Page 18 of Never Let Go

I shot him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Dan. I don’t do that anymore, but how about this? I’ll add a note to your file so that Ange knows not to set you up with anyone who’s got sweaty hands from now on, okay?”

He grumbled under his breath but nodded. “Thanks. I knew you’d be able to sort this out for me. I just don’t want to be grossed out when I’m holding my date’s hand, you know?”

“Of course,” I said, appeasing him by scribbling a note on a post-it and sticking it into his file. “Is there anything else I can help you with while you’re here?”

“No, not if you’re really not managing cases anymore.” He sighed. “You got me some good dates, man. Are you sure I can’t have you back?”

I chuckled. “They can’t have been that good if you’re still here. It’s been thirteen months since you signed up. Maybe it’s time you sit down with Ange and go through your profile again. I’m sure your expectations have changed a lot in the time you’ve been with us and a meeting with her might help us narrow it down.”

“Nah. I’m just picky. She already suggested that, but my answers haven’t changed.” He pushed back the chair across from my desk and got up. “I’ll check in with her on my way out. She said she might have someone new for me if the last date didn’t work out.”

I nodded, secretly super relieved that I wasn’t Ange. Dan really was a tough nut to crack. In all the time he’d been with us, he’d gone on dates with dozens of women but he always found something to complain about.

As far as I was concerned, the women weren’t the problem. He was. Whether he wasn’t really ready, was just enjoying the dates too much, or had completely unrealistic expectations, I didn’t know, but Dan was never going to make it to the fifth date at this rate.

On the other hand, given my own recent experiences, I was starting to wonder if maybe I was the problem too. My third date was just an hour away, and I really wasn’t looking forward to it. Since it was in one of the date rooms right here in the building, at least I could keep working until the time came.

After Dan left, Hope came in, smiling as she shut the door behind her. “Dan is still hanging around, huh? I’m starting to think we should get him to talk to a counselor before we send him on any more dates.”

“That’s not the worst idea you’ve ever had.” I leaned back in my chair and stretched my arms out above my head, moving them first to one side and then to the other. “What’s up?”

“Oh, uh, I wanted to find out how your dates are going, but I saw that look on your face when I came in. You’re wondering if you’re the same as him.”

I shrugged, surprised a bit by how quickly and accurately she’d put that together. The thing about Hope was that she was smart and observant, and she’d also been doing this for a long time. She read people exceptionally well. I just never thought I would be one of them.

“I just feel like I’ve been with the company long enough that I shouldn’t have to deal with people like him anymore.”

She chuckled as she crossed the room and sat down across from me. “You and me both, but we do have to deal with them. Even Milena does, and stop trying to dodge my question. Are you comparing yourself to him?”

“I’ve been on two dates and they were both kind of disastrous. It makes a guy think.”

Hope’s eyes locked on mine, shining with sincerity and regret. “Have they really been that bad?”

I groaned in response.

She let out a long sigh. “Porter and I will do better. I promise.”

“Honestly, the last girl wasn’t so bad. She just wasn’t what I’m looking for, but that’s not her fault. Also, do all our clients try to break the rules by asking if the other person wants to make out?”

Hope’s eyes widened, and she doubled over laughing. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think so. It never happened to me, at least, but I guess that might’ve only been because it was Porter in the dark with me all along.”

I winced. “True. Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

She waved me off. “It’s water under the bridge. I know you were only trying to help, but now might be the time to help yourself. If those women weren’t what you’re looking for, tell me what you are looking for.”

An image of Shelby flashed in my mind and I bit into the inside of my cheek. Hope couldn’t match me up with her even if she was in our system, which I doubted, if the computer didn’t spit her out as an option for me.

There was a manual override, but there was a reason we didn’t use it unless the software glitched. Ultimately, our algorithm worked to match us up with people we matched with, not who we wanted to match with.

That was why the program worked so well. Often, on the person-to-person dating scene, we skipped past the people we might actually match well with because of snap decisions. Nose is too big, hair is the wrong color…

Milena’s process eliminated that risk and the algorithm gave us people who might just work well together because of who they were, what they wanted in life, and not because of what they looked like. Even when I’d matched Porter with Hope, the two had been a ninety-something-percent match.

I’d used the manual override to do it, but they had been a match.

“Foster?” Her voice invaded my thoughts. “What is it?”

“It’s just, uh, I think I am the problem, like Dan, but not because I keep finding problems with my dates, which I have done, but because they’re not the woman I want them to be.”