Am I missing anything?”
He’d already promised not to tell anyone about this conversation.
I’d also skipped the part where I was falling in love with Eli.
Truth? I avoided mentioning Eli all together.
“No, that pretty much sums it up. A few days ago, Dani met the man I went out with tonight, and she really liked him. But instead of going out with him herself, she set me up on a date with him. She thought there might be a chance he was the one destined to be my husband.”
Robert laughed. “You make it sound like you’re cursed. But instead of breaking the curse with true love’s kiss, you have to marry your soul mate. Talk about a modern twist to a fairy tale.”
For the first time in what felt like forever, I giggled. “Does that make my grandmother the wicked witch?”
“I’m not sure I’d go that far. She just wants you to experience life and love and not waste your entire existence locked away in your office.”
“I believe that was Rapunzel who was locked in a tower.”
He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Well, Bibi did give me an impossible deadline to find this prince who can break the spell and free the kingdom.”
Robert nodded and made an agreeing sound. “I take it you haven’t found anyone yet who teases your tastebuds?”
I returned my colored pencil to the cup, so I didn’t have to look at him when I replied. “Not yet. But I’m still looking.”
He slapped both hands on his thighs. “And this is where I come in. I get to play the role of your fairy godfather.”
My gaze shot to him. “What happened to my fairy godmother?”
“She’s too busy polishing her wand. Besides, she’s an amateur. She can only turn rags into dresses and pumpkins into carriages. You don’t need help in the dress department. And carriages are so passé.” He threaded his fingers together and pushed his hands out as if to stretch his arms before casting his magic. “You don’t need an amateur helping you. You need the expert.”
I grinned. “You?”
“That’s right. Me.”
“And what does my fairy godfather propose to do?”
“Find his Cinderella her prince.”
“I don’t suppose you and Tony have him locked away in your house?”
“No, but we do know a number of suitable men who’d be perfect for you. We just need to arrange for you to meet them and fall in love with Mr. Right.”
“You’re not turning this into The Bachelorette, are you?”
Robert and Tony were obsessed with the show.
By obsessed, I meant they even hosted grand season finale parties where guests predicted the lucky man to win the fair maiden’s heart.
“Don’t worry, there won’t be any group dates or roses. Although given your time frame, that might not be a bad idea.” He stroked his fingers against his goatee, clearly contemplating the possibility. “It doesn’t have to be so obvious as the TV show, but it would enable us to quickly narrow down the options before we move on to round two, the actual dates.”
He did have a point about the time frame. But it was hard to get excited over any of this when my heart already knew what it wanted.
Too bad the “what”—or more specifically, the “who”—didn’t feel the same way about me.
“I don’t know about that,” I said with the enthusiasm of someone getting their teeth pulled. “At least the show’s contestants know why they’re there. You aren’t planning to tell the potential candidates that I’m looking to get married by the end of August, are you?”
He didn’t say anything. He just watched me.
Oh, damn. That was precisely what he was planning to do.
“There’s no point in you finding Mr. Right if he isn’t looking to get married that soon.”
True. “But that makes me sound desperate.”
Which was exactly how I’d sounded when I told Eli I loved him. Forget the time machine so I could go back in time and change my bucket list; I wanted to go back a few hours and zip my mouth shut so I couldn’t tell Eli how I felt about him.
“Aren’t you?” Robert asked.
I slumped in my desk chair. “Yes, but the men don’t need to know that.”
“All right. We won’t tell them yet when you’re looking to get married. It’ll be a chance for you to meet them. We want to make sure there’s chemistry between you and the possibilities before we move on to the next phase.”
“And what phase is that?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
He didn’t give me the chance to