Page 5 of Her Age Gap Match

"Four is manageable," Jasper said from the beanbag, not looking up from his tablet. "The algorithm is happy.”

"Pair number one," Sophie continued. "Marcus and Dev. They're at the six month mark, everything is going well, and they've officially decided they want to move forward with a surrogate. So I need to start making calls on that front. I have two women in the network I think could be a good fit, and I want to get them in for consultations by end of month."

I made a note. "I'll block time on the calendar."

"Thank you." Sophie scrolled. "Pair two…Anna and Rob. She had her baseline bloodwork done last week. FSH is a little elevated, which isn't alarming at her age but it does mean we're probably looking at a shorter timeline than they were hoping for. I want to get them in to talk through their options before the holidays."

"That's a hard conversation to have in December," Cole observed.

"Most conversations are hard in December," Sophie said. "That's why we have the wine." She held out her glass in my direction without looking up. I leaned over and topped her off. "Pair three—Jenny and Claire. They've completed their third IUI. We're in the two week wait."

Jasper looked up from his tablet. "How are they doing?"

"Anxious. I've been checking in every couple of days.” Sophie hummed, her brow furrowed. “Claire is convinced it didn’t work…Jenny is convinced it did. They’re driving each other a little crazy.”

“Classic two week wait,” I said.

“Textbook.” Sophie nodded. “I’ve told them to call me the second they know, either way.” She scrolled again. “Pair four, the Nguyens. Tran’s sperm analysis came back and there are some motility issues, so we're pivoting to IVF. They took the news better than I expected. They want to start the process in January."

"That's a lot of monitoring appointments," I said, already mentally reorganizing the calendar.

"I know. We'll make it work." She glanced at me briefly. "I'm going to need you to really hold my schedule tight in Q1, Poppy."

"Already on it."

"Of course you are." Sophie smiled, then paused. “Okay…onto matchmaking.”

She set her phone down and picked up her wine, swirling the glass and staring into space. I tucked my feet under me.

“We have fourteen active matching cases,” she said. “Twelve are progressing normally—second and third dates, nothing that needs our attention tonight. I do think that Winn and Jace are moving onto babymaking already, which would be great; their fertility testing showed they could conceive right away if they try, so they’re well on their way to being parents.”

“Hm,” Cole said. “Good for them. Make sure to get them over to me for custody conversations if they accelerate their timeline.”

“Will do,” Sophie nodded. “Poppy—make a note of that for me?”

“Already done,” I said, setting a reminder on my own tablet.

“And…unfortunately, I did decide to put Johnny Lawson on a break for ninety days.” Sophie shook her head. “He’s just—I don’t think he’s ready. I was skeptical about taking the case in the first place, but he’s really such a nice guy…”

“I don’t get it,” I said without even thinking. “He’s seriously like—he’s smart, he’s charming, he’s successful, he’s handsome⁠—”

“He spent ten years in prison.” Cole interrupted.

I glared at him. “Yeah, but⁠—”

“I’m not trying to be an asshole,” Cole said. “Just…you’ve gotta remember a lot of this is a legal arrangement, and that can present problems in family court down the line. It’s why I advised you not to take the case.”

He cast a look at Sophie. She rolled her eyes.

“Forgive me if I think I have a better intuition for these things,” she muttered. “Anyway…we’re putting him on a break. I don’t want to fire him as a client, but it’s certainly on the table.”

Jasper looked at me. I looked very intently at my tablet.

“Poppy?” Sophie said. “I think you have an opinion on this.”

I swallowed hard. “Why?”

“Because he’s smart and charming and handsome and successful, maybe…?” Jasper said.