Matched

Marina texts me later.

MARINA: How did it go?

INDIA: Great. I think we may have clinched the deal.

MARINA: Fantastic. Oh, by the way, I've got a match for Jon. She's coming to the party Saturday night.

INDIA: Yeah, he told me he re-did the questionnaire. Who's the lucky gal?

MARINA: I ran him through the system and came up with this woman who's dying to meet him. Especially when she saw his picture. You have to admit most of us would do Jon, if we were into one-night stands. He looks like a cleaned-up surfer-Ragnar.

INDIA: Who is she? I mean, Jon will fuck anything with a pretty face. I'm totally curious. I'd love to read his answers…

MARINA: You know I could never reveal his answers.

INDIA: I'm just kidding.

I feel a jolt of emotion at the thought Marina might have truly found a perfect match for Jon.

MARINA: She's perfect for him. She was a swimsuit model and now she works as a beautician at a local shop downtown. She's beautiful.

A silly stab of jealousy goes through me. I try to tamp it down.

INDIA: A swimsuit model? She does sound perfect for him. LOL

MARINA: I tell you, I got this questionnaire honed. I want you to do it again, now that I've tweaked it. I'll send it right away. Do it now, before you go to bed. I want to see who I come up with this time.

INDIA: Send away. I'll do it, but I hope you come up with someone better than Dr. Thomas the Blowhard.

MARINA: I will. I'll come up with the perfect match for you.

INDIA: Forever optimistic.

MARINA: I am. Goodnight!

I get an email with a link to the questionnaire and so I open it up, despite being tired. I fill it out and then submit it. I don’t see anything different from the one I filled out before, but who knows? I can't remember all the questions.

Then I lie on the sofa, pull a blanket up almost covering my head, and listen to an episode of Seinfeld.

The last thing I remember is Neumann muttering something under his breath.

I spend the entire next day lying on the sofa, eating microwave popcorn and catching up on some recorded episodes of Orange Is The New Black.

Jon texts me later in the afternoon and I'm surprised he hasn’t texted me sooner with some issue or other. I rarely take a day off and when I do I never get through a full twenty-four-hour period without him texting.

I hear my cell ding at around four thirty. Right on schedule.

JON: Where are you? I need you. We've got a dozen requests for more info from General Neilson.

I sigh and chew a fingernail. Jon knows full well that my assistant Caroline can provide the general with any information he needs.

INDIA: Ask Caroline. She'll do it right away. That's why I have an assistant.

There's a pause.

JON: Oh, yeah. Okay.

An hour and fifteen minutes passes.