Page 44 of Stupid Matchmaking Love

“You okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just allergies.”

Uh-huh. Allergies. It could be. It is late spring, after all. Things are blooming. But when Cristina glances away quickly, she reveals the truth—whatever made her cry was not about allergies.

“If you’re hungry, I can assure you, the food’s fantastic.”

The waiter arrives and she orders a water. I do the same. Then her gaze scours the other tables and couples. I’d already checked them out and introduced myself to most of them.

“It doesn’t look like Beau’s taken to Clarice yet,” she murmurs before dropping her eyes to the menu.

“Give it time.”

Cristina glances up at me with surprise scribbled all over her face. “You can’t tell me you really believe those two are a match.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve already said once before that age doesn’t matter when it comes to romance.”

She drops her hands on the menu. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-three. How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“See? We get along.”

“We’re only six years apart, not decades. There’s a difference.”

“Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never seen Harold and Maude.”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“Well, Miss Doubter”—she smiles at that—“it’s a movie about a young man and an older woman in love.”

“With each other?”

I laugh. “Yes, with each other.”

“I don’t buy it.” She shakes her head. “What would you have in common with someone that much older?”

“The basics.”

“The basics?”

“Yeah, where you stand on morality, right and wrong, maybe even religion.”

Our gazes lock for a long beat before she rolls her shoulders back and focuses on her menu.

She looked like she was remembering something—maybe something about me saying she’s not tempting.

The waiter comes back and we order—me a steak and her a salad.

Once he’s gone, I start, “Look, when I said earlier—”

“We need a plan,” she cuts in.

“You sure nothing’s bothering you?”

“The only thing bothering me is figuring out how to get out of this whole fiasco sooner rather than later. So”—she folds her hands on the table—“do you have any clue what the first challenge is?”