Page 39 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

There were nods around the room and a few people speaking quietly.

‘Now as you know, this is no ordinary speed-dating event,’ Imogen went on. ‘Something you might have noticed when you were asked to give a saliva swab when you arrived here tonight, which I’ll explain more about later or you can read the pamphlet you were given when you arrived which explains everything. There are lots of ways we connect to people that go beyond just what someone looks like. Love is a range of positive emotions and this can be triggered by very different things. Body language, eye contact, smell are all things we respond to. That attraction can be seen in increased levels of adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin.’

Meadow nodded as Imogen spoke. This was clearly a woman who knew her stuff.

‘So tonight we will be measuring your heart rate and breathing, as that is a good indication of attraction and an increase of adrenaline. If any of you have ever been in hospital there’s a good chance you were given an oximeter to wear on your finger which measures your pulse and the levels of oxygen in your blood. The smart watches we gave you tonight to wear around your wrist are very similar but they are also linked up with our computers so we can record how your heart rate changes when you meet a new date. We will then feed that data into our famous Mix n Match computer program and it will find the person you responded to the most. If they also responded to you, then you will be matched. So you have two chances to match with someone tonight, the person who you are interested in after meeting them and the person our computer program matches you to based on your body’s responses to each other.’

There were more murmurs of interest as people looked around the room at their potential matches.

‘OK, then. I’ll give you fifteen minutes from now to find a book and if at any point during that time you have any questions or concerns, please do come over and talk to me,’ Imogen said.

Everyone suddenly spread out like they were on a treasure hunt as they quickly scanned the shelves to find the perfect book that would represent them.

Bear strode off towards the non-fiction section, which wasn’t a surprise. Meadow moved over to the fiction, scanning the titles for something that could help to sum her up. She loved romance books but she knew a lot of men were quite dismissive of that genre for painting an unrealistic picture, and she didn’t want any potential men to be put off by her rose-tinted, over-the-top view on romance. She had an interest in history, the Romans, the Tudors, Ancient Egypt and Greece but would that really tell her dates anything about her? She couldn’t exactly discuss the nitty-gritty of history and some of her favourite historical facts in just three minutes.

She noticed that some of the men and women were already starting to take their seats after having chosen their book. She glanced around to see if she could spot Bear and to her surprise he was at the till buying one of the books. That wasn’t part of the night’s arrangements. Imogen had made it sound like they were merely borrowing a book from the bookshelf. No one else was buying a book either.

‘You have five minutes left,’ Imogen called.

Meadow scanned the shelves frantically. This was a lot harder than she’d first thought. She walked out of the fiction section and into the non-fiction and that’s when she spotted it. A great big, colour hardback calledHedgerows and Woodlands, the accompanying book for the latest nature programme she loved to watch on TV with Star and Bear. She quickly picked it up and then went downstairs to find her seat.

She sat down, drumming her fingers against the table nervously, eyeing the men as they filed by to find their seat. Would any of these be her match?

Bear walked past and she felt that wonderful flutter in her belly as she watched him. He flashed her a wink and she smiled and then he glanced down to her hands, her fingers still going crazy on the table, and he doubled back.

He bent down to whisper in her ear. ‘Just relax and be yourself. The real you is pretty bloody spectacular so make sure they see that.’

She smiled as he walked off and sat himself down around eight tables away. She watched him, so at ease with himself. Well, at least on the surface. He had some insecurities himself if he had been so against people reading his stories.

‘OK, time is up, can you all take your seats,’ Imogen said.

Meadow found herself looking over at the woman who was now sitting down opposite Bear. She was very pretty and giggly. Was that the kind of woman he went for? In fact, she had no idea what kind of woman Bear liked. He had gone out on lots of dates over the years but, as far as she knew, he’d never had any kind of serious relationship. He was leaning forward to shake hands with her and Meadow felt a small kick of jealousy that Bear looked interested.

‘Hello.’

Meadow looked up at a tall, gangly-looking man folding himself into the seat opposite her. He had a nice smile.

‘Hi,’ Meadow said.

‘I’m Harris.’

‘Meadow, pleased to meet you.’

‘This is a strange way of meeting, isn’t it?’ Harris said. ‘Three minutes to impress someone.’

‘I think three minutes gives us a good baseline. I think attraction, which is what they are measuring with these,’ Meadow gestured with her smart watch. ‘Is pretty instant.’

‘Oh, so you’ve already made your mind up whether you want to see me again,’ Harris said, frowning.

‘I, erm…’

‘So I don’t need to bother talking at all, you’ll just take one look at me and decide yes or no,’ he said, while people were still taking their seats around them. ‘That’s very shallow.’

Meadow blinked in surprise at how badly this mini date was already going and they hadn’t even officially started yet. ‘I think, as Imogen said, there are lots of things that go into an attraction, a smile, a nice comment, eye contact, body language. It’s not just about looks.’

Harris folded his arms and Meadow didn’t need to be an expert in body language to understand that.

‘But it’s mainly about looks,’ he said with disdain.

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