Page 41 of Minted

But when I saw those girls, I realized how lucky I have been. I had my mom when it mattered. I had her for all the years that I was in school, when I couldn’t care for myself. Now that she’s gone, I have a job, a career, a support system of friends, and I can drive myself to and from things. I had a father and a mother who both loved me and they kept me safe for a really long time.

No matter how alone I feel, my mom taught me to be self-sufficient. These girls have no one—and they can’t do anything for themselves. So Jennifer may think I’m insane, and maybe she’s even right, but now those helpless girls have me for as long as they need me. Through my tears, I manage to squeeze out a “Thank you” for Seren.

“Your parents may be gone, but you have a lot of family who loves you,” Seren says. “Don’t ever forget that, and reach out to me whenever you need it. Phone call. Babysitter. Grocery delivery. Pedicure date. Whatever. Okay?”

It feels like calling Seren’s helping me realize a lot of things I should already have known. “I barely know them,” I say. “But I don’t want to give these girls up.”

“I know,” she says. “I knew that when you called me earlier.”

Of course she did. Seren’s an emotional genius. “Unless you think they could find a better place to live.”

“I think people come into our lives for a reason,” she says. “I’ve always thought that, but anyone who has met you and heard about how you found them would agree. Alice already told me she thinks those girls went home tonight.”

After bawling for another half hour, I finally go to sleep.

10

Bentley

In first grade, my parents had me tested, and they found that I had an IQ far above the average. They put me in gifted classes, and I had special tutors. They did everything they could to make sure I had every opportunity to excel.

By the time I was thirty, I’d started my own business.

By the time I was thirty-five, my business was a raging success.

I’ve proven that test right over and over and over. But I also do my share of stupid things. Even so, one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done was give Barbara my eHarmony login.

“I told you,” she’s saying over the phone. “The date with Lila the Librarian may have been a bust, but that doesn’t mean—”

“She disappeared in the middle of our meal, Barbara.” I don’t tell her why or how I failed to notice until she was gone.

“Okay, so it was a bust. That’s fine. More often than not, even when you play the odds, you don’t get a love connection on the first try, but you know numbers better than I do. What are your chances of finding Mrs. Right when you never go on dates at all?”

I roll my eyes, but it’s totally wasted. She can’t even see me. “We should have done a video chat,” I say.

“I’m on the road,” she says. “I just dropped the girls off at school, remember?”

“Listen, it’s not a good time for you right now, so let’s just table the dating thing until after Christmas.”

“Why does it need to be a good time for me?” I can practically hear her rolling her eyes through the phone, so maybe she could tell earlier when I did it.

“Because.” Like stepping on a Lego, the answer shoots through me. “I’m not going on another date unless you’re there to analyze it.” Then I tell a brilliant, gifted lie. “I have no idea why she left, so I could just do the same thing wrong I did that time again and again.”

“Bentley, I do not have the bandwidth to go on any dates right now.”

Which is exactly why I want to push pause and wait until you are. “That’s why I said we should wait,” I say. “We can do this in the new year, no problem.”

“You need to do this while you have the excitement to try it.” It sounds like she’s parking and getting out. That means I’m quickly running out of talk time.

“I’ll still be excited after Christmas.”

“I won’t, even then,” she says. “I’m not sure when I’ll want to double, so you should—”

“Wait, who said anything about double dating?” I ask.

“Huh?” She sounds nervous now.

“You could just come along, sit at the table behind me, and listen.”

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