Finding Forever

by Christina C Jones

  “Are you serious, Tori? That took like five minutes, of course you don’t owe me anything.” He glanced at his watch. “But… if you’re hungry, do you wanna join me for an early dinner?”

  I shook my head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m actually due at my parents’ for dinner. My step mom always cooks a bunch of stuff, and my dad is on the grill today.”

  “I mean… I like barbecues.” Avery leaned against the door of my car, locking in on me with those damn eyes, and a grin that made my knees feel a little weak.

  “I know some good restaurants I can recommend,” I responded, pretending I didn’t realize he was fishing for an invitation.

  He chuckled, grabbing my hand before I could step away. “Come on, Tori. I fixed your car, and probably saved you a bunch of money from your wack-ass mechanic. You’re gonna deprive me of a home-cooked meal after you stood in my face and bragged about it?”

  Crap.

  He was laying it on thick, and I was falling for it, because a twinge of guilt crept up my shoulders, nagging me until I gave in. “Fine,” I said. “Why not?”

  I discovered exactly ‘why not’ shortly after we arrived at my parent’s home. After greeting him, Lynne sent Avery outside with my dad and uncle to help with the grill. When he was out of earshot, she turned to me with a huge grin.

  “Lynne… please, he’s a client. He helped me out with my car, so I invited him to eat with us to return the favor. It’s nothing. Ask Mel, she knows.”

  “She’s lying, mommy,” Melanie chimed in from her place at the kitchen counter, where she was frosting a caramel cake. “I don’t know who she thinks she’s fooling, but she’s climbed that tree before. Your body language is telling on you girl,” she said, exchanging a glance with Lynne.

  I sighed, wondering why it hadn’t occurred to me that this— bringing Avery to my family’s house— was another bad idea, and would absolutely send the wrong message. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if my dad and uncle were outside explaining to Avery that he’d better put a ring on my finger, or my dad’s favorite thing to tell my teenaged dates, “Make sure you put a hat on your jimmy, lil boy. Send my daughter home with a baby you don’t plan on taking care of and I’ll mess ya’ up.”

  “Oh Mel, she’s embarrassed, let’s not pick on her,” Lynne said, pulling down a stack of plates from the cabinet. “Even though, I bet that gorgeous chocolate man would sure make me some pretty grandbabies.”

  When she didn’t get the answer she wanted — that we would be giving her the aforementioned grandbabies soon — she went after him, and I was pleased to see he handled himself well, assuring her there was nothing romantic about our relationship. After dinner, I walked out to his car with him. My parents lived in a neighborhood where the nearest house was a quarter of a mile away, so outside, the air was quiet and still.

  “So… you ready to start your dates? The first one is lined up for this week,” I told him.

  He shrugged, looking a little embarrassed as he leaned against his car. “I guess. It still feels a little strange to hand over control to someone else.”

  “Don’t think about it like that. Just… I don’t know, think of it like a blind date where you know you’re compatible with that person. It’s not like it’s your great-aunt’s friend’s sister-in-law’s niece from church, you know?”

  “But what does it mean if I’m not feeling her? I’m doing this for Des, but I’m not gonna pretend.”

  I stepped in front him, looking him right in the eyes. “It means you’re just not feeling her. That happens. It’s not a perfect science. People are still individuals. No matter what my program or my ‘gut’ says, if one of you doesn’t feel a spark, it’s not the right match, and we move on. Okay?”

  “Okay,” he agreed, though I got the feeling he wasn’t convinced. “Will I see you or Mel before the date? Do I need to plan anything?”

  “Not unless you feel like you need a pep talk. We’ve already set up your reservation for dinner, you just need to show up, be yourself, and have fun. After your date, I’ll check in with both of you, and if you’re on the same page, you can exchange contact information, and I’ll help you plan a second date. Sound good?”

  He grimaced a little before nodding. “We’ll see.”

  “You certainly will,” I said, grabbing his hands and giving them a squeeze. “Lauren is a beautiful woman, and I think you’re going to like her.”

  Avery kept a grip on my hands, pulling me a little closer. “As beautiful as you?”

  “Avery…”

  “What? It’s a fair question!” he chuckled as he released my hands.

  Laughing, I shook my head at him. “She’s gorgeous, okay?”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do,” I assured him.

  Pushing himself away from his car, he leaned forward, pressing a kiss against my temple. “Good night, Tori.”

  What the hell is this?

  “Good night, Avery,” I mumbled, trying to keep my eyelids from fluttering shut. Finally, he stepped back, and with a wave, got into his car to drive away. I stayed outside for a few minutes longer, trying to gather my thoughts before I went inside to face my step mom and sister again. I knew that this time, I would be would getting the interrogation.

  — 6 —

  — Avery —

  Tori was right about Lauren being beautiful. She had perfect copper skin, perfect teeth, short hair cut into a perfect style, and one of my favorite things: perfect long legs. I spent most of our date fantasizing about them wrapped around my waist, because after less than fifteen minutes of knowing her, I knew sex was probably the only thing I would ever enjoy with her. Lauren was definitely easy on the eyes, but her personality left a lot to be desired.

  Our dinner reservations were at a place that was upscale, but casual enough not to put an intimidating vibe over a first date. From the time we sat down at our table, I don’t think there were ten words out of her mouth that weren’t a complaint.

  “Why is it so cold in here? My God, are they trying to freeze us out of here? This must be one of those places where they keep you uncomfortable with low temperatures, so you won’t linger, and they can push more people through here.”

  I wasn’t cold at all, but maybe she was a cold natured person. I offered her my jacket, but she refused, stating that it probably smelled like ‘man’.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, noticing she kept fidgeting, shifting in her chair as if she was sitting on nails.

  She looked at me with her eyebrows raised nearly to her hairline. “Seriously? You’re not uncomfortable in these rock hard chairs?”

  “Uh…. no… mine is fine. Do you want to switch?”

  “No, I don’t think so. The seat is probably hot from you being on it.”

  “Maybe that will balance out the cold.”

  I was joking, trying to break the fast-mounting tension, but she stared at me, completely serious, and said “No… I don’t think that will work.”

  Relief flooded me as I watched the server approach. She smiled at both of us, asking what we wanted to drink. Lauren snapped out instructions that took a full minute too long for her to be ordering a damn glass of water with light ice. Alarm was written on the server’s face, but she tried valiantly to retain her smile as she addressed Lauren. When she turned to me, I gave her a warm smile, being as pleasant as I could to try to counterbalance my dining partner. She seemed relieved, and hurried away from the table with our drink orders.

  “I wonder what her problem was,” Lauren said, her tone snide as she shifted in her chair.

  And we’re both wondering the same damn thing about you.

  “I have no idea.” The last thing I was about to do was start a tiff with this woman, so I busied myself with the menu.

  “Ouch, what did they print these menus on, sandpaper? And how are we supposed to read them in such harsh light?”

  Seriously?

  I kept my mouth shut, until the waitress delivered our d
rinks — Lauren swore the girl put extra ice in hers because she’d asked for less, though her glass was maybe ⅕ full— and took our orders. Deciding I should at least try to carry on a conversation with her, I tried to engage her about her job, but she was giving me one-word answers, so I gave up.

  When our food arrived, she — unsurprisingly— did some complaining about that, but we ate largely at in silence. I shoveled my food down in ten minutes, then gestured to the server to bring the check. She wasn’t finished with her meal, but I wasn’t about to do this shit all night. If I was going to be spending my time with someone, of course I didn’t want someone who was such a pushover she allowed her personal comfort to be an afterthought, but I needed someone who had the ability to take things in stride, and remain positive. Lauren was not it with these petty ass complaints about everything.

  “So… this obviously isn’t working, and I’m gonna go on and head out.”

  She seemed shocked, her expression changing from one of mild displeasure she’d been wearing all damned night, to confusion. “What? Why?”

  “Lauren… have we been on the same date? You haven’t cracked a smile, haven’t had a good thing to say about anything…. are you having a good time?”

  “I… well… listen, Avery… I am nervous as hell, and I’m not at good at dating. I get anxious, and then I get all….”

  “Negative Nancy?” I offered.

  She gave me a tight smile. “Yes, exactly. Tori has tried and tried to help me through it. She offered to send me to a therapist, but I didn’t think it was that bad… it’s not that bad is it?”

  “It’s terrible.” She flinched at my blunt assessment, but I didn’t feel bad. I wasn’t trying to hurt her feelings but somebody needed to tell her since she wasn’t listening to Tori.

  “So I’m guessing there won’t be a second date then, huh?”

  I shook my head, but smiled. “No. You’re a beautiful woman Lauren, really. But the complaining is something I can’t handle.” We parted ways amicably, and after suffering through a meal with a gorgeous woman with a bad attitude, I went home and logged into the Matched website to send Tori a message.

  “Tori… what the hell was that? - MatchedAce”

  Not thinking she would be available so late, I went to take a shower before I returned to my office to review some paperwork for Ignition. Glancing up at my computer screen, I noticed one of my open tabs was blinking, notifying me that my message had received a response.

  “Oh no! What happened? - MatchedTori”

  I sighed, barely wanting to think about it to type out the response.

  “Bad attitude. A complainer, about every.single.tiny.little.thing. She was driving me bananas! - MatchedAce.”

  “Oh man. Your compatibility was high, and she was great for you based on the criteria you gave me, but when it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Willing to try a second date? - MatchedTori”

  “HELL NO! - MatchedAce.”

  “Well, don’t hold back, Avery. Tell me how you really feel! - MatchedTori”

  “Sorry. Just wasn’t feeling it. Gorgeous, like you said, but that attitude was a complete turn off. Complete. - MatchedAce”

  “Got it. Anything you’d like me to change about your criteria? - MatchedTori”

  “Yeah. She needs to be VERY positive. - MatchedAce”

  “Oh, well the next girl on the list is already perfect. Her name is Stacey, and she’s a very carefree girl. I think you’ll hit it off! - MatchedTori”

  I didn’t respond. She said the same thing about the last girl. So far, I wasn’t impressed.

  — & —

  So Tori was right about me hitting it off with Stacey, and strangely, I was a little annoyed about it. She was smug when she called me into her office after our date, confirming that both of us were interested in seeing each other again. She gave me a short run-down of Stacey’s likes and dislikes, then tasked me with planning our date. I decided to spend a morning with her at a thrill park in Dallas, and Tori agreed it was a good fit.

  I thought I was an adventurous, fun person, but Stacey was a true daredevil, though her appearance said different. She was petite, with creamy caramel skin, dimples, and a pretty, youthful face that defied her declaration that she was 32 years old. She didn’t break a sweat when we got strapped to a windmill and spun 165 feet in the air, but I felt like I had been inside of a dryer. Being flung 70 feet into the air in less than two seconds, attached to a bungee cord didn’t faze her either, but it had me wondering why I hadn’t thought to increase the amount of my life insurance policies before I came on this date. If I didn’t know better, I would swear I actually saw her yawn when we were being slung around on our stomachs at 60 miles per hour, over a hundred feet in the air, while I was trying to convince the contents of my stomach to stay put. The only thing that got her blood pumping was the 16 story, 130-foot free fall into a net.

  “Hell no.”

  I wasn’t doing that shit. No way. Not even to alleviate the disappointment in her eyes when I flatly refused. I did watch her do it — twice— and then I took her to lunch.

  “So, tell me how a tall, buff, manly-ass man like you wimps out of a simple little free fall,” Stacey teased, closing her lips over the straw of her fruity drink.

  I took a swig of my Jack and coke. “That was not a little free fall. Maybe to your little fearless butt, but this “thrill park” shit has me drinking at lunch. I’ll be a wimp, punk, whatever you want to call me today,” I laughed. She could tease all she wanted — I was alive, and at that point, it was my only goal for this date.

  “Maybe we should have had the drinks first, huh? Come on, Avery. This stuff today was nothing. I’ve done much more invigorating things than all of that!” I sat in awe as she gave me a rundown of all of the crazy shit — I mean ‘life changing’ adventures — she’d experienced. I was thinking she was going to tell me about zip-lining, maybe skydiving— normal people’s adventurous stuff. No. This girl was running with the bulls, and hunting alligators, shark diving, bungee jumping out of helicopters, storm chasing and a whole list of other dangerous things. I realized Stacey wasn’t really having fun unless she was risking her life, and that wasn’t the life for me.

  When I got home from our date, thankfully in one piece, I messaged Tori.

  “Another no go. Girl has a damned death wish. - MatchedAce.”

  “ :( I’m sorry Avery! So Stacey is a little too carefree? - MatchedTori”

  “A little? - MatchedAce.”

  “Yikes. Okay, well no worries, but maybe we need to make a few more modifications. I know that sometimes the way WE perceive things isn’t the way they actually are. I’m looking at both you and Stacey’s profiles right now, and there’s a question specifically about willingness to do something “crazy”. Obviously, Stacey rated herself a ten, but you rated yourself an eight… maybe we need to slide you back to closer to a five? - MatchedTori”

  “Please do. I’m not into the daredevil life. - MatchedAce”

  “Okay. I’ll do that, and we’ll keep on moving forward. I’m still waiting on the next date to get back to me with her schedule, and we’ll set up a meeting from there, okay? - MatchedTori”

  “Okay. I trust you to do your thing. - MatchedAce”

  I logged off after sending that last message, intending to go over the numbers for a deal that would allow me to buy out a smaller chain of shops similar to Ignition, rebrand them, and add them to my store count. It was big, but it was also complicated, and stressful, and quite honestly, a little scary. I wasn’t in the mood for any of that after that crazy date. On a whim, I logged back into my Matched profile, where I saw that Tori had sent one last message, after I was gone.

  “I appreciate that. Stay positive! - MatchedTori”

  Before I could second-guess it, I tapped out and sent her a response.

  “Have dinner with me tonight? - MatchedAce”

  Ten minutes went by without a response. Then thirty minutes. Then an hour.
r />   “Uhh… not sure about that, Avery. - MatchedTori”

  “Why not? - MatchedAce”

  Ten more minutes.

  “It would be inappropriate. - MatchedTori”

  “Not like that. I wanted to discuss what we might need to do differently to make these dates and stuff work. -MatchedAce”

  That was a lie. I wanted to see her.

  “We can do that here, or we can speak on the phone if you’d like. Or we can set up a meeting time. - MatchedTori”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to talk face to face, and I don’t know when I’ll be free this coming week. - MatchedAce”

  Five minutes went by while I waited on her response.

  “Victor Tango’s. At seven. Do NOT make me wait for you. - MatchedTori”

  Yes!

  I took a moment to pump my fist in victory before I sent one last message back.

  “I’ll be there. See you soon. - MatchedAce”

  I logged out of the site, then practically launched myself away from the desk to get into the shower. For as long as I could, I ignored the nagging question in the back of my mind, of why I was so damned happy I’d gotten Tori to have dinner with me— and under false pretenses at that. I held no hope she would ever let me near enough to her to sleep with her again, so it wasn’t that. She’d made it clear there wasn’t supposed to be anything between us that was remotely romantic, so it wasn’t that either. However, before I had ruined our first impressions of each other, there had been something. A little spark that hadn’t been there with anybody else, and every time I was around her, it grew bigger.

  I wanted that spark and I got it, as soon as Tori turned the corner and the server pointed her to our table. She looked good, in dark jeans and some kind of sheer, silky top— with a tank underneath, God knows I looked for even a hint of a nipple— but she always looked good, so why on earth did the sight of her have my heart thumping a ridiculously fast beat? Standing to greet her, I gave her a completely platonic one-armed hug, then kissed her forehead.