Page 20 of Actually Yours

I flick my gaze away from him and bite the bullet.

“OK, fine. I’m in.”

The girls cheer and I watch, a lump forming in my throat, as Jake looks down at the table in front of him, his shoulders slumped ever so slightly.

What have I signed myself up for?

And how do I make it stop?

CHAPTER 5

Amelia

“I’m so on board with your dating plan!”

I sigh loudly and take a big gulp from my wine glass. It’s been three days since the decision was made to help fix my love life—with agameno less—and I’d been hoping that maybe, if I wished hard enough on every star and all my fallen eyelashes, perhaps it would all go away.

No such luck.

“Amy,” I begin, hoping to appeal to the one rational person in our group of book clubbers (that’s what she calls us! So maybe not as rational as I need her to be?). “I still think this is a terrible idea.”

She ignores me—fun!—and turns to the group, comprising Lilly, Bella and our other two book-loving (and wine-loving) friends, Madi and Sammi. We meet every few weeks at Amy’s place under the guise of discussing whichever book Amy has chosen for us, when in reality it’s just a great excuse to get together and catch up. Or bully a friend into doing something she really doesn’t want to do, as the case may be tonight.

“I’ve put together a folder of potential suitors, all cross-referenced with their careers. See, I’ve even added different coloured tabs to help us keep track.” Amy’s cheeks are glowing with excitement. Whether it’s about the dating plan or the elaborate use of her stationary, it’s hard to tell.

“Amazing work, Amy.” Bella takes the folder from her sister-in-law and starts flipping through it. “We can make a group decision on which lucky guy will get to date Amelia first.”

“Explain the plan to me again,” Sammi asks, biting into a Love, Lilly cookie, her face promptly contorting in ecstasy. “Lilly, these are SO good.”

“I know,” Lilly says, taking a cookie for herself and nibbling on the edge. “So, the basic premise is based on the notion that Amelia has been dating all the wrong men. Agreed?”

They all nod in unison, making me feel fan-freaking-tastic.

“When we dived into the past few disasters, we found a pattern. Not only are all her past boyfriends dead-set losers, but they also don’t have proper jobs.”

“None of them?” Madi, our resident career-woman, asks, her eyes wide in dismay.

“Not a single one of them,” Bella confirms. “And we’re not saying a man needs a job to be a good partner…”

Amy and Lilly both nod their heads in solidarity. We wouldn’t want to appear snobbish in any way.

“But that’s what they all have in common. So, Amelia decided she needs to break the pattern.”

“Amelia decided no such thing,” I interject. And am promptly ignored.

“To help with this, we’ve devised a fun way to get her out into the dating world.” Bella picks up the folder, raining glitter down on the carpeted floor in the process (Glitter? Really?). “And that’s where this comes in!”

The five of them gather around Amy’s bedazzled handiwork, a hush coming over the group.

“The ABCs of Dating Amelia,” Sammi reads out loud, a smile in her voice. “I love, love,loveit!”

I snatch the book from my best friend and in horror see that the folder is, in fact, labelledThe ABCs of Dating Amelia. In purple-coloured glitter pen.

“Is this really necessary?”

My friends all gape at me like I’m being a party-pooper. Which, to be fair, I totally am.

“It’s a way of keeping track,” Amy announces, taking the folder back from me and cradling it protectively against her chest. Like she’s worried I’m going to do something to her precious creation. “And it’s fun!”

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