Curves for the Single Dad

“It’s called enjoying the outdoors, Soph. Maybe you should try it some time.” Eva’s snippy reply was harder to ignore, mostly because both voices were closer.

“You sound like Stone, as if there’s some noble intentions ascribed simply because he willingly sleeps outdoors. Camping is what you do during the zombie apocalypse, not just because.”

“Ah ha! So you admit there will be a zombie apocalypse?” Eva was way too excited about this idea, but it was nothing new.

“I admit that it’s not impossible, and nothing more. Now be quiet before you give her time to run away.”

I’d given up re-reading the same two sentences as the voices drew nearer, and I was tempted to grab my things and run away. But they would only find me later for whatever they wanted to inflict on me.

“You both suck at being stealthy. If I wanted to get away I could have done so about two and a half minutes ago. Being quiet isn’t your strong suit. Either of you.” I pointed at each of them, noting that only Eva had the decency to look embarrassed.

“I’m glad you didn’t run,” Sophie said as she smoothed her pinstripe skirt, “because I would have made a police call and had you show up to the office.”

I frowned. “You would misuse public resources like that?”

She shrugged, looking completely unapologetic. “You would run from your matchmakers? Two people who only want to help you find the right man to fall in love with and make beautiful babies together?” The innocent, half-hurt look she gave me was almost comical.

“Don’t try that on me, Sophie Worthington. I’m not Stone, and your adorable puppy dog look wont’ work on me.”

She flashed a smile that was pure mischief. “It was worth a shot anyway.”

“I assume you didn’t come by to interrupt my lunch and study session for the fun of it?”

“Of course not,” Eva said and craned her neck to see the book spines pressed up against my midsection to avoid prying eyes and intrusive questions I wasn’t ready to answer. “We came to find out about your date with Chris! How did it go?”

The look shared between Eva and Sophie put me on edge because this was more than your run of the mill matchmaker excitement, there was intent behind it, and I didn’t know why.

“It was fine. Why?” I regretted that I hadn’t brought my backpack along since my question would have been more intimidating if I could cross my arms instead of looking like a perturbed school girl. “Well?”

“Calm down,” Sophie said and stepped towards me like I was a rabid animal who might attack at any moment. “This is really important, and we want, no we need you to understand why. I didn’t want to tell you this earlier because I didn’t want to unduly influence your first date.”

“Tell me what, Sophie? Stop talking in riddles.” It’s what Xander did when he wanted us to do something that we didn’t want to, or would say no to if we knew here was a choice.

“Okay fine,” she grumbled and grabbed my shoulders so we were face to face. “You and Chris scored high on the compatibility scale.”

“Like really high,” Eva added just in case their appearance during my lunch break wasn’t some indication.

“Okay, and? This is what you guys do, right?” I shook my head and took a step back from the two crazy women assembled before me. “Honestly I’m starting to think that this business of love has warped your brains. No offense.”

“None taken,” Sophie said on a derisive snort. “I mean how could we possibly take offense to that?”

“So we scored a high on how compatible we are, big deal.”

“No Tara, you don’t understand. There’s high, the seventy-five to eighty-five percent range and then there’s high high. You and Chris scored over ninety percent. Over. Ninety. Percent.” Sophie may as well have transformed into someone else, because she went full geek mode, explaining about modules and X factors and a bunch of other tech speak that I couldn’t decipher even if I wanted to. And I didn’t want to. “Simply put, this is as close to a perfect match as we can get, and few people ever get this.”

I shook my head . “No. You ladies must have made a mistake somewhere, so I suggest you go back and run the numbers again. Or whatever.” I mean sure, we had a good date. A very good date, but I got the impression Chris wasn’t looking for The One.

“So you didn’t have a good time with him?” Eva’s keen eyes missed nothing, so I had to be careful.

“Oh, it was fun. We went to an escape room and then dinner. It was a good time. He’s good looking and charming. And he’s a good kisser, but I get the sense he’s not really looking for a match.” Maybe it was the cynic in me, or just my law enforcement training, but there was something surface-y about his interactions, however charming I found them. They were engaging, but not necessarily of a man looking for a deeper connection with another person.