by Case, Jaimie
“Uh-huh.” I laughed. “Okay, I’m going to go now. I need to respond to these guys and do some more swiping.”
“Sounds good. Speak to you later, doll.”
“Bye, Stella. Sweet dreams.” I hung up the phone and got ready to start responding to the messages. I was just about to put my phone away when I decided to do a couple more swipes. I needed to up my connections so that I could have more potential dates. And just as I was about to put my phone away again, there he appeared, Lucas Sacramento in the flesh. His beaming face filled up my screen and I could hear myself squealing. He looked absolutely gorgeous. The young, tall geeky boy had grown up and was now super built and hot as hell. His bright blue eyes dazzled in his tan face and his hair was now slightly too long and wavy. He was on the beach in his profile photo and only wearing white swim trunks that showed off his perfect chest and studly legs. I whistled as I clicked through the rest of his photos. This guy was hot. I couldn’t believe that his wife had cheated on him. I swiped right and was overjoyed to see that we matched immediately. That meant he had already seen my photo and swiped right as well. That meant that he was interested in me and how I looked now. I tried to stifle my excitement, but I couldn’t. I jumped up and called out to Heathcliff, he came running and I attempted to dance around the room with him. I couldn’t wait to see what Lucas was going to write to me in the app. I just couldn’t wait. I ignored the fact that it was Nolan’s face that popped into my head as I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed.
9
To: CreativewriterJules
From: ThirdbaseJose
Hey girl, looking cute. How’s your week going? What’s your name?
Jose
To: ThirdbaseJose
From: CreativewriterJules
Hi Jose,
My name is Julia. Pretty great. Now I’m talking to you. How are you? What does your screen name mean? A sexual reference or baseball? It’s very unique. Do you enjoy cooking?
Jules
To: CreativewriterJules
From: ThirdbaseJose
Julia,
What do you think my name means? ;)
Cooking? Sometimes. Do you cook? Offering to make me dinner?
Any plans this weekend?
Jose
To: ThirdbaseJose
From: CreativewriterJules
Hey Jose,
I think it means you’re good at baseball. I’m not the best cook, though my friend Betsy is amazing. Do you make empanadas? Are you from Argentina? Where are you from originally? Just curious as to what sort of cuisine you might make. No plans for this weekend? What about you? Want to ask me on a date? Is it okay if everything gets recorded?
Jules
To: CreativewriterJules
From: ThirdbaseJose
Julia,
What do you mean where am I from? I’m American! Is it because I look Latin?
JK, I’m originally from Mexico. At least that’s what my parents tell me. They’re from Guadalajara. Have you heard of it? Maybe if this works out we can go to Cancun or something and rent a private villa? Wanna grab a drink on Friday night!
Jose
To: ThirdbaseJose
From: CreativewriterJules
Jose,
Please forgive me for my faux pas. I didn’t mean to assume or say that you weren’t American! I’d love a drink on Friday night! Where shall we meet? Don’t think we’re going to be renting a private villa but whatevs.
Jules
I grabbed my phone and sent a text to Stella, Betsy, and Nolan with the same message. “Holla, guess who just landed their first date? This chica here.” I hit send and sat back at my desk with a smile. I could already tell that Thirdbase Jose was not going to be the guy for me, but it was nice to have a date lined up already. It felt a little bit exciting, even though I knew it wasn’t really a real date. He wasn’t going to become my true love or anything. However, Jose was hot. He had updated his profile with some new photographs and I just couldn’t stop myself from smiling and pinching myself. I couldn’t believe that such a hottie wanted to take me out. Not that I was grotesque. I was pretty enough, but I wasn’t a Hollywood beauty by any means and this guy looked like a better looking Enrique Iglesias. Even if he was interested, I was still waiting to hear from Lucas on the app. I was actually surprised that he hadn’t messaged me already, but figured that he was just really shy.
“Tell me all,” Betsy sang into the phone as soon as I picked up. “What’s his name? Age? Also, send me some photos.”
“Betsy.” I laughed. “You know this is for a job, right?”
“I know.” She giggled. “I’m just so excited for you. It’s Jules, Grandma Elsie, she just got a date so I’m asking her about it. Sorry,” she said into the phone. “Grandma Elsie is helping out at the bakery today and heard me on the phone.”
“No worries.” I heard a beep on my phone and saw Nolan was calling me. “Hey, I have to go, your brother is on the other line.”
“Oh Nolan.” Betsy groaned. “He’s always there. Nolan is calling Jules right now, Grandma, not me.” She laughed as her grandma said something in the background. “I don’t know, Grandma. Hey Jules, I’ll let you go. Call me back later, okay?”
“Okay, bye,” I said and clicked over to the other call. “Goodburger, home of the Goodburger, can I take your order?”
“Very funny, Jules.” Nolan’s voice was dry. “So you have a date already?”
“Surprised?”
“No,” he said and laughed slightly.
“Jealous?”
“Not quite. I’m just wondering if you and Malcolm had figured out how legally you were going to take me along and have me taking photos and videos of the two of you.”
“Oh,” I said and blinked. “I don’t know. I didn’t even think about it. I thought you guys had it all figured out.”
“If you guys want to use these images, you will need permission from your dates. You guys don’t want to get sued.”
“This wasn’t even my idea.” My voice rose.
“Well, I know you’re all excited about your date and all, but maybe you need to be thinking responsibly as well.”
“Excuse me?” My voice grew even louder. “I am responsible.”
“You could have fooled me.” His voice sounded confident and it angered me even more.
“Oh shut up, Nolan,” I said annoyed. “What do you want?”
“I just told you.”
“Was that all?”
“Yes,” he said and then I hung up on him. Like really? He was the one that had initially communicated with Malcolm, not me. So why was it me that was now in charge of making sure we legally recorded my dates. I sighed as I stood up and walked to Malcolm’s office. Even though it annoyed me, I knew Nolan was right. There was no way we could secretly record my dates. I just didn’t know what sort of guy would be genuine and real if he knew he was being recorded.
“Malcolm, do you have a second?” I said as I knocked on his door. He looked up from his computer screen with a small frown on his face.
“Sure, Julia, what’s going on?” He ushered me into his office and I sat in the chair across from him.
“Legally we can’t just video and photograph my dates. There’s no way we can get away with that.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “And?”
“And, so what’s the plan?” I asked him, keeping my voice in check as he was annoying me as well.
“The plan?” He shrugged. “I guess tell them and ask them after the date?”
“That’s not really a good plan. What if they say no?” I said after a few seconds.
“Well, tell them beforehand?” His eyes flickered back to his screen and I could tell that he wasn’t really paying attention to me.
“Is everything okay, Malcolm?” I asked him, starting to feel concerned about his behavior. This wasn’t like him.
“What?” He gazed at me as if he had no idea what I’d just said. “Oh yes, yes, yes, everything is f
ine.”
“Um okay.”
“Go to Jackson Mclintock, our attorney to work out an agreement for your dates to sign,” Malcolm said after a few seconds. “Make sure to have them sign the contract before the date and we should be fine.”
“But how am I supposed to tell them?” I made a face. “And what if they change the way they act because they know they’re being recorded?”
“You’ll figure it out, Julia.” He heaved a big sigh. “I have to make a call. Anything else?”
“No.” I shook my head and stood up. “I’ll go and chat with Jackson Mclintock now, if that’s okay?”
“Sure.” He smiled at me. “Tell him I said hello.”
“Okay,” I said and walked out of his office. That had been a really weird conversation. Malcolm was never that out of it. He must be really stressed out about how the newspaper was doing. I walked back to my desk and then looked online for Jackson’s phone number. Jackson Mclintock was well known in town, for having been the star quarterback of the high school football team and the mayor’s son and I also knew of him because he was one of Nolan’s old friends.
“Good day, this is the law office of Mclintock and Holmes, how may I direct your call?” a perky voice answered the phone.
“May I speak to Jackson, please?”
“Who shall I say is calling?”
“Julia Gilbert.”
“Jules?” Her voice suddenly changed and lost all professionalism. “It’s me, Emily. Emily Lutz.”
“Emily?”
“From AP English?”
“Oh yeah, yeah. How are you?” I asked, vaguely remembering a cute redhead that always talked about her love for young adult books, like Sweet Valley Twins, even though we were seniors in high school.
“Oh, just great. Working for Jackson Mclintock.” She sighed dreamily. “I can’t believe my luck.”
“Are you an attorney?” I asked surprised. When we were in school, she’d always said she wanted to be an actress or singer.
“No.” She laughed. “I’m the head receptionist here at the firm. Jackson has a lot of faith in me.”
“Oh wow, how many receptionists does he have?” I asked surprised. How many calls could he be getting each day? It wasn’t like our town was very big.
“Just me.” She giggled. “But it’s such an honor working for him, he’s so smart and handsome, and…” Her voice trailed off and she giggled again. I rolled my eyes as I sat on the other side of the phone. So she was definitely still an airhead then.
“Sorry to interrupt you, Emily, but is Jackson there? I’m working at the Canyon Beach Chronicle now and he’s our attorney and we have an urgent question for him.”
“Oh, of course,” she said sweetly. “I thought you might have been one of his admirers trying to get through, but if it’s for the paper, of course. I’ll put you through now.”
“Thanks, Emily.”
“Bye, Jules,” she said and I then found myself listening to the boring wait music that companies play to make you hang up the phone.
“Julia Gilbert,” A smooth deep voice answered the phone. “Is that you?”
“Hi, Jackson, yes, it’s me.”
“Well, how’s that for a good day?” he said, with a small chuckle. “You know I was just thinking about you the other day.”
“You were?” I asked surprised. I didn’t think that Jackson Mclintock had ever really noticed me.
“Yes, do you remember that weekend that Nolan and I visited you in college?”
“Uh…” My voice stalled as my face reddened. I never wanted to think about that weekend again, in my life.
“You and that guy you were dating had just broken up remember and Nolan had that copy of Pride and Prejudice that he gave you?”
“Yeah, I vaguely remember, why?”
“Oh.” He laughed. “I met a girl in your dorm and we had some fun that weekend and I was trying to remember her name and I was going to call and ask you.”
“Oh,” I said and then shook my head to myself. He was still a pig then. “Hey Jackson, I’m actually calling on official newspaper business,” I hurriedly explained to him what we were after and I waited for him to respond.
“I see… hmm… so you’re dating up a storm now?”
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s for work.”
“I can send you out a contract that you can have the guys sign before the dates start.”
“So I have to have them do that?”
“Yes.” His voice was serious now. “You will put the paper in legal jeopardy if you don’t have them sign this paper before any photos are taken.” He cleared his throat. “Malcolm can’t afford to get sued for anything right now.”
“Well, the articles were his idea,” I said defensively, but his words made me pause. Did everyone know that the paper wasn’t doing well? Maybe it was a lot more serious than I’d originally thought. What if I lost my job? I swallowed hard as I realized that it wasn’t only the Canyon Beach Chronicle that needed for this series of articles to really take off. I needed it to do well myself.
10
“Aww, he is just too sweet and perfect,” I said to Heathcliff as I reread the latest letter I’d received from Fitz. I was still surprised that Lucas hadn’t messaged me on the dating app as yet, but I figured that he was more comfortable with the letter writing.
Dearest Julia,
My schedule is quite busy at the moment but I would love to meet eventually. I hope you don’t mind us writing for the time being. I’m sure you have many questions, but for now, let’s just get to know each other. Have you read any good books recently? I seem to recall that you loved books. Do you still read a lot? I recently read a book called “A Man Called Ove,” by Fredrik Backman and it was really heartfelt and touching. I think you would enjoy it. Do you still love Jane Austen as much as you did in high school?
Yours,
Fitz
I put the letter back down and smiled to myself as I decided to wait to respond to his letter. I didn’t want him to think I was too eager. Heathcliff was curled up at my feet and I had a light cotton blanket over my lap as I lay back on the couch and watched TV. I had recently become obsessed with a show called The Bold Type and I had been watching the episodes since I’d gotten off of work. “Oh Sutton,” I groaned as she gave her boyfriend, Richard, another dismissal. “What are you doing?” I saw Heathcliff looking at me curiously and laughed at the puzzled expression in his brown eyes. He had no idea who I was talking to. “I’m not going crazy, Heathcliff, don’t worry,” I said as the doorbell rang. I sat up and frowned, the puzzled expression now on my face. I had no idea who could be at my door. I got up and walked to my front door and turned on the corridor light?
“Hello,” I said as I opened the door and a wave of surprise crashed over me as I saw Nolan standing there with a bottle of wine in one hand and a bag in the other. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you as well, Jules,” he said with a small grin as he held up the wine bottle. “Can I come in?”
“Um, why?” I said not shifting.
“I realized that I was too harsh with you about the contract for your dates. It’s not on you. I wanted to apologize and see if we can figure out a way to ensure your dates don’t run when they see me with the camera.”
“You want to help me?” I asked him, my voice expressing my shock. “And you brought wine? For me?”
“Well, for us.” He winked. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” I said and stepped back. He looked me over in my skimpy tank top and shorts and I suddenly felt severely underdressed as his smile grew. He looked at me and I waited for him to tease me or make fun of me. “Nothing to say?” I asked him as he followed me to the living room and he just shook his head.
“Hey, Heathcliff.” He scratched Heathcliff behind the ears as the dog beamed up at him, tail wagging. “How’s my favorite dog?” He grinned, and I just shook my head.
“Don’t encourage him.”
I sat down on the couch and pressed pause on the TV. “So what’s going on?”
“Can we open this wine before we start talking?” He held up the bottle again and shook it around a little bit.
“I thought you preferred beer.”
“I do, but I brought wine for you and I don’t want you to have to drink it alone.”
“What if I don’t want to drink any right now?”
“You’re turning down a drink?”
“I’m not a lush, you know.”
“I know that, Jules,” he said as he walked closer to me, his eyes sparkling. He stopped right in front of me and stared into my eyes for a good minute or so.
“What are you doing?” I swallowed hard as I stared up at him. He was too good-looking and he knew it.
“I wasn’t aware that I was doing anything.” He winked at me and my heart fluttered as he reached over and brushed a stray hair from my face. “Your hair is growing so long again.”
“Yeah, I decided to grow it out again. Didn’t love it short,” I remarked on his comment. I’d had long hair almost all of my life, but right after college graduation, I had decided to cut it into a bob. It hadn’t suited my face and I had been praying desperately for it to grow back out. “Let me go and get a corkscrew.” I almost ran away from him as his finger traced a line down my cheek toward my mouth. “And uh, two glasses.”
“Oh and a plate. Grandma Elsie gave me some brownies to bring.”
“Oh?” I stopped at the doorway and looked back at him. “She did?”
“Yeah, she knew I was going to come over tonight.” He held up a white bag. “We all know how much you love your sweets.”
“Yes, we do.” I laughed. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” I hurried to the kitchen and then back to the living room. “Make yourself at home,” I said sarcastically as I stared at him sitting on the couch with Heathcliff in his lap. “Heathcliff, you are a fair-weather dog.”
