DogPerson158:She’ll just find me and try to sleep on the couch with me. Someday I’ll miss this. Remind me that someday I’ll miss this.
HandsyGuy37:I have no idea. I don’t have kids. Sounds legit though.
DogPerson158:Oh, no. We aren’t supposed to be sharing personal details. Can you forget this entire conversation?
HandsyGuy37:Not a chance.
DogPerson158:Fine. But that’s it. No more personal details. None. I’m hanging up now.
HandsyGuy37:You’re an amazing mom.
DogPerson158:Nope. You have to pretend you don’t know I’m a mom. Don’t mention it again.
DogPerson158:Also, thank you. That’s really sweet of you to say.
Her username goes offline, and I drop my phone back onto the charger. As I fall asleep, all I can picture is DogPerson158curled up in bed with an adorable mini-Dogperson. Of course, I have to use my imagination to fill in what she looks like, but I have a very good imagination.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Amelia
“Ican’t just go out to a bar and hook up with some random guy,” I say. “It’s not who I am, Ellery.”
My best friend smiles at me over the coffee I brought her. We’re on a fifteen-minute break from our respective jobs and sitting on a concrete bench outside the library. I brought her coffee in exchange for her advice.
“So hook up with HandsyGuy37,” she says, like she’s suggesting I get grapes from the store today. “You know you want to.”
I groan. “I can’t. He’s perfect right now. He listens and compliments me and gives me useful advice when I ask for it. There’s no way the reality will live up to my idea of him. His message this morning, telling me to smile when I want to scowl and to compliment someone when I want to snark at them, actually worked. I’ve been smiling just thinking about him all day.”
“Your ex isn’t every guy, Melly.”
I give her the side-eye as I sip my coffee. “I didn’t say anything about Bryson.”
She bumps my shoulder with her own. “He’s the one who made you think love and romance can’t last.”
“It’s not just him,” I say. “I mean, sure he’s an asshole, but all relationships end up the same. In the beginning, you love everything about the guy, and he finds everything you do cute. There are sparkles and a heart that pounds hard every time he smiles. Over time, it always changes. The flame burns out, and then you’re just arguing about groceries and the phone bill.”
She shakes her head. “Now you’re talking about your parents. Pretty sure they still adore each other, even if they do drag you into their arguments about bills they can’t pay.”
I slump. “They do adore each other, but I don’t want their future. I want to be independent and make my own decisions. It’s hard enough knowing Harper’s depending on me every day. She’s all I can handle.”
“Believe me,” Ellery says. “I understand not wanting a relationship, but what’s the big deal of having some fun with HandsyGuy37? He wasn’t in your life before and, even if you never meet him face-to-face, the conversation will still get stale at some point, right?”
My stomach drops at the thought. I hadn’t realized until this moment just how big a deal it would be to lose my conversations with HandsyGuy37. For all I know, he could be a serial killer, and yet he’s become a huge part of my day in just over a week. I look forward to talking to him, to getting his take on things.
I look over at Ellery, the realization that I really like a guy I’ve never met fully sinking in. Her crooked smile says she noticed how caught up in this guy I’ve gotten long before I did. That smile says she poked me about meeting him to get exactly this reaction.
I narrow my eyes. “I hate you.”
She nods, accepting it. “But you want to go out with me Saturday night, don’t you?”
I grit my teeth. “I really do.” Because I need to be with a human man to remind myself HandsyGuy37 is just words on a screen, and I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone.
“Yay!” She does a little dance in her seat, then hops up. “I’ve got to get back to work. How’s being charming going?”
I roll my eyes. “I feel like such a fraud.”
“That’s customer service, baby. You want to be in the limelight, you have to play the game.”
