Page 3 of The Marriage Narrative
Zinnia
“Guardian Angel inposition. Over,”Fiona announced.
“This is ridiculous. Over.”Grace refused to use her code name, Avenging Fury, as expected.
Zinnia laughed quietly. “Agreed, but I do love Fi’s enthusiasm.”
Was it a little strange for her friends to eavesdrop on her first marriage-merger meeting through earbuds? Maybe. But they both decided that since dating shows had producers, writers, and crew on set to keep participants safe, it was unacceptable for Zinnia to have no one.
So, Fiona volunteered to sit near the entrance to monitor the parking lot situation, Grace guarded the emergency exit, and Zinnia sat alone at her table, smack-dab in the middle of a diner they’d never been to before.
Goldeen’s was an incredible mishmash of 1950s-inspired decor and underwater magic. The employees even wore decade-accurate uniforms embroidered with a seahorse instead of a poodle.
“Incoming,”Fiona said.“Jet Blue has been spotted. I repeat, Jet Blue has been spotted. Over.”
Applicant #25 but Meeting #1: Samuel Kyle.
Things hadn’t exactly been going well so far.
Everyone within a fifty-mile radius was welcome to apply, but men respondedseven timesmore often (which wassofucking disappointing). Less than half of those applicants even made it past her aggressive filtering system. And if they did make it to the call, the conversations were so dry, she hung up feeling thirsty.
“Over here.” Zinnia stood up and waved.
Her tailbone-length braids were barely a week old, and her makeup wouldn’t dare smear. She was shaved, plucked, moisturized, and smelled so divine four strangers had already gone out of their way to ask the name of her perfume. Looking good made her feel good, and she wanted to be confident for her first meeting.
Sam, however, had chosen to wear jeans, a black band T-shirt, and old sneakers…which was fine! Not a big deal. He had beautifully rich brown eyes, a great smile, and a…character-building patchy beard. His code name came from his dark blue hair that currently looked like it hadn’t seen the right side of a comb in days—a messy look was absolutely fine!
It was fine.
“Wow.” Sam took his sweet time looking her up and down. “You actually look like your picture. I’m shocked.” He grabbed his chest as if he were having a heart attack.
“But you already knew that.” She laughed lightly to soften the reminder. “We had a video call yesterday.”
“You could’ve been using a filter. Girls usually do.”
“Red Flag One!”Grace seethed in her ear.
“Seconded,”Fiona agreed.
It hadn’t even been thirty seconds! Each meeting was allowed three red flags before her friends could initiate Mission Abort.
“Why don’t we sit down?” Zinnia suggested.
He sat next to her while glancing around the diner. “Where are your friends?”
“I didn’t want them to sit with us, but they can hear everything.” Zinnia pointed to her earbud. She regretfully didn’t have a dishonest bone in her body. Besides, if he needed support, she would’ve wanted him to be honest about it too. He absolutely could’ve brought his friends.
“Cool. I get it.” He pulled out his phone and asked, “So, do I pass? Can I have your Rule of Thirds handle now? Or do you use some other platform?”
“I already told you I don’t have anypersonalsocial media accounts.”
ZnO2 did have a few for business, of course, but Fiona managed those. She was also the primary pusher of memes and videos in their group chat. That felt like enough to keep Zinnia somewhat in the pop culture loop—a personally curated best friend feed was far superior to anything an invasive algorithm could generate.
Sam leaned forward as if he were about to tell her a secret. “You know that’s weird, right?”
“Inviting your friends to a date is fine, but he draws the line at no social media?”Grace asked.“He has zero common sense.”
“Meeting. Not a date,”Fiona corrected.
