Page 8 of Controlled Burn
“Okay, it wants to know what you’re looking for. We all know what you want is a Daddy, but since I’m sure you won’t let me put that, what should I say?”
I thought about it for a minute. “How about intelligent, down-to-earth, and responsible? Oh, and loves to read.”
“Sounds like my grandfather… you know, he’s single.”
“Haha.” I rolled my eyes. “Just type it.”
He went to work on my phone while I sat there and watched anxiously. Finally, he looked up with a grin. “Okay, all done. All you have to do is check it over and press the button. Then you’re good to go.”
I looked it over to make sure he hadn’t slipped anything crazy in there, and then, with a big sigh, I hit submit. “Okay, done.”
I closed the app because I wasn’t going to sit here waiting for someone to see my profile and message me. You could make yourself crazy doing that.
“So, have you found a new place to live?” I asked Joey, hoping to change the subject.
“Nope. If I don’t find something soon, I may have to crash on one of your couches.”
“Well, you know you’re welcome to stay with me if you need to,” I said.
“Same here,” Ezra added.
“Thanks, guys, but I really don’t want to have to move everything twice. I may just rent an apartment if I don’t find a house, but I was really looking forward to having a place that’s mine, so I didn’t have to go through this again.” His landlord had decided to sell the little bungalow he was currently renting.
“You could buy the one you live in,” I said.
He shook his head. “Nope, I’ll pass. I know too many things that are wrong with that house. I do have two lined up to look at this week, though.”
“Oh, show us, show us.” Ezra pulled his chair up close to Joey.
Joey showed us the pictures of the two houses he was planning to go look at, and then we spent the next hour googling houses for sale and taking virtual tours.
I looked at my phone, shocked to see how late it was. “I need to get going, guys. I still need to do my meal prep and get everything all ready for the week.”
I was trying a new thing where I prepared all the meals for the week on Sunday so I wouldn’t end up eating fast food every night. Like everyone else, I only had so many spoons, and by the end of the day, healthy food was the last thing on my mind.
“You’re way too organized,” Ezra said.
“Too organized? It’s the only way I keep my entire life from devolving into complete and total chaos.”
“A little bit of chaos could be fun,” Joey said.
It was like the universe heard what he said and agreed I needed some chaos when my phone immediately chimed, letting me know I had a notification.
I woke up the screen, and sure enough, it was the blasted app. It hadn’t been on there but an hour, and I already had three possible matches.
“Okay, my meal prepping can wait. What am I supposed to do now?”
“You look at their profiles, and then if you see someone interesting, you accept the match. Let us look.”
I easily eliminated one based on his photo alone. Not that he wasn’t attractive; he just didn’t look like someone who would be satisfied meeting for coffee. He looked a lot more like a guy you would meet at a biker bar, and that wasn’t what I was looking for at all.
The second guy looked like a salesman, but his profile said he worked in finance.
“He’s nice-looking,” Joey said.
Joey wasn’t wrong. He was a good-looking guy, but something about him didn’t come across as sincere. I couldn’t begin to say what.
“He is, but there’s just something about him.” I shook my head and declined the match. I had to trust my instincts.