“I’ll let you know what happens. You won’t regret it. BODS really does work,” Emma said. “Later.”
Dillon ended the call and stared at his cellphone. He’d been ready to call Ariana and ask her to the fundraiser. His heart had been beating fast in anticipation of hearing her voice when she said yes.
He slipped his phone into his pocket and threw himself into work. He picked up a shovel and removed debris from the site. They had crews for that kind of work, but he needed manual labor that worked him hard and made him forget.
Only, with every shovelful of construction debris he threw into the wheelbarrow, he cursed himself for agreeing to step out of Ariana’s way.
They were so new to their connection, Dillon didn’t feel he had a handle on just what their relationship was. He didn’t feel like he had any right to tell her who she could and couldn’t go out with. He hoped she’d only want to go out with him, but that had to be her call.
For the rest of the day, he stewed on what Ariana’s response might be to Leslie’s offer to produce her true BODS match.
Ariana sat in the conference room in the BODS offices where the Good Grief Club had chosen to meet that month. Leslie and Emma, sat across from her, Ava and Fiona. They’d brought their own drinks and lunches, and Leslie had provided a tray of cookies for dessert.
Ariana couldn’t help but smile as she sat in the BODS office. The last time she’d been there, had been her first meeting with Dillon, the tall, dark stranger who’d walked with her down twenty flights of stairs when the lights and elevator had been on the blitz.
“You’ll be happy to know that Tag and I finally got BODS up and running. We installed a backup from a couple days before the storm, and a new server and modem since both took a hit by the lightning, and now everything appears to be up and running correctly.”
Fiona, Ava and Emma all clapped, shaking Ariana out of her happy reminiscing. “What? Oh, that’s really good news.” She gave Leslie half a smile.
“Speaking of working correctly,” Leslie segued into her next topic, “I’d like to run your match.”
Ariana shook her head. “That won’t be necessary.”
“But I feel so awful,” Leslie said. “I promised you a perfect match. When the system malfunctioned, I worried that you and Dillon would lose confidence in BODS. I was glad I caught you both with the news before you went out.” She frowned. “You did cancel the date, didn’t you?”
Ariana couldn’t lie, so she shrugged instead. “I went fishing.”
“With Dillon,” Emma said with a grin. “It was an unqualified disaster.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Leslie said. “But then Dillon wasn’t meant to be your match. I’m sure BODS will find the right one for you.”
“I’m not interested in finding the right match,” Ariana said. “I…I don’t think I’m ready, after all.”
“Of course, you are,” Ava said. “You need to get out there. You’re young and beautiful. And, if you want children, you really can’t wait much longer.”
“I’m happy the way I am,” Ariana said. They didn’t have to know that she and Dillon were talking every night. Leslie might take issue with the two of them still “seeing” each other after she’d told them BODS had malfunctioned.
“Please,” Leslie said. “If you don’t give it a second chance, you might go through your life wondering if your perfect match is still out there.”
“I can live with that.”
Emma reached out and patted her hand. “If it makes it any easier, Dillon said he wouldn’t stand in your way if you decided to give BODS another shot at finding your match.”
Ariana’s heart sank to the pit of her belly. “Dillon said that?”
Ava’s eyebrows shot up. “Am I missing something?” She looked from Ariana to Emma and back. “Did you go out with Dillon even after Leslie said BODS screwed up?”
Ariana’s cheeks heated. “I was already on the way to meet him and late. It didn’t seem right to cancel at the last minute.” She shrugged. “He got the same call and felt the same way, so we agreed to go out on a friendly basis.” She smiled. “He took me fishing.”
“Something he loves to do, that Ariana had never done,” Emma said with a grin. “Tell them what happened.”
Her cheeks on fire now, Ariana ducked her head. “I flipped the boat…with us in it.”
“The point is,” Emma continued, “Dillon was looking for someone who likes the outdoors, who would fish and ride horses with him. Ariana has never been fishing or riding horses.”
“She could learn,” Ava countered.
Emma continued. “Ariana was looking for someone low-key. Dillon is anything but low-key. Their profiles couldn’t possibly have matched.”
“That was caused by the glitch,” Leslie said, shaking her head. “The thunderstorm jacked up the software and hardware. It took all week to fix. But now it’s ready to go.” She smiled. “I can have your match for you in just a few minutes.”
“Dillon said he wouldn’t stand in your way,” Emma reminded her. “What do you have to lose?”
Her heart. Ariana lifted her chin. “Whatever.”
“So, it’s a go?” Leslie asked, her face brightening with a smile.
“I guess.” Ariana looked down at her cellphone, her link to Dillon while he’d been working long hours all week. They’d spend two hours each night talking about the news, travel and sometimes, nothing at all, just talking. Had that meant nothing to him?
“I’ll be right back,” Leslie said.
Emma hopped up. “I’ll just go with her.” She grinned. “I’m so excited for you.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to call my sitter.” Ava pushed back her chair and left the conference room.
Fiona turned to Ariana. “I get the feeling you don’t want to go through with this second chance.”
Ariana sighed, her gaze still on the phone. “I’m not so sure BODS really works.”
“It worked for me, Emma, and
