Page 126 of Say You Remember Me
It was perfect—they were perfect.
And they were mine.
OWEN
“What’s that face about?”Ian asked, leaning toward me as Maddie’s family chatted happily around the table in his formal dining room.
Yep, it was Thanksgiving dinner, and like I’d done every year since college, I was crashing Ian’s dinner plans.
But unlike the previous years when we’d both been the cool and aloof bachelors among his family members, this time, I was the only bachelor in attendance.
And feeling far from cool.
“What face?” I asked, trying to school my expression so he wouldn’t guess how much of an odd man out I felt today.
But Ian was way too good at reading me after two decades of friendship. And instead of letting my bad mood slide, he said, “You’ve got that brooding ‘I’m too cool to care’ thing going on, but I know you better than that.”
“I’m not brooding,” I said, probably a little too defensively. “Just…observing.”
“Sure…” His tone dripped with skepticism.
So deciding to be honest, I gestured at the table full of his future family and said, “I don’t know. You’ve got this whole cozyfamily thing going now, and I’m just realizing how much being single actually sucks.”
“Oh, yeah…” Ian nodded, a hint of understanding in his eyes. “It does suck. I’ve definitely been there. But…you could find someone, too.” Then shooting me a crooked grin he added, “It just, you know, starts with asking someone out on a date first.”
“Oh, that’s how it works? I had no idea,” I shot back, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ian snorted, shaking his head, but his words stayed with me.
Yeah, I probably should be more proactive. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to date—it had just been hard to find the time. Between working two jobs and grinding away at my PhD over the past few years, dating had felt like an impossible luxury.
But now that the PhD was taken care of, I really didn’t have an excuse anymore.
Did the thought of diving into dating apps make me cringe?
Yes.
Big time.
They felt so superficial, like playing a game I wasn’t equipped to win.
But since my current go-to of just going to work and hanging out with my buddies here and there wasn’t exactly helping me land dates, maybe that was what I needed to do.
I mean, it wasn’t like I’d magically find my dream girl in one of my chemistry classes since dating a student was definitely off-limits.
Especially for a first-year professor just hoping to earn tenure in a few years.
I sighed and pulled up my phone, opening the app store. And even though it pained me, I searched for “Meet Your Match,” the dating app I’d used back in college.
Who knows, maybe it was better now than it had been the last time I’d used it.
And as the app downloaded to my phone, I found myself watching Ian and Maddie—the way they smiled at each other, sharing little glances and whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears as everyone chatted happily around them.
I wanted what Ian had found.
Because, despite what all those James Bond movies had taught me growing up, the bachelor life wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be.
And for the first time in a long while, I knew I was ready to change that.
