Page 42 of The Matchmaker
“Only one for sure,” I say, not knowing why I’m defending them. “Graham—”
“Cheated on you,” the girls say in unison.
“Definitely,” Nush adds. “He was texting that girl for months before you broke up.”
Whatever. “Harry’s not an asshole,” I tell them. “And neither was Isaac. Isaac was a doctor.”
“Who still had his mother do his laundry for him.”
“She liked helping!”
“Do the next question,” Gemma says, but I shake my head.
“No, wait. Can’t I also say kind eyes or something?”
“Put down ‘not a dickhead’,” Gemma says instead, and Nush does before I can stop her.
“Is their job choice important to you?” she asks.
“No,” I say. “Well, yes. I guess I don’t want them to be away a lot. I want to spend time with people. Not just see them in the evening for an hour. But if their job’s important, that’s okay too,” I add hastily. “Some people have busy jobs.”
Nush murmurs each word as she writes it out. “Does…not…know…anything.”
“Hey!”
“What do you do for a living?”
“No, I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“We’re almost at the end,” she says pleasantly. “What do you do?”
“You know what I do. I work at a pub.”
“And do you like it?”
“Yes,” I say, fully sarcastic now. “I get to spend my days with my friends.”
“So, community is important to you.”
I pause at the seriousness of her tone. “Well, yeah,” I say. “Community is important.”
“And besides your job, what are your hobbies?”
Hobbies?
Nush goes back through to the notes when I don’t say anything. “Examples include going to the movies, going to the gym, learning, playing piano—”
“Learning?” Gemma scoffs.
“—photography, stand-up comedy—”
“Katie, where the hell did you get this form?”
“—listening to music, volunteering—”
“Volunteering,” I say quickly. “I do that. I do lots of that.”
Nush makes another tick. “And where do you see yourself in five years?”
