Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Again, she looks to River’s room.
The lights are off.
“No,” I say. “Haven’t seen him.”
Wait. The hug. The whisper. The early departure.
The smile.
His smile.
Why would he smile?
Something is happening.
“Why are you looking for him?” I ask.
“Dee.” She says my name as if it explains everything.
“Where’s Jake?”
“He left.”
“Why did he leave?”
“Because we talked.” She looks to the fridge and waits for a caterer to finish shelving wine before finding a bottle of vodka.
“What did you talk about?”
“Our relationship. Like you said.”
“So you’re on the same page?”
“Exactly the same page.” She sets the vodka on the counter. Then cranberry juice. Limes. “Do we have Cointreau?” She scans the shelves again. “This is close enough.”
“There’s a bartender outside.”
“Too far.” She beams as she uncaps the bottle of vodka.
“Why did Jake leave? Did you break up?” I bite my tongue, so I don’t add you’re supposed to be our poster couple.
“No.”
Thank god.
“We’re on a break,” she clarifies.
“A what?”
“He totally agrees with me.”
That seems highly unlikely. “Agrees with what?”
“We’re too young to settle down. We should see what else is out there. See if it’s real.”
I take a deep breath and let out a slow exhale. I need to think. I need to say the right thing, as a supportive sister, and the smart thing, as the co-owner of MeetCute.
Willa is supposed to be here tonight. She’s expecting to meet Jake. Think.
Lexi continues, “We’re taking two weeks to spend time on our own. See other people. Then we’ll come back together. See if the magic is there.”
“Even if you sleep with another guy?”
“Of course, Dee. Do you really think I’d take a break that didn’t involve sexual freedom?”
“And Jake knows this?” I ask.
“Yes, he knows. How old do you think I am?” She looks at me like she can’t believe I don’t believe in her. “I know how to communicate.”
That’s not what she said earlier, but okay, I’ll go with that. “What if he sleeps with someone else?”
“When he wanted to wait six months with me? I doubt that.”
“But what if he does?” I press.
She shrugs as if she doesn’t mind the thought. “That’s the agreement.”
“Wouldn’t you feel jealous?”
“Dee, I’m not thinking about Jake right now. We’re seeing other people for a while.”
“What about the app?” I ask.
“The meeting is in four weeks,” she says. “If the app is as good as you say it is, we’ll happily resume our relationship in two weeks.”
There’s a certain logic there, yes. If Jake really is okay with her sleeping with other people, then I don’t see the harm. Not to their relationship. But— “Willa is coming tonight.”
“So I’ll tell her he got sick.”
There’s logic there, too. That’s not the problem. It’s more that—
Sex is how Lexi copes. She runs away from any intense feeling to the warm embrace of another body. And this fear of commitment? That’s a big, intense feeling.
It’s one thing if she soothes herself with a little casual sex and returns to Jake’s arms.
It’s another if she soothes herself with a little casual sex and returns to her pre-Jake dating pattern: love ’em and leave ’em.
How do I help her with this? How do I keep her on the right path? Lexi does care about Jake. She wouldn’t want him to leave her.
“What if you’re wrong?” I ask. “What if he thinks his way into another woman? Are you sure you want to risk it?”
“Come on.” She motions to her pink minidress, as if it explains everything. And it does, really. Every time a guy sees her in pink, he’s a goner.
“You’re the only beautiful, charming woman on the planet?” I argue.
“In Orange County.”
“Hey.”
“Charming, Dee.” She smiles. “You’re the only beautiful, smart, cool woman in the county.”
The flattery fills me somewhere deep. Not that it’s false. Lexi truly believes this. She truly believes I’m the smartest, coolest woman she knows. It’s not that she doesn’t mean it.
She does. She really sees me that way. Even though I’m hopelessly out of place here, I still seem like her in-control, intelligent older sister.
But if she’s lying to herself…
“Anyway…River.” She mentions him casually. Too casually. “Have you seen him?”
“No.” And I need to close this Jake thing. “What if you find someone else?”
“Surely, you don’t acknowledge that possibility.” She smiles at me, certain she’s found a flaw in my logic. After all this time in a relationship, she still doesn’t believe she’s a serious relationship person. “The algo is perfect. Jake is Mr. Right.”
Yes, he is a 99 percent match, but Lexi had a lot of high matches. And the algo is assuming people want a serious relationship. It can’t control their self-sabotage. “He’s the most compatible guy within fifty miles, yes.”
We only know the compatibility of people on the app, but we have enough users to make a strong statistical case. There are plenty of very compatible men out there. Lexi is a catch and Southern California is highly populated. But even if we got every single guy in the state onto MeetCute, Lexi and Jake would still be a top match. They’d still be in the 99th percentile.