“You told him I liked his picture.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that if he’s interested…oh, my God…”
“What?”
“He’s interested.”
“What? How do you know?”
“He was on his computer,” Paige explained. “See?” She pointed to the screen. “It indicates here that he’s on his computer, so he saw right away that I swiped onto his picture and he swiped back.”
“This is fascinating. Now what? He phones?”
“Hemessages,” Paige corrected. “It’s a process. You message for a while; then if you like the messages, you agree to a phone call; then maybe, eventually, you meet for a drink.”
“Why don’t you just meet right away?” her mother asked. “Then you don’t waste all that time writing.”
“Because…oh, my God,” she said as her phone beeped to indicate an incoming text. “He wants to meet for drinks.”
“I like this man,” Joan Hamilton said.
“Thenyougo out with him.”
“Don’t be silly, darling. It’syourpicture he liked. Write him back.”
“This is ridiculous. No.”When did you have in mind?Paige typed.
How about tonight?came the quick response.Eight o’clock? Murphy’s on Somerset?
“Perfect,” her mother said. “It’s practically around the corner. Say yes. Come on, darling. You’ve had a hard day. First me and my eyes, then your cousin, then the job interview, then Chloe. You deserve some fun.”
“He’s not going to be fun.”
“You don’t know that. Come on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
“Can I quote you on that?”
“Yes, you may. Go on—tell him yes.”
See you at eight,Paige typed. “I must be out of my mind.”
“For heaven’s sake, darling. Why else are you on these sites? How many of them are you on anyway?”
“I don’t know. A few,” Paige said.Morethan a few, she thought, dropping the phone to the cushion beside her. What did people do before dating sites? “How’d you meet Daddy?” she asked, burrowing into her mother’s side.
“You know. Your father must have told that story a hundred times.”
“I’ve never heardyoutell it.”
“Well, that’s because I could never tell it as well as he could. Besides,” she added, “I didn’t want to contradict him.”
“What do you mean? It wasn’t the truth?”
“Let’s just say that it contained a few embellishments.”
Paige pulled away from her mother’s side. “Such as?”