Chapter One
The pink cardboardbox on my counter promised sweet distraction. Bribery, courtesy of Jane—three cupcakes for thirty minutes on a dating app.
I grabbed the red velvet cupcake and sat, twisting on my pink leather swivel stool, peeling down the cupcake wrapper and licking red frosting from my fingertips. Sugar melted on my tongue, whispering that this was totally worth the sacrifice.
I picked up my phone and mentally prepared myself for the upcoming photoshopped abs and creepy innuendo taglines.
Bachelor #1— Caught an enormous fish…nice.
Swipe.
Bachelor #2— Oh! What a cute dog. I clicked through a few pictures, desperately searching for more of the fuzzy white-and-brown puppy. After a few more pics, including one with him in a full Darth Vader costume, it was easy to see I was far more interested in spending time with the dog than him.
Swipe.
Why wouldn’t Jane and Mom accept that I was done dating?
Matchmaking for someone else, though…that was the best. The only problem was the dismal number of single friends I had.
Bachelor #3— Rocking some dangerously short gym shorts and a tank top lifted to show some very nice abs. “Looking for a hottie with a rockin’ gym body.”
I finished my cupcake. Call me crazy, but I don’t think we would “work out”—pun intended. I was more comfort curves than chiseled lines.
Swipe.
It would be another five minutes before Leo’s Pasta got here. I brushed the cupcake crumbs from the counter and my silk Elvis pajama pants, right onto the floor for Future Me to worry about. I hopped off the stool and walked the six whole steps to the middle of the living room to my green mid-century modern couch. My apartment in downtown Boise, Idaho, lacked extra square footage, but I made up for it with my fifties flair. I plopped down on the couch and my phone vibrated with an incoming text.
Jane: Any winners yet???
If I’d have known she would be so insistent on double-dating, I would have left her single. I cringed. Not that the setup had been all for Jane’s benefit… When Finn’s mother had come into the store asking about setting me up with her son, I knew she needed to be pointed in a different direction—Jane’s direction.
Emma: Um… Maybe?
Jane: Did you even look at it for more than 5 minutes?
Emma: You know I was so distracted. I actually spent 35. =P
Jane: Liar.
I shrugged. Worth a shot.
Jane: I mean it! Emma, those cupcakes were for bribery only!! If you don’t spend 30 minutes looking for a date, then you will pay me back. I expect you to interact with at least five guys…
Jane: Don’t make me come over there.
Jane lived in an apartment about fifteen minutes away, so it wasn’t an idle threat. She’d face the spring rain without a second thought.
I leaned my head back onto the cushion and closed my eyes.
I could admit it. “The problem” might very well be me.
I was a bit eccentric. I glanced over at my teal blue fridge and pink-suitcase vinyl player. The “normal life” just didn’t appeal to me. I’d chosen to forgo college despite scholarships, my obsession with the fifties and old movies was borderline crazy, and I’m pretty sure my type of man went extinct along with rotary phones. I wanted a black and white movie type of romance with old-fashioned manners, big romantic gestures, and a serenade or two.
It was a bit unusual for a twenty-two-year-old woman, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. Like most new adults with issues, I blamed my mother.
In the fifth grade, Brad and I had been soul mates. I even had a notebook where I practiced my signature with my future last name. Then, I caught him sharing his Gatorade and his lips with my best friend Savannah.
He was my first heartbreak.
