to the bar like the massive man he is. Mom takes care of him, but I stop what I’m doing when I hear him mention his twin.

“Craziest thing,” he’s saying. “I’m surprised he even deigned to go on the show, let alone actually found love.”

After glancing at the dining room to make sure all my tables are good, I turn my attention fully to Ox. “Start at the beginning,” I demand. “Did you say Levi went on a show?”

Ox grins. “He did. There’s this show that matches people up based on some application they fill out. Turns out that Levimatched with a woman he went to law school with—and hehatedher back then,” he chuckles.

I put my tray down and lean forward on the counter. “What happened?”

“Apparently, they had to stay in a pretty small house for twenty-four hours. Whole premise is to see if you want to try a relationship with the person after living with them for a whole day or not.”

“And?” I urge, far more invested in this than I should be.

He smiles, and it’s so genuinely happy that it makes my heart hurt. “They’re together. Thin line between love and hate, and all that.”

Jerry slaps the counter and leans into Tom. “Told ya!”

Tom scowls. “You didn’t tell me squat, old man.”

“I told you that Levi would find love before our Chief here.”

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