Ivy peers at me. “You okay?”
“Just sad at being alone,” I blurt out, then bite my lip. I sound too envious, which isn’t right. Ivy and Yuna fought for and earned their happy marriages. In my case… Well, I never got a chance, but it makes me feel small and petty to feel this sharp pang over the fact that they have loving families like I’ve always wanted.
“You arenotalone,” Yuna says. “You have us. And wasn’t there something about a date yesterday?”
Ivy leans forward. “Wasn’t that guy supposed to be the perfect hottie? The one who would make you forget all about that shitty ex of yours?”
“Yes. But I should’ve known he was too good to be true.” I take a big swallow. “Talk about embellishment.”
Yuna frowns. “Everyone embellishes a little. Even my parents spruced up my bridal résumé.”
“I find that hard to believe. You’re perfect,” I say.
She scoffs. “They said I was ‘biddable.’”
Ivy and I chortle at the idea. “So what did he lie about?” Ivy says, turning to me.
“Everything! His profile was, like, atleastan eight. He was barely a two!”
Yuna cringes. “That awful?”
“He apparently had pro-level movie makeup applied and used professional lighting and stuff to make himself look about a billion times better. And I thought he was maybe a four when I first saw him. But the real problem was he kept opening his mouth. It cut that four in half. And get this: he didn’t even want to date me! He was trying to find someone to sleep with one of his boss’s sons and get pregnant. And to top it all off, the boss turned out to be Ted Lasker and the son turned out to be Noah!”
Ivy and Yuna’s jaws drop in unison. It’s almost comical.
“Why am I having such terrible luck? I didn’t think it could get any worse after Lorcan Duncan.”
Yuna’s eyes widen as she covers her mouth. “Oh my God.Lorcan Duncan?”
I just swig more wine.
“I’m sorry. It was my fault.” Ivy shakes her head ruefully as she turns to Yuna. “This happened while you were in Korea visiting your family last month. I told Bobbi to be open-minded when she wasn’t sure about seeing him.”
“Still.Lorcan Duncan? I mean, just the name…” Yuna cringes.
Ivy shrugs helplessly. “I thought it’d be unfair to judge him when it was probably his mother who had bad taste.”
“Yeah, and Bobbi would’ve been stuck with a mother-in-law with shitty taste. Friends don’t let friends marry into families with shitty taste.” Yuna shudders.
I sigh. “I just feelstuck. And frustrated. Why is it so hard? All I want is a loving husband and family. I’m not asking for the Nobel Prize!”
“Maybe dating apps aren’t the way to go.” Ivy purses her lips. “Isn’t Lorcan, like, the third guy you’ve tried?”
“Fourth,” I mutter.
“I’m so sorry.” Yuna pats my hand. “Nature abhors a vacuum. You need to manifest your dream husband so you quit attracting trash to fill the slot.”
“Believe me, I’m game. But how?”
“A vision board full of hot men?” Ivy says.
“I have one of those already.”
“Which is obviously defective,” Yuna says firmly. “If it weren’t, you would have had at least a couple of acceptable dates.” Her eyes narrow in thought.
I watch her and wait. She always has either the most outrageous or the most amazing ideas. I’m praying for the latter.
“I know!” she says snapping her fingers. “You need a visionobject.”
