Sandy - Melanie Moreland Page 0,4

Sandy. I want you to. I need to know you will be happy again once I am gone.”

I had promised him I would try, but the truth was, I had no idea how to do so or if I even had it in me to attempt it.

I said so to the girls.

“Colin lectures me all the time to go out and start living again.”

Becca interrupted me. “I still can’t believe that fine specimen is your grandson. You’re too young to have him be your grandkid.”

I chuckled. “Fine specimen. I’ll keep that one to myself. But I’ll take the compliment. One of the perks of marrying an older man, I suppose.” I sighed. “Colin insists it’s time for me to move forward, and he hates to see me wasting away, as he calls it. Aaron agrees with him. He tells me his father would want me to be happy,” I admitted.

“What do you think?” Emmy asked, still holding my hands.

“I don’t know how to move forward,” I stated. “I have no idea how to meet someone or start again. Things have changed since I dated thirty-some-odd years ago. I don’t think people meet at clubs or dances now.”

All the girls laughed.

“No,” Becca agreed. “It’s online most of the time.”

I nodded in resignation. “Colin said the same thing. He says it easier to meet women that way. Seems so impersonal to me.”

The girls laughed.

“Trust me, sometimes there is too much personal.” Cami smirked.

I chuckled. “In my day, you went out. Locked gazes with someone. Talked. Felt that connection. How can you do that with a computer screen?”

Emmy agreed. “I—we—all got lucky we met the men we did and the way we did.”

Cami nodded. “Yes—I tried my share of dating apps. Thank goodness those days are behind me.”

I pursed my lips. “Colin told me he had a date at Tinder last week. He has mentioned that place a couple of times since his girlfriend dumped him. I assumed Tinder was a restaurant he was meeting them at. I suppose I assumed wrong?”

The girls dissolved into laughter. Becca wiped her eyes. “You did. Tinder isn’t a restaurant.”

“It’s one of these dating apps?”

“Well, it’s not for, ah, dating, Sandy. It’s more for, um, hookups,” she explained, trying to hide her amusement.

“Hookups,” I repeated slowly. I widened my eyes in shock. “Hookups? Are you telling me Colin is having casual sex with strange women?”

“Quite possibly.” Emmy smirked. “Not sure how casual, of course.”

“Well, that little…scamp.” I shook my head. “I hope he’s being safe. I’ll have to ask him. Or perhaps I’ll save us both the embarrassment and simply buy him a box of condoms as a reminder.”

This caused more laughter.

“I’m not particularly interested in sex with a stranger, girls.”

“We know that,” Emmy assured me. “But maybe just meeting some nice men? At least trying?”

Becca leaned forward, earnest. “Even if you find someone to be friends with. Go out to dinner with—or a movie. You always loved to dance. Wouldn’t it be nice to go with someone? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

I mulled over her words. “No, I suppose it wouldn’t. But I have no idea how to do that dating app thing.”

Liv pulled her laptop from her bag and handed it to Becca. “But we do.”

I sighed as I watched Becca’s fingers fly over the keys. I wondered what I had just gotten myself in to.

And I knew, without a doubt, this had been their plan all along.

Dinner at Bentley’s was, as usual, wonderful. I was able to spend time with Addi, feeding her, having cuddles, her little body warm and soft in my arms. I left not long after dinner, insisting I was too tired for their movie marathon. Frank, Bentley’s driver, took me home—all the boys had been drinking, so Bentley had him on standby to take everyone home safely. There were hugs and kisses all around when I left. The girls never mentioned the dating app, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t sure how the boys would react to the news, and I hadn’t yet decided to go ahead with the idea.

Late Sunday afternoon, I sat in front of my laptop, looking over the profile Becca had created for me. She insisted she had done thorough research on the various “apps,” as she called them, and that Mature Matchups had a good reputation, didn’t promote promiscuity, and many of the profiles on the site were people like me—looking for someone to socialize with, a friend to have dinner, see