He was a guy who couldn’t make up his mind aboutanything.He used to make them late to things because he couldn’t decide which color t-shirt to wear.
He’d been telling her for years it wasn’t the right time for them, and now this? An engagement? To his sworn enemy?
He had to be losing his mind in panic. This was not a man who could commit, and there was no way their dinner was a coincidence. He was realizing he was making a mistake, and he was coming to fix it.
She couldn’t say that to her sisters, though. They’d think she was out of her mind, imagining things that weren’t there.
It wasn’t for them to understand. She knew Greg, and he knew her. He’d see what a success she was at this job, he’d finally see that he’d waited too long, and it would all work out. Her life was changing.Shewas changing.
She’d keep it to herself for now. “Yes, maybe it is for the best,” Rose said, happy for the conversation to drift to another topic.
The rest of her week went off without a hitch. Rose went into the office early Tuesday morning, and with fresh eyes, she was able to fix the errors in her model.
On Wednesday, she met with a lead data scientist who helped her understand some of the legacy data, and on Thursday, her model could spit out a list of potential questions and matches in under thirty seconds.
The only problem was she couldn’t find anything about her first client. She had his name, but there were no questionnaires or stats in his profile. Rose requested a meeting with Craig to discuss it, and to her surprise, he dropped by that afternoon.
“Knock knock,” he said, popping his head into her office.
“Oh, hey!” Rose tidied a stack of papers on her desk. “Thanks for coming.”
He took a seat across from her. “Of course. How’s it going? I’m sorry I’ve been so busy. The investor has us running around like fools.”
“No problem at all. I’ve been working on my model and wanted to get started with my first client. I can’t seem to get into his file. It’s Seymour Wilkins, right?”
“Ah.” Craig nodded. “Our elite members are password protected. I’ll message Lydia to give you access.”
“Thanks. I was thinking I’d set up a video call with him on Monday to get to know him.”
Craig frowned. “Next week? My schedule is pretty booked.”
“Oh.” Rose sat back. “I didn’t realize you’d want to be involved.”
“Well, you know, if you wanted the extra support, I wanted to offer it.”
Hm. If she was going to compete with a telecom heiress, Rose needed to play the role. She wasn’t scared little Rose Woodley anymore. She was Rose Woodson, PhD, with a hot shot tech job and a glut of matchmaking data at her fingertips.
She sat up straight and the strangest thing came out of her mouth. “Don’t you trust me, Craig?”
He laughed and put his hands up. “You’re right. I’m being a control freak. I do that sometimes; it’s no reflection of you. Obviously, you know what you’re doing.”
Obviously.
At least Rose could pretend she knew what she was doing, and wasn’t that the only thing that mattered?
“Thanks, boss. That means a lot.”
She’d fake it until she made it, and she had the weekend to figure out her next moves.
Chapter Nine
Per Rose’s request, Lillian reported to The Grand Madrona Hotel on Saturday morning for brunch. Rose’s text stated she needed to discuss “important matchmaking business” and told them to “bring the menfolk.”
Luckily, Dustin had the day off. He picked up both Lillian and Lucy, and they made their way to the hotel.
“Is this like when the mafia has a meeting of the seven families?” Lucy mused as they pulled into the hotel’s parking lot.
“Exactly like that,” Dustin said. “Except the seven families thing was fromGame of Thrones, and this is only your family, and none of you are in the mafia. I think.”
