Brandon turned to River. “Do you find her attractive?”
“This test isn’t a measure of attraction,” River said blandly. “It’s a measure of compatibility.”
Jess set down her bread. “You really just said that.”
“Jessica,” David said, redirecting her attention. “Do you?”
She laughed. “River is attractive. We can all see that.” She made the mistake of instinctively glancing his way when she said this and noticed a tiny muscle twitching upward at the corner of his lips. It made her feel softer, bending toward him, and self-preservation swelled up in her throat. She hated it. “But speaking to him is like having a conversation with a grouchy calculator.”
David hid a surprised laugh with a cough, gamely tapping his own chest and reaching for his water. To Jess’s right, River exhaled long and slow.
“Let me try a different tack,” Brandon said as the waiter brought the first course. “We believe in this science.” He gestured to the men on either side of him. “I don’t just mean that we hope it works because we stand to make a lot of money. That is true, of course, but that isn’t everything. Yes, the story of the two of you could be very compelling for our launch, but it’s also a scientific curiosity for us. So far, every couple who received scores greater than eighty is still together and scores off the charts on many measures of relationship satisfaction. We have to wonder: How satisfied would a couple be at ninety-eight?”
“Every match over eighty has been successful?” she asked, wondering at his wording. “I thought Lisa said three out of four.”
“Legally we can’t say one hundred percent, because not every Titanium Match has actually connected in person yet.”
“That must be annoying for you,” she joked.
This time, David’s laugh was booming. “You have no idea.”
“You’re both young, attractive, and single,” Brandon said, rolling with this momentary levity.
“We aren’t asking you to marry him,” David added.
“I’m sorry,” River cut in. “Can I join this conversation?”
“Yes,” Jess agreed, “where are you with all of this?”
The food sat neglected on the table in front of them as they all waited for his answer. “Of course I believe in it,” River said. “I invented it.”
Do you actually believe our result could be real? That we could be soulmates? she wanted to ask, but the words felt too enormous to push past her lips. She dug into her scallops instead.
“We’re asking the two of you to spend some time together,” Brandon urged.
“Exactly,” David said, nodding. “To get to know each other. Give it a little time.”
“Unfortunately,” she said, lifting a bite to her mouth. If nothing else, at least she was getting dinner out of it. “Time is what I don’t have to give. I’m not sure River’s mute five minutes in Twiggs every morning will let us dive too deep.”
“What if we compensated you?” Brandon asked.
Her hand froze, dinner suddenly forgotten. A hush fell over the table. River looked sharply at Brandon, but David was watching only her. They’d planned for this.
I promise, Jessica. We won’t waste your time.
“I’m sorry,” she said hoarsely, “what?”
“What if we compensated you,” Brandon calmly repeated. “Allowing you to make time in your schedule to get to know River?”
She carefully placed the knife on the edge of her plate. “You want to pay me to date him?”
River exhaled sharply, reaching for his whiskey.
“Consider it a stipend for participating in an aspect of a larger experiment,” David said. “You could quit the coffee shop, have more free time. You’re an important part of our research study, one-half of a score we need to validate—or invalidate—our binning paradigm prior to launch.”
Jess leaned back in her chair, heart thundering. “So, you need us to … explore this until after launch?”
Brandon laughed a little at this. “Well, you can explore it until—”
“Assuming we don’t fall for each other,” she clarified, “what is the duration of the study?”
“The IPO is May sixth,” David said matter-of-factly. “Today is January twenty-eighth. So, just over three months.”
And there was the truth, baldly laid out.
“How much compensation are we talking?”
David and Brandon exchanged a look. Jess lifted her water glass to her lips with a shaking hand, ice tinkling gently against the glass.
“Ten thousand a month.”
A watery cough burst from her throat, sharp and urgent. River reached over and laid a hand on her back, rubbing gently.
The touch was steady but electric, jerking a breath from her chest, making her cough again. His palm was huge and warm, a vibrating hum on her skin.
“I’m okay,” she finally managed, and set the glass on the table.
He pulled away, curling his hand into a fist on his lap.
“And what does that amount buy you?” Jess asked once she trusted her voice to come out steady.
“You go out for coffee. You date.” Brandon held his hands out, shrugging, before picking up his fork. “Maybe you have a public appearance or two. Basically, you give it a chance.”