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 for Leslie and Ava. There’s no reason it won’t work for you.” Fiona reached out and took Ariana’s hand. “What’s really eating at you?”
A tear slipped for Ariana’s eyes and dropped onto Fiona’s hand. She wiped away others she couldn’t keep from falling. “We weren’t supposed to be matched.”
“You and Dillon?” Fiona asked.
“Yes.”
“You’re falling for him, aren’t you?” Fiona pulled her rolling chair closer and put her arm around her. “Sweetie, sometimes love hurts. You know that.”
“I didn’t think I could love anyone but Sam,” Ariana sniffed. “We were so much alike in every way. We never really dated anyone else. It was so easy to marry him and hard to lose him.”
“And Dillon isn’t anything like Sam,” Fiona stated.
“Nothing at all like Sam.” Ariana looked up into Fiona’s eyes. “But he’s so animated, full of life and interesting. And we love to cook together. He wants to teach me how to fish and ride. And I want to learn.”
“So, what’s keeping you two from doing all that?” Fiona asked.
“BODS.”
“What?” Fiona’s brow creased.
“Our match was a mistake. Our preferences don’t match. We’re so different.”
“When I took your meditation class, you talked about balance. For every action there’s a reaction. For things that are off balance, nature has a way of providing the balance. You were never off balance with Sam. You two were perfectly in balance.”
“Exactly. Which makes me and Dillon so wrong for each other.”
“Wrong,”