My alarm sounds, silencing my rambling thoughts and the soft music I was listening to throughout the night.
Irritation creases my brows as I will my body to merge with the bed so I can stay beneath the warm, cozy covers forever. Winter in Minneapolis in early February makes it damn hard for me to get out of bed some days, as I want to avoid the cold for as long as possible, especially when it’s twenty degrees Fahrenheit outside, like my weather app reports this morning.
However, the weather isn’t the only reason I hesitate to roll out of bed. Out of the past fourteen days since he delivered the first card, he’s never missed a single one … up until today, when I found my front door and house barren of his touch.
I’m starting to wonder if he’s moved on from me—a thought that makes me want to curl up in a fuzzy blanket on my couch and rot for eternity.
But I don’t have time to dwell on the sweet letters and gestures—or lack thereof—right now because it’s one of my busiest times of the year and I’m already running a few minutes behind to get to work.
On the plus side, I won’t have an angry boss yelling at me when I get there because I work for myself and my best friend.
We handle the grunt work of dating, saving everyone time from endless swiping when someone’s potential is summed up in bullet points and six pictures on a dating app. Everyone’s profile is so carefully constructed that their social media persona is a mere highlight reel of their best self. We help sort through the surface-level relationships and create lasting couples based on genuine connections.
We only work with local clients, but we hope to expand soon with an app, using the algorithm Kerrigan is building. In the meantime, our focus is on the residents of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding areas.
Our clients fill out a thorough questionnaire and complete rounds of interviews to allow us to find them their perfect match. They can then meet their match at our office and go on a trial date in a safe and neutral place before deciding if they’d like to continue seeing that person or look for someone new without the risk of sharing private information.
If only I could find a perfect relationship for myself as easily as I do for others. Until then, I will continue to smother my cute fur baby with my love instead.
Freddie, my dapple mini dachshund, yawns and pushes into my arm as he stretches in the blankets beside me.
Running my hand over his silky, soft head, I clear my throat. “Good morning, my handsome angel.”
He blinks the sleepiness away before sitting up and staring at me, wide-eyed, ready for the day. I wish I had his energy, but I’m the worst morning person. The onlyreason I awoke before my alarm is because I’ve had a hard time sleeping these last couple of days.
Begrudgingly, I throw the covers from my body and swing my legs over the side of the bed. Freddie hops over the blankets, pads toward his ramp, and rushes down, sitting at my feet before I can even step forward across the hardwood floor.
A blossom of hope blooms in my chest as I open my bedroom door, head downstairs, and stride toward my sliding back door to let Freddie out. There could be a note or a sign that Mr. Mystery was here. While Freddie goes potty outside, I scan the entire open room—from my kitchen and dining room to the living room and entryway—the hope dwindling with each passing second.
After letting him in, I head to my bathroom, loosely curl my deep auburn hair, and throw on some makeup and lashes before changing into the clothes I picked out last night. I’m the type of person who will try on a thousand outfits and hate them all the morning of, but if it’s laid out already the night before, for some reason, I love it. It’s not a flawless system, but it works most of the time.
I slip on the baggy cream-colored sweater dress, stockings, and boots, happy with the ensemble for the day. After I put a matching cream-colored sweater on Freddie, we head out the door.
Kerrigan assaults me with her curiosity before I shut the office door behind me, ignoring whatever she was doing on the computer and sitting up in her chair. “Was there a valentine this morning?”
I turn to her, forcing an overdramatic pout on my face. “No. I think he hates me now.”
Sighing, I set my stuff and Freddie down, slip my coat off, and hang it on the hook. While I might have been disappointed by the masked man this morning, just looking around our office has me feeling a bit better.
We transformed this place from its bare bones into a chic, aesthetic, and welcoming space. We turned the once-gigantic lobby into our main workspace reception area, complete with lounge seating, plants, and warm and neutral decor with pops of sage green. The five conference rooms down our one long hallway were converted into dating rooms for our clients.
Kerrigan gasps, tearing me from my stupor. “Noway. It’s impossible that man just stopped liking you. Not after how dedicated he’s been.”
“Well, we might never know.” I shrug, striding over to my desk as Freddie races toward Ker, his little legs moving as fast as they can while his ears flop up and down.
“Good morning, handsommmme!” She greets him with open arms, and they go through their usual morning routine of snuggles, smooches, and pets.
“Everything ready to go for tomorrow?” My nerves force my question out, the same one I’ve been asking for two weeks.
She looks at me and says, “You know damn well everything’s ready.”
“Okay, yeah, I know. I know. I need to relax. Everything will go smoothly. It’s just, by far, the biggest event we’ve ever thrown.No big deal.”
It’s taken Ker and me years to turn our dream into what it is today, but we couldn’t be prouder. After all our hard work and years upon years of working multiple jobs just to get by while trying to start up Bound-to-Be, we’re finally doing it full-time—and pretty damn successfully, if I do say so myself—working with almost five hundred clients.
In the past year we’ve been open, we’ve paired over one hundred couples. Most are still together—based on what we can tell from secretly stalking their social media to curb our curiosity. But our matchmaking service is only part of our success.
The single parties we host have become integral to our business since we started them this past holiday season. Tomorrow’s party will be our biggest to date, in terms of everything—venue, guests, sponsorships, and expectations.
