Page 2 of Link with Me

“Ladies,” she said, her voice low and conspiratorial, “I have a feeling that by this time next year, we’ll be knee-deep in wedding invitations and baby shower gifts. Those two won’t know what hit them!”

Nancy and Gillian grinned, their eyes sparkling with anticipation. They lifted their tea cups and cheered. “To The Matchmaker’s Book Club.”

Let the matching begin.

ONE

On the computer, Lena Caldwell eyed her mom in her peripheral view, pacing around the living room. Crap. That pacing told Lena all she needed to know. Her mom was about to start another lecture about finding a man and getting married. She sighed loudly but her mom didn’t seem to notice, too preoccupied with her not enough grand babies problem.

Why was it always like this? At thirty-six, Lena wasn’t a spring chicken, but damn, why did her mom feel the need to remind her that her love life sucked balls? Okay, so maybe she could try a little harder, but she was a busy woman. She had goals. She had dreams. She had video games to play.

Lena had always embraced her inner nerd. She preferred the company of video games and fantasy novels over nightclubs and high heels. Unfortunately, her family didn’t share her sentiments, especially not her mother or her sister Tara.

“It’s time you found yourself a husband, Lena,” her mother declared right on cue, her voice laced with determination and a dash of impatience.

“Mom, I thought you asked me to come check your WI-FI, not to lecture me on my poor dating habits.”

“Lena, honey, you have no dating habits,” her mother said matter-of-factly.

“Mom, I’m fine. I love me a fictional boyfriend.” She grinned at her mom and wagged her brows. “My fictional boyfriends don’t snore or leave the toilet seat up.”

Her mother wasn’t amused. “Fictional boyfriends can’t give me grandchildren, Lena.” She raised a brow. “Fictional boyfriends don’t give my daughter enough orgasms she forgets her own name.”

Did that happen? Did men give orgasms that made women forget their own names? God. She kind of felt bad for how shitty her love life was. She really was missing out. A good orgasm didn’t happen unless she made it happen. Great orgasms? That was like a unicorn. Something mythical she hoped existed but had never actually had any proof.

Of course, Tara chimed in from the living room where she was attempting to wrangle her two energetic toddlers. “Mom’s right. It’s not healthy to be alone.” She winked at Lena. “And they do.”

“What?” Lena asked with a frown.

“They do give you orgasms that make you forget your own name.” Tara laughed. “I can see you wondering about it.”

Shit. Maybe she should rethink this no-dating thing and give it another shot. Name-forgetting orgasms didn’t sound so bad.

“Look at me—married with kids. It’s chaotic but fulfilling,” Tara mumbled while handing each of her toddlers a sippy cup.

Lena shot her sister a look. “Yeah, ‘fulfilling’ looks like being covered in spit-up and surviving on three hours of sleep.”

Tara laughed, picking up little Ally and bouncing her on her hip. “Better than talking to your game console every night.”

The conversation was all too familiar. Lena adored her family, but their relentless matchmaking was a force to be reckoned with. They had made it their mission to see her settled down, convinced that her life was somehow incomplete without a partner. “What am I doing here, again?”

“Fixing my WI-FI,” her mother replied. “And agreeing to meet my book club friend’s son for dinner.”

Lena groaned. “No.”

“Yes,” Tara laughed. “Right, Ally?”

Her niece nodded as if she understood Lena’s crummy love life and sided with her mother and grandmother in the matchmaking schemes.

“Mom, please. I don’t want to go on a date with some guy who lives in his mother’s basement and buys used women’s underwear off the internet.”

Tara snorted and her mother gasped.

“Lena Marie! I would never set you up with a creep. This guy happens to be very nice.”

Lena raised her brows, swiveled in the desk chair, and blinked at her mom. “How do you know?”

Her mother’s mouth gaped. “Well, his mother said so.”

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