Page 9 of Imperfect Match (Imperfect Match 1)
We both sit at the table, waiting for the food to cook, and I figure this is the best chance to talk about the whole matchmaking thing. I have a limited amount of time to find his dream girl and get them to fall in love. It occurs to me I might lose my best friend in the process, which makes me sad. I let out a heavy sigh, and run my finger around the stem of the glass.
“What’s that face?” he asks. “Something wrong?”
I hate that he can read me so damn well. But I don’t tell him what I’m really thinking. “Nope. Just thinking of what I can ask you so I’m sure to find that perfect girl.”
“Oh, Jesus. Well, ask your questions already, so we can get this over with and I can eat in peace.”
“And then watch an hour of beautiful storytelling in the most heartbreaking way.”
He groans. “I regret this already.”
“As you should.”
I spend the next thirty minutes grilling him and enjoying every second of his torture.
The next day at work, I sit at my desk, sifting through the potential matches for Reid from the database of eligible females.
There’s something wrong with all of them.
“Hmm, too tall.”
“Too stupid.”
“Too ... blond.”
I sigh and drop my face into my hands. I’ve been at this for four hours and I only have one maybe on the pile. He is seriously proving to be impossible to match. It doesn’t help that the list of requisite traits he came up with last night was asinine. There is no way any girl will have a check in every box, but I have to at least find the majority checked or he’ll toss her before she gets a chance.
Stupid, stubborn man.
I’m going to find another tearjerker show to torment him with because of all the grief this is putting me through.
“How’s it going?” Mom asks.
I look up from the list with more red X’s on it than circles, with a face that clearly says how much fun I’m not having.
“That good, I see.”
“You couldn’t have picked anyone else? Anyone? You had to assign me the man who has no desire to get married? All these women want to date someone who might actually propose someday. That’s never gonna be Reid.”
She smiles with that motherly look she’s perfected and shrugs. “Life is full of challenges and I don’t think Reid knows what he wants. He will when he finds her. You just have to bring her to him, which is what we do, Willow. We force people to open their horizons to ideas they don’t think they believe in. Most of my clients couldn’t find the right person not because they didn’t want love, but because they weren’t willing to truly open their eyes.”
“Right, but Reid didn’t come to us. You forced him on me.”
“I gave him the option, and he walked through that door. He’s ready for love, he’s just afraid to take the risk.”
“And you think I’m going to be able to show him the light?”
Mom smiles and nods. “I know you will. He’ll see it.”
My mother lives in a universe of eternal optimism. It’s exhausting most days, but then, she’s usually right, which makes it hard to argue with her. “Well, I need options and we are short on those.”
“I have all the faith in the world that there’s someone in our database for him.”
“I’m glad one of us does,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m leaving here in about five minutes. Reid and I are going to get him a few new outfits and then he’s forcing me to go to the comic store.”
“Life is all about compromise, darling.”
“Like you do with Dad?”
