“I already told you, that girl I had a few classes with in freshman year. She started sugaring while she was still in art school. She ended up finding some rich guy who has been paying for all her living expenses for years now.”
“Huh,” Lindsey said. “He pays for everything?”
“Yep.”
“And it’s really not about sex?”
“Nope,” Faith replied. “Apparently, the guy just likes having the company of a hot young woman. Whether there’s sex involved or not, what these men are looking for is all the good parts of having a girlfriend without any of the bad parts. In return, they give their sugar baby gifts. They can be fancy dinners, designer clothes, expensive phones, or even just cash. Some of them give their sugar baby a monthly allowance or help them out with bills.”
“That sounds like a pretty sweet deal,” Lindsey said.
“Yep. I considered it myself after I graduated and couldn’t find a job. Then the Yangs hired me full-time, so I didn’t need to worry about money anymore.”
“Hmm…” Lindsey glanced at her laptop again. Camilla’s profile was still open. “We must have made a mistake setting up my account. My profile seems to be set to men and women.”
“That wasn’t a mistake.” Faith grinned. “I talked you into ticking both boxes. It gives you more options.”
“And how is that supposed to work?” Lindsey asked. “Last time I checked, I’m not interested in women. Not all of us are as enlightened as you and don’t care about the gender of who we date.”
“What about all those girls you made out with in college?” Faith teased.
“That doesn’t count. I made out with everyone in college.” It was true. But she’d never gone further than a kiss with another woman. She’d never felt any attraction to them.
“Wait, have you been getting messages from women?” Faith asked. “It’s rare to find women who are looking for sugar babies.”
“I got one message from a woman. Here.” Lindsey turned her screen toward Faith. “She actually seems interesting.”
“Wow,” Faith said. “What a babe. And she’s only 39. She messaged you?”
Lindsey nodded.
Faith pointed to a number on the screen. “The two of you are a 97% match. You’re insanely compatible.”
“How do they know that?”
“Remember all those questions we had to answer for the application?”
Lindsey shrugged.
“Right,” Faith said. “You were drunk. They ask everyone a bunch of questions and then use algorithms to calculate how compatible two people are based on their answers. 97% is off the charts.”
“Unfortunately, there’s one problem with that,” Lindsey said. “She’s a woman. I don’t like women. That’s pretty important when it comes to compatibility.”
“That might not matter in this case. By the looks of her profile, this woman isn’t looking for sex. Maybe she just wants the company.”
“Maybe.” That could be fun. Going on fancy dates with some rich lady and getting paid to do it. “Either way, I’d be pretending to be interested in someone for their money. Isn’t that a little predatory?”
“It’s not like the other person isn’t getting anything out of the deal,” Faith said. “They’re pretending too. It’s not to say that the relationships can’t be genuine. But do you really think these 21-year-old girls are attracted to their 60-year-old sugar daddies? Do you think they’d be with them if money wasn’t involved? The sugar daddies—the mamas—they all know the score.”
“Hmm.” Lindsey chewed her lip. “I have to think about all this.”
“Let me know if you have any more questions. I can even put you in touch with that friend of mine if you’d like.” Faith got up and picked up the grocery bags from the table. “I’m going to put these away and have a shower. I’ve been chasing kids around all day.”
As Faith left the room, Lindsey went over everything Faith had told her in her head. Maybe it wasn’t such a crazy idea. The old Lindsey would have jumped at the chance to do something like this. She would have loved to be taken out and spoiled by some rich suitor in exchange for being their pretend girlfriend. The old Lindsey wouldn’t have even cared if that suitor was a woman.
But that adventurous, carefree college kid was long gone, replaced by Lindsey the insurance saleswoman.
Maybe Lindsey couldn’t afford to be as carefree as she used to be. But this could really help with her money problems. Lindsey turned back to her laptop. It was still open on Camilla’s profile. Camilla seemed much more interesting than all the men who had messaged her, and Lindsey hadn’t even read Camilla’s message yet.