Page 3

Me: Tell me how many fingers to hold up.

A few seconds passed.

Justin: Four

“Maddy, take a picture of me.”

She gawked. “You’re gonna send this dude a picture?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Uh, because he could be a serial killer?”

“A serial killer with a sense of humor, a rescue dog, lifelong friends, and a relationship with his mom?” I handed her my phone. “It’s no different than what he’d see if he’d matched with me on Tinder and anyway, we’ll be in Hawaii in a few weeks. He’s in Minnesota. Even if he could figure out who I am, he’d never track me down.”

“What if he’s some gross dude who doesn’t floss and now he’s got a picture for his spank bank?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh stop.”

I tilted my head so my braid fell to one side and held up four fingers. Maddy didn’t look happy, but she took the picture with my phone, then handed it back to me.

I was in scrubs and my hospital badge was clipped to my pocket. I opened the edit feature, scribbled out the identifying information, and sent the pic.

Me: I’m at work. Do reporters wear scrubs? And how many times have you been catfished by reporters?

Justin: This week? Or like, in total?

I sent a laughing emoji.

Justin: Now that we’ve established you are who you say you are, I will answer your question. I’ve been asked only once to be in a wedding for someone who benefited from my little streak. But I was best man and it was Beetlejuice themed.

I laughed and read it out loud to Maddy.

“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” she said.

I typed “Pictures or it didn’t happen. ”

I set my phone back down. “You’re right. This is fun.”

“I have good ideas,” she said.

I was almost done eating my sandwich when my DMs pinged.

“He just replied,” I said. “There’s a picture.”

Maddy jumped from her seat to stand over my shoulder.

When I clicked it, I started cracking up. The bride and groom were dressed as Beetlejuice and Lydia, in her red wedding dress from the movie. The maid of honor and best man were dressed like the Maitlands, only with the scary faces they put on in the beginning to frighten the new residents. He was wearing a long cone-shaped nose and buggy eyes. I sent a row of laughing emojis.

“You’re right, he does have a sense of humor,” Maddy said.

I tilted my head. “Too bad I can’t see his face.”

“Send me that.”

“Why?”

“I’ll reverse image search it.”