Page 23 of The Wrong Date Deal

“Yeah, but I wanted to talk about it in person, so I could see your face and see how you really feel.”

“You’re ridiculous,” August said with a laugh.

“I don’t want you just telling me what I want to hear, or playing down something promising,” Meilíng said, staring pointedly at August.

“Of course you don’t.”

“So, tell me. How’s it been going? Do you love the app?”

“Doyou? You used it once, hit the jackpot, and haven’t touched it again as far as I can tell.”

Meilíng rolled her eyes. “Fine. I guess I don’t mind the app, but I like it because it brought me Noah. So, did you find your Noah?”

August shot her a look. “I did not.”

“Oh. Well, notyetthen, but I know you will.” She smiled. “Have the people you’ve met been nice?”

August thought about it. She hadn’t—yet—had any particularly bad meetings, and everyone who had messaged her had been kind, but was that really what Meilíng was asking?

She had met Piper. By every metric, Piper had been nice. They’d become friends, and they had been talking far more frequently than she’d been talking to any potential romantic dates. But that was it, wasn’t it? Meilíng was asking if she’d had any nice romantic encounters. And August had made a friend.

“Yeah, they’ve been nice enough,” August said. “Nothing that’s getting a second date, but nice enough.”

“Hm. Well, I’m sure you’ll meet someone extra nice soon.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Either way, August would at least be proud that she put herself back out there. “I did manage to make a friend, if that counts?”

Meilíng tilted her head. “Being friends is a good start.”

“Oh, no. We’re… friends who talk to each other about our bad dates.”

“Sorry?”

August suppressed a laugh, realizing that the whole thing did sound kind of ridiculous. “We ran into each other and thought we were meeting each other, but we weren’t. So…”

“You decided to become bad date friends?”

“Yeah, I guess we did,” August said, the laugh finally escaping her.

Meilíng looked around. “I wish we weren’t at work right now because I havesomany questions.”

“It’s very straightforward. We ran into each other, had our dates, neither went anywhere, so we decided to be friends who… got it. A friend we could always call to complain about another bad date.”

“But, if you’re expecting the dates to be bad, nothing’s going to stick, right?”

August smiled. Meilíng had been an eternal optimist her whole life as far as August could tell. Maybe that was why she hit the jackpot on the first try, maybe the universe had decided someone so good deserved that.

August decided not to think too closely about what that meant the universe thought of her.

She shook her head. “I’m notexpectingthem to be bad, I’m just… supporting someone else in the dating pool, because sometimes they do go badly. Or, not even badly, but not what you were looking for. Everyone needs a place to vent about that.”

“You could vent to me.”

August felt her lips twitch. “In the nicest way, you’re too busy to be dealing with me complaining about bad dates.”

“We’re friends. I’d be there for you.”

“I know you would, but I don’t want to be cutting into your time with Noah.”

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