Page 10 of We Met Like This
“Unhappy,” was how she actually finished the sentence. A word that hadn’t even come into my mind.
I pressed my brakes as I took the turn into my neighborhood. “I’m not.”
“Maybe you need some goals. When I’m feeling down, I challenge myself to a new twenty-one-day habit.”
“I’m not feeling down, but I’ll keep that in mind. And like I said, I am sort of embarking on a new twenty-one-day habit in the dating world.” That’s probably about how long it would take before the apps provided me either bliss or misery. Either outcome would prompt me to delete them.
“How so?” she asked.
“I call the apps finding a needle in a haystack. The hay is the people I have to work through to find the needle which will probably end up stabbing me in the eye once I grab hold of it.”
“Sounds like you need to get off the apps,” Mom said.
I laughed. “You’re telling me. But I haven’t given up. You know everything takes me twice as long to accomplish than the average person. And, Mom, I’m fine, very fulfilled.” Sure, not at work and not at all with my love life or my health goals… but I had really great friends and family. And that was something.
“If you don’t come to the T-ball game, at least come see us this weekend. We’ll order some food and watch a movie.”
“As long as we don’t useyourglitch-filled app.” Great, my life sounded so pathetic that my mom felt like it needed to be filled with rom-coms and sugar in order for me to find joy again. How could I show her that I wasn’t someone to pity when I felt so pitiful?
CHAPTER 4
Good morning, beautiful
That was the message waiting for me when I woke up, from not one but two people I had matched with the day before. With all my heart, I wanted it to be a sweet, genuine sentiment, but when every other guy sent the same message after a few short exchanges, it no longer felt genuine.
I unmatched both of them and sat up with a stretch.
My room was cold. It was late April, which brought us perfect weather outside, but Sloane had once read that the optimum temperature for sleeping was sixty-eight degrees and she took her sleep very seriously. I pulled on my robe and stepped into a pair of slippers I kept at the foot of my bed, then exited my room.
Our kitchen was a good size for an apartment. Probably bigger than we needed, considering neither of us liked to cook. It had a small island and two long countertops. It had a large oven that we never used; instead we’d bought a Crock-Pot, then an Instant Pot, and finally an air fryer, all of which wealso never used. The one appliance we religiously used was our coffee maker.
I poured myself a mug now. Sloane joined me, sliding her mug next to mine. I obliged, filling her cup.
“How manygood morning beautifuls today?” she asked.
“Two,” I said.
“Should we write a book for men titled‘How’s ur day going’ and other things you shouldn’t type into a chat box because every dude bro across all platforms does?”
I took a sip of my coffee and hummed in agreement.
“I mean, I know a literary agent. I bet we could get that published,” she said.
“We might need to work on the title. It’s a bit long.”
She poured some vanilla creamer into her mug, then added a dash to mine. “I think it’s perfect.”
“Speaking of agents, I asked Rob about a promotion.”
Sloane’s eyes went wide and she slapped the counter with her hand. “It’s about time! Good job. What did he say?”
I took my coffee to the table and sat down. A vase full of dying flowers dropping their petals occupied the middle of the table. They weren’t mine to throw away or they would’ve been in the garbage at least three days ago. Maybe that was just my jealousy speaking. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten flowers. “He said we’d talk about what that entails soon. Or something like that.” I didn’t remember exactly what he said but that was the gist of it.
Her happy expression faded as she slid into the chair next to mine. “That sounds like classic Rob. Always later.”
“It felt different this time.”
She patted my arm. “I hope you’re right.”
