Maybe he shouldn’t have told her so much about his life? She could be silently categorizing him, psychoanalyzing his words, seeing through the excuses he’d made about his life.
It felt like Rose was the most dangerous employee at the company. She was toosmart.It felt like she could see straight through him.
Beyond that, everyone was fascinated with her. People were clamoring to sign up for the service. Reporters were trying to sneak in. Even Brett felt entitled to her time.
And Craig… he wasn’t immune to her charms, either. It was unfair, really. He’d spent a lot of time with her, and he was only human. It was so many little things – the way her eyes lit up right before she asked a question, the way she tilted her head back when she laughed, like she was really bursting with joy. How could he help but fall in love, just a tiny bit?
Maybe it was best to let her work alone. Slow things down. Put distance between them.
Craig was great at creating distance. He’d kept people away his entire life. He considered canceling, telling her he had been called off-island for business. His thoughts had reached a crescendo as he pulled out his phone, about to call Rose, when she appeared and honked her horn.
He had no choice but to open the door.
“This is amazing!” she yelled as she walked up the driveway. “The views are incredible, and the house issopretty! I love what you’ve done with the siding.”
“Thanks,” he said, wringing his hands together. “They’re cedar shingles. I think my parents will like them. I still want to do something with the landscaping. The weeds are really taking over this part of the yard.”
She waved a hand. “That’s nothing. I could dig those up for you in an hour. Did I tell you I worked on a landscaping crew for a year in college?”
“No.” He tilted his head. “Were you a gardener?”
“I did gardening, weeding, mulching, and even built fences.” She puffed out her cheeks. “If I never dig a hole for another fence post again, I will die happy.”
Craig laughed. At least he wasn’t the only one who’d suffered a crappy job. “Come on in. The internet is up and running, and I have folding chairs in the living room that will make your legs go numb after ten minutes.”
“Lovely!”
He gave her a brief tour, slightly mortified by his rolled up sleeping bag in the bedroom, and she gave him recommendations for furnishing the place.
“It’s not always the easiest to get furniture to the island,” she said. “But I know some people.” She paused and rolled her eyes. “Well, my mom knows some people, but it’s the same thing, right?”
He laughed. “Yeah. Same thing.”
He offered her the chair with a better view from the window, but Rose didn’t take it. Instead, she opened her laptop on the floor, then proceeded to spread papers all around. “These are the potential clients I was thinking of working with next. Each one is color-coded with their responses, their needs, and their potential matches.”
Craig stared, amazed she was able to find so many colors of Post-it notes.
“With Seymour, it took me a week to find his match,” Rose said with a frown, “but I plan on speeding the process up.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
She kept talking, almost as if to herself. “On the other hand, not all the matches will happen as quickly as Seymour’s, and there’s always a chance that a match could break up. It’s six months they have access to matchmaking, right?”
Craig nodded. “That’s right.” He suspected, however, that Rose knew the program better than he did.
“Ideally, once I’m up to speed, I’ll be able to handle at least five active matches at once. My goal is to start two new matches each week, meaning I’ll do about a hundred matches a year, give or take. I’m not sure if that was the number you were looking for, or if you’d like to see more?”
Craig sat back and sucked in a breath. “To tell you the truth, I was planning to see how it went. A hundred is more than I expected.” He paused. “Though, right now, we have about three hundred people waiting to be selected for the service, and every one said they’re willing to pay $10,000.”
Rose’s mouth popped open, and she quickly covered it with her hand. “I’m sorry. I must’ve blacked out, because I thought you said ten thousand dollars?”
“Oh, I thought I’d told you that. Sorry.” Craig shrugged. “We’re still in beta, of course, but to be able to meet demand, I think we’d have to increase the price to twenty or thirty thousand…”
Rose plopped into her chair with a thunk. “That’s a million dollars. Amillionover a year…if you don’t increase the price.”
“We’ve only done one match, so we don’t need to rush to quantify everything. It’s fine to stay exclusive. We could have you train other matchmakers too, to lighten your load.” He looked away from the window and saw that Rose was staring blankly ahead. He rushed to clarify. “If you want to. Whatever you prefer.”
Rose cleared her throat. “No. Training other people could be good. Whatever you think is best for the company.”
