“Yes, you are.” Charlotte held up a hand.
Marin slapped it with hers. “Live. Alive. Living. All of the above.”
“Get it, girl,” Charlotte agreed. “Now, let’s find you someone to date.”
“Oh boy.” Marin reached for her wineglass, which was nearly empty. They’d polished off the bottle of Riesling, and Charlotte was feeling pretty tipsy. She suspected Marin was, too, based on the frequency of her laughter and her increasingly relaxed posture. “All right, let’s see who it suggests for me.”
Charlotte scooted closer, so she could see Marin’s search results. She pointed to a blond woman in a purple jacket. “She’s pretty.”
Marin exhaled audibly as she clicked on the woman’s profile. “Damn. I think it just hit me that I’m really doing this.”
“You really are.”
“I don’t think you realize ...” She glanced at Charlotte. “Just how long I’ve waited for this moment. I’ve been thinking about it, wanting to date a woman for twenty years. This feels ... I don’t know. Momentous. But also, weirdly anticlimactic browsing profile pictures.”
“I imagine anything’s going to feel anticlimactic after you’ve built it up in your head for that long,” Charlotte said. “But it’ll be worth it when you kiss a woman for the first time.”
Marin’s breath hitched as if she’d just imagined it. “Yes. It will.”
“So ... can you imagine kissing Tammy?” Charlotte gestured to the woman displayed on Marin’s phone.
Marin studied Tammy’s profile for a minute in silence, then shrugged. “To be honest, I have no idea. I think online dating might be tricky for me. It feels so impersonal.” She sighed. “But unfortunately, I searched the other night, and the nearest gay bar is in Albany.”
“Damn.”
“Right. That’s what, an hour and a half from here?”
“About that, yeah,” Charlotte confirmed.
“I’m not likely to meet anyone local there, so it’s not a good option if I’m looking for a relationship, not a hookup, which means ... online dating it is.” Marin backed out of Tammy’s profile and kept scrolling.
“No worries. We’re going to find you the perfect woman.”
Thirty minutes later, they’d narrowed it down to three women, all of whom seemed promising and lived within an hour of Middleton.
“Personally, I think you should message all three,” Charlotte said.
Marin frowned. “Really? That feels like ... cheating.”
“Nah. You aren’t dating yet. You’re just exchanging messages to see if youwantto date. Chances are, if you message all three, one won’t respond, one will turn out to be looking for a hookup or say something really obnoxious in response to your message, but maybe, if you’re lucky, one of them will interest you enough to keep chatting.”
“That doesn’t sound very encouraging.” Marin pressed her lips together.
“It’s the reality of online dating,” Charlotte said with a shrug. “You’ll probably strike out a lot before you meet anyone in person, so shoot all three of them a quick message, and take it from there. I like to start with something innocuous like ‘How are you handling this cold weather?’ or something like that.”
“Are you using an online-dating site right now too?”
Charlotte shook her head. “No, but I have in the past. I just went through a pretty messy breakup, so I’m taking a breather from dating this year while I focus on family stuff.”
“Gotcha.”
“You know, thereisan app I’ve been thinking of reinstalling, though.” Charlotte darted a hesitant glance at Marin.
“Which one?”
“My horoscope app. I was feeling pretty disillusioned with the universe for a while, but maybe ... I’m starting to have faith in the stars again.”
Marin reached over and touched her hand. “I’m so glad.”
