Page 46 of Somebody To Love

She was silent for a long moment and then said, “That’s surprising—I could have sworn—Are you very sure? Maybe you missed him?”

“Nope.”

She sighed deeply and I wondered if she was finally fed up with me and my inability to be happy. I didn’t blame her. I was fed up too. “I’m sorry about that. Can you give me a second, please?”

She placed me on hold and I patiently waited. A few minutes later she came back to the phone and said, “We’ve authorized for you to go on another date with a totally new—”

“No thanks.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Sylvia, I just think it’s best if I figure this whole dating thing out on my own. Take a break from dating maybe. You know?” In my voice, I heard defeat. I hoped she didn’t hear it too.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said after a long pause. “I’ll be sure to issue you a full refund. And I’m so sorry this didn’t work out. I really wish you the best of luck, Piper. You deserve love. Everyone does.”

I don’t know why, but I teared up. She was right, I did deserve love. But I had no idea what I was doing or how to find it. To be honest, I didn’t even know what it felt like to fall in love. I was at a lost. And now, I wouldn’t even have Sylvia to help me.

We said our goodbyes and I sighed as I sat up in bed. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my thoughts. It wasn’t working. I needed to get out and do something. I couldn’t just sit there. I stood up, took two steps towards my door and then sat back down. I was still just wearing my pajamas. That’s when Dana called. She started talking as soon as I answered. I didn’t even get a chance to say hello.

“Hey, do you think you can do a school event with me again? I don’t want to be bored out of my mind.”

“Sure.” I would rather that than sit at home trying to get my emotions in order. That was going to be way too hard of a task. “When is it and what do I need to do?”

“It’s a family fun run.”

“Nope. No thank you. I don’t want to workout. I just want to sit here and pretend all is right with the world and that I’m not a disaster of a human being.”

There was a long silence and I wanted to pinch myself for revealing so much. I hadn’t told Dana yet about my disastrous night.

“Umm... that’s pretty harsh. Why are you beating yourself up? Is everything ok?”

I gave a forced laugh. “Everything is great.” I paused trying to come up with something reassuring to say, “I’m just a little antsy because I have so much work to get done since I’m now partnerless.”

“Well, I only speak one language so I can’t help with the translation part of your business, but if you have any projects that I can help you with that don’t involve translation, I’d be more than happy to help. I pretty much have gotten the hang of this whole social media thing, so I could help you with social media marketing if you needed.”

“That’s sweet of you to offer,” I said, truly appreciative. “And yeah, I could use some help. How about we talk about it after the fun run?”

“So you’ll come?”

“Yes, to be a spectator but nothing else. I’m not running. I’m not even going to walk.”

“That’s fine. You can just cheer.”

“Excellent. I’ve always wanted to be a cheerleader.”

Dana laughed. “You hated cheerleaders.”

“That’s because they got all the boys. Something I’m having a very hard time doing...” Oops, I had already said too much.

Dana immediately caught on. “The dating agency isn’t working out, huh?”

“I’ll tell you all about it later.”

We got off the phone and she texted me the location and time of the event.

I made myself work a little and then I got dressed and headed to the event. It was on school grounds but located about a mile behind the main facility. I parked my car and got out.

As soon as I got out of my car, Meredith was there. “Finally!” she said clearly exasperated.