21. Dollie—present day
Dollie—present day
I return from the bathroom, checking every corner for an unknown shadow.
There’s no one in my house except Annabelle.
I find the reading room clean, and Annabelle, with her blinding smile, peeking around my phone, which she holds with both hands.
She’s sitting on the edge of the chaise lounge and bubbling with excitement.
“Please, tell me you haven’t messaged Shane’s mother back?”
“No. Your monster-in-law doesn’t deserve a reply.”
“So, why the huge smile?”
“Oh, so you did notice the teeth. Do you like them?”
“They’re great.” I smile, hiding my regular, mediocre teeth.
“I got them done in Turkey last year. I’m thinking I’ll do a butt lift next.” She laughs, then snorts. Some things never change—like the laugh Annabelle hasn’t grown out of—which brings me a strange sense of comfort.
“Maybe by then, you’ll have told me what you’re smiling about.” I pluck the phone from her hands, cautiously glancing down at the screen.
The photo of Shane and me is still there, with smiles on our faces.
“If I were sure you’d have been okay with it, I’d have removed that. Replaced it with a theme of pretty colors or something pink.”
“That would have been fine by me. Where do I find these themes? Never mind. I found them.” I start browsing through the endless screen layouts, nothing in particular catching my eye as I scroll past lips, couples, and all the romantic stuff I don’t want to see right now.
I settle on a cupcake design.
“So, don’t freak out, and try to remember that not all guys are the same.”
“You’re not trying to set me up with one of your cousins, right?”
“God, no. Have you seen my cousins? They aren’t fit for swamp ogres. They’re lazy and visually unappealing.”
“So, what did you do?”
“I may have set you up on a dating app.”
“What? Why?”
“To keep you amused when you start to feel lonely. Trust me, it helps.”
“Annabelle, the last thing I want right now is attention from men.”
“You sure, because you’re getting quite a lot.”
“I don’t get attention. My own fiancé would rather give it to someone else.”
“Then take a look and get yourself a worthy man.”
The new app sits on my screen, calling attention to it with its big pink speech bubble heart.
“MateMatch? Sounds like some kind of Fairy thing, and no, I haven’t tried those books yet that you post all over your socials.”
“Oh, you should. I tell you, no man is good enough for me because I’m in love with a made-up Male called Cassian.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“That’s fine. I feel like you’d be a Rhys girl anyway. We just gotta find you your Rhys. And who knows, he could be on the app. Give it a try. I mean, it’s not like I put you on Bone and Groan.”
“I don’t even wanna know what Bone and Groan is.”
“My friend Toni recommended it. Honestly, I worry about her sometimes. More so, after seeing that app.”
A small smile hikes up my lips.
I click open the app to an inbox full of topless men.
“God, this one guy is older than your dad.” And Annabelle’s dad is old.
“Okay, so ignore that one. No point in giving him false hope. He might get excited and have a heart attack.”
Taking a seat at Annabelle’s side, we check out the guys together. The desperation that clings to so many of them is like sweat on their almost naked bodies.
Three of the five messages I’ve clicked so far have all hinted at hook-ups, and that’s their opener.
I close them and delete their conversations without replying.
“Is Bone and Groan worse than this?”
“Well, not for the guys, I guess. At least over there, they have some chance of getting laid.” That snorting laughter comes again. “What about him?”
Unlike every other guy, the guy she points to leaves everything to the imagination.
“He doesn’t even have a picture. And speaking of, do I?”
I click off the message from the guy with the standard little stick man photo and move across the icons with a swipe of my finger to my homepage.
A sigh slips through my lips. Annabelle chose a tagged photo from my social media that I despise.
Of all the damn photos.
“It’s a funny one.”
“Yeah. They get to laugh at me.”
“Dollie, these guys still wanna take you to bed, even when I chose an innocent goofball picture. You can’t help how hot you are. Go back to the stick man.”
“He could be anyone.”
“So, ask who he is?”
“He could lie.” I don’t wait for her to answer as I remove the awful photo of me, watching as it reverts to the little stick figure in a sticky-out dress.
“Wow. Now, you look like the perfect couple. A match made in MateMatch heaven.” She laughs. No snort follows this time.
And she’s the only one finding this funny, as I have no interest in being this guy’s match or any other guy.