What Rose should have said was, “IfIget it right,” but she couldn’t bring herself to think that way. It would freak her out and make her freeze up. It felt better to be part of something.
He was quiet for a moment. “It could be bad publicity if we make her angrier. What if you talk to her and all she wants to do is berate you so she can post a video of that online, too?”
Rose frowned. “Why would she do that?”
“To get attention. We don’t know if her story is true. She could have a website that she wants to promote or a shop selling knitted hats…I don’t know. She might be using this whole thing as a way to launch her own brand.”
Hm. All things Rose hadn’t thought of in her excitement. What were the chances, though, that this woman was a fraud? Rose was the fraud in this scenario. There could only be room for one.
Hopefully.
The sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds. She slipped on her sunglasses and stared at the too-blue sky.
“What I’m saying,” Craig added gently, “is that I don’t think it’s worth your time.”
She wasn’t sure if Craig was savvier than her or if he just had a more suspicious mind. Maybe both.
Regardless, he was her boss. He ran the show.
“Okay,” she finally said. “It was worth a shot.”
They ended the call and she sat admiring her view for a minute before pulling up the video again. Even if Craig was right, it felt wrong to not reach out atallafter one of their clients had such a bad experience.
The woman’s first name was Annalise, and from the background of her video, it looked like she was in Chicago.
How many Annalises could there be on the app? Rose could probably find her if she could get to her computer. She wouldn’t talk to her or anything – she wouldn’t go against Craig’s instructions – but maybe she could look at her answers for matchmaking. See what she was looking for. See if there was a non-creepy match for her out there, just waiting…
The door to the gym opened and Lillian popped her head out. “Lucy wants you to watch her twirl to the ground.”
It would have to wait.
Rose stood. “Coming!”
It took Rose twenty minutes to find Annalise’s profile on Monday, and another two hours to weed through the potential match list and narrow it down to twenty.
Rose found the guy Annalise had been matched with, too. Though his profile didn’t have any red flags, she was able to find a lot of warnings about him in a Chicago Facebook “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” group. Apparently, he’d been creeping women out for the last two years using various apps.
When Craig dropped by her office after lunch, Rose rushed to hide her screen and cover the papers on her desk.
“What’s going on? Everything okay? Do you need me?” she asked all at once, the guilt plain on her face.
Craig didn’t seem to notice. He took a seat and shook his head. “You were right. The videoisa big deal. Six million views now, and our stock price just took a hit. Brett is trying to use it as leverage to drop his price.”
“Oh no!” Rose paused. Should she or shouldn’t she tell him what she’d been up to?
What would Dr. Rose Woodson do?
“I might have good news for you,” Rose said, slowly pulling a stack of papers out from under a book. “I took a look at Annalise’s profile, and I think I can find her a good match.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
“I didn’t do anything yet. I just wanted to see if she was a fake, and I don’t think she is.” Rose rushed to explain what she’d found out about the woman, the man, and the bad date they’d had.
She handed him a stack of papers with her research. “Let me offer the matchmaking service to her. If she’s still mad, then so be it. She can yell at me a little. I can handle that.”
For a minute – a long minute – Craig was quiet, leafing through the papers Rose had printed and marked, a frown fixed on his face. Finally, he looked up at her and locked eyes. His beautiful, intense hazel eyes.
Her heart jumped.
