Page 35 of Save the Date

“Why are you assuming that man wants to talk to you after your last interaction?”

Emma’s phone faded to her lock screen. “Shit. I missed it.”

“Maybe he’ll leave a voicemail,” Imani joked. No one left voicemails anymore, unless they forgot to hang up in time.

“I’m going to call him back,” Emma declared, grabbing her phone and heading toward the door. “If I’m not back in five minutes, order me another scone. Actually, order me another scone either way.”

As the surprisingly cool evening air hit Emma’s face, she felt her heart rate quicken. Was it possible that Will had changedhis mind? Was Emma finally going to receive good news for once? She prayed to whoever would listen as she hit the necessary buttons to call him back.

“Hey,” Will answered after only two rings.

“Hi,” Emma replied. A moment of complete silence followed that was as emotionally excruciating as the time her sixth-grade crush asked Emma to set him up with Jackie—even though Jackie was a high school junior. It was the first time Emma understood that most boys would rather swing for the fences than settle with her.

“You’re probably wondering why I called.”

“A little, yes,” Emma lied. She wanted to know why more than anything in the world. But considering the massive amount of rejection she had faced in the last few months, she had to pretend to havesomedignity.

“First, I want to apologize. I was probably too harsh on you the other day. If my job has taught me anything it’s that just because I don’t understand something doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense to someone else.”

Emma felt her entire body deflate. It didn’t seem like he had suddenly come around to Operation: Save My Date. “Thank you. I know how it probably seems to you, but it isn’t about replacing someone. It’s about building the life I want for myself.”

“Absolutely,” Will agreed a little too eagerly. Emma didn’t understand why he sounded so nervous. “I actually watched all your YouTube videos about it after you left. You’ve really hit a nerve with people. The comment sections are out of control.”

Emma let a small laugh escape despite her best effort to keep her guard up. He was right. People were writing paragraphs back and forth on whether Operation: Save My Date was brilliantly revolutionary or, to quote one commenter, “a clear signal of humanity’s active decline due to loneliness and depravity.” She’d stopped reading after that one.

“It’s definitely started a conversation.” Emma wanted to say more. She wanted to share all the ways this experiment had already changed her—along with her doubts and fears around pulling it off. But Will hadn’t earned that. He was no longer her potential future; he was just another guy who’d said no.

“How would you feel about continuing that conversation with me? For a new podcast?”

“Is that a joke?”

“Why would it be a joke?”

“Because of that mug you gave me the other day. ‘Careful or you’ll end up in my next podcast.’”

Will laughed, and then laughed a little more. “I guess our merch says that for a reason. It’s a side effect of the job. Whenever we meet interesting people, we want to pick their brains and mine them for content.”

“How lovely,” Emma quipped. Even though she knew she was guilty of something similar on her channel and in her book.

“You don’t have to decide anything now. But I threw the idea around to some of my bosses and they think it has legs. I’d basically follow your journey and interview you and the people in your life about Operation: Save My Date. It’d be good publicity for your channel and brand. And maybe it’ll change some people’s minds about Western dating culture.”

Emma scoffed. “You don’t mean that last part.”

“Hey, I’m not opposed to any outcome that gets us listeners. But I’ll admit that’s not my main priority. I’m more interested in the human side of it all. What it means on an individual level for you to try to make this work and the impact it will have on your life.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You know, you were much more receptive to my ideas when you didn’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Emma replied. She stopped herself from admitting that her main hesitation came from how much shedidn’thate him. That she probably liked him too much to continue seeing him on a regular basis without being able to touch, kiss or grab him. “I just need to think about it.”

“Fair enough. Let me send you some more info about what I’m envisioning. I’d want it to be something we’re both excited about.”

“You don’t think it’ll be weird? After we…” Emma refrained from giving the full play-by-play of what had happened between them in his bedroom. Even though it had been running on a loop in her head since she left his apartment. “You know.”

“It will absolutely be weird. But I think that’s part of the charm.”

After Emma told him her email address and they hung up, she made her way back inside. She saw a pile of scones waiting for her and was glad they would soften the blow of Imani’s reaction; her extremely rational best friend wasn’t going to be pleased about this new development.

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