"Huh," she says, and hands the cell back to me.
MARINA: Don't forget what I said about him. He can't commit to any one woman. You have to decide whether what he can give is enough for you. I know you want someone you can rely on – someone who knows what he wants and it's you.
"That meddling little –" I stop before I say ‘bitch.’
"Jon," she says and takes the phone back. She texts a response and sends it. Then she hands it to me.
INDIA: Jon is who he is. Any woman with him has to accept him for what he can give. If she can't, she has no right to be with him.
I read it over and glance at her. "You mean that?"
"I do," she says and takes in a deep breath the way you do before you leap out of a plane with only a parachute on your back. "I'll do my best to take you as you are. We'll see where this goes. It may go nowhere. Or it may go somewhere. I'm willing to give you a chance."
Her cell dings. She reads Marina's text and then sends off a reply, gets another response and sends another reply. Then, she hands the cell back to me.
MARINA: I hope you know what you're doing. I have a great guy lined up for you if you want to check out his profile on MATCHED. Yo
u could come to my party on Saturday. Mid-thirties, wants to settle down, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford, lots of publications. Six feet three, built, dark hair and eyes. He's a hunk. You won't regret it.
INDIA: I can look after myself. But thanks for the offer. I'm going to take it easy for a while and just focus on other things besides finding someone through MATCHED. I'm sure you have other female Stanford grads you can use to test it.
MARINA: K sug, you know I love you.
INDIA: Back at you! <3
I smile and shake my head before handing the cell to India once more. "It's quite the insight into how your mind works, seeing your conversation with Marina. She obviously thinks she knows what's best for you and it isn't me."
"No, she's made that very clear." She stuffs her cell into her bag.
"You're so afraid of her that you won't just tell her the truth?"
She sighs and sits on the sofa. I sit beside her, my arm around her shoulder.
"It's just that she thinks she's this great matchmaker because she had success with a couple of our friends. So she thinks she has an instinct for people who belong together. She doesn’t think you and I belong together."
"She's wrong. We obviously want to be together."
"No," she says and shakes her head. "She means forever-together. You know, love and marriage and babies. The whole shebang."
I nod. "What about her? Why is she still single?"
India leans her head against my shoulder. "I don't know… She says she hasn't met her match yet. But she totally believes she will. She's the eternal optimist."
"You have to put yourself out there," I say and run my hand over India's hair, which is down and soft, flowing over her shoulders. "She's so busy matching other couples up that she's denying herself."
"She'll find someone."
I think of Marina, with her black hair in her signature pig-tails and her dark-rimmed Harry-Potterish glasses. She looks so bookish and geeky that it's hard to imagine her with a man. She looks like she's ready to play some LARPG.
For the rest of the evening, we never talk about work. Instead, we spend some time watching Netflix, and then it's late and I should really go home and hit the sack if I'm going to get up early and get ready for my trip.
Now comes the moment when I have to leave and I don't know what India will think about it. Will she want me to stay?
"I have to go," I say and kiss the top of her head. "I have the early-morning flight to Washington tomorrow. I have to pack and get some shut-eye."
"Okay," she says and kisses me back when I kiss her. "You're back on Monday night?"
I nod and pull her onto my lap. "Yes, and I want to come right over and drive you crazy with lust. At least four times."