Page 8 of With Love, Melody

Melody’s throat bobbed with the sudden need to swallow. What would she do without TJ? The thought of him taking another woman to his cousin’s wedding hurt more than she would have anticipated.

If only he hadn’t kissed her that day in eleventh grade.

If only that kiss weren’t her most cherished memory.

She cleared her throat. “Do you have something else in mind tonight?”

Lucy rubbed her hands with glee. “I do, in fact.”

Why did Melody get the feeling she wasn’t going to like it?

“Silas just designed this new dating app. It’s in the beta testing phase, so it’s free. We’re trying to get as many signed up as we can. You’ve been single for a while, I noticed. Why not give it a try?”

Online dating? Melody stuck out her tongue like she’d just been asked to take a strep-throat test. “Dating in person is bad enough.” She’d tried it. Many times. None of her relationships lasted.Her last boyfriend was her longest, but when Drew left, he made it crystal clear how much she was lacking. She hadn’t dated since. It was better to be alone than to be a perpetual disappointment.

“Don’t you think it might be easier to get to know someone online?” Lucy said. “Without all the preconceived notions a person gets when they see you?”

“Maybe… Probably. But I’m good.”

“No way. You need a man in your life.”

“Like I need a cavity.”

Lucy snorted a laugh. “See? Your sense of humor is great. Any guy would love you.”

When Melody didn’t act convinced because she knew a lie when she heard one, Lucy hooked her arm through hers and pulled her to the table. “Let’s set it up so you can see it. Then you decide. If you want to delete it, go ahead.”

She most certainly would delete it. But shewascurious. She’d never used a dating app before. It would be interesting to see how it worked.

“Display name?”

“Uh… Melody?”

“Honest. That’s good.”

What else would she be? Lucy was acting weird.

Lucy continued asking her questions, to which Melody supplied the answers and watched Lucy type the info. Her finger hovered over the “go live with profile” button.

“Ready?”

Melody’s intuition told her to say no. Instead, she said, “Yes.”

A running circle appeared above the words “Launching Profile.”

“I set it to only display to anyone in our zip code, and you can deny a match request withoutlettingthe sender know you denied it. Oh look, you’re live.”

Sure enough. A photo of her taken at the beach last fall, the blue water of Lake Michigan glistening behind her, the sun reflecting off her sunglasses, filled the top corner of the screen beside her bio.

“Now what?”

A ping came on the heel of her words, and Lucy sucked in her breath. “That was fast. You, my friend, already have a match request.”

This app thingie was a little freaky. Were men glued to the screen, hitting refresh, and making passes at every new female profile? Maybe she should uninstall the app from her phone immediately.

“Look at his profile before you decide.”

Melody hesitated.

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