Sparks - Wendy Higgins Page 0,19

carefully down the frozen sidewalk. A narrow path had been shoveled, but icy patches were visible. When we got to the shuttle, Silas reached for my wheely-bag.

“I’ve got it,” I said, but he shook his head and grabbed the handle, our hands brushing.

“Just let me.” He hefted it up and motioned for me to climb onto the shuttle.

I sighed and climbed up with him behind me. The shuttle was cold. The four of us sat near one another, rubbing our hands together. I held on to the bar nearest me as we pulled away, bumping over patches of snow. Plows had come through and created small hills of dirty snow and ice on the sides of the road.

I sat back and pulled out my phone, cursing under my breath in a whisper when I saw the number of Sparks notifications. Holy crap. I blinked rapidly. It was impossible not to feel a thrill from the number of messages. Guys wanted to talk to me! This was so bizarre.

“I thought you said you’d never do those apps.”

I pressed my phone to my chest and looked at Silas, who had leaned in close.

“Nosy, much?” I gave him a small shove and he laughed. “The girls secretly made me an account yesterday,” I grumbled.

“Are you kidding me?” He threw his head back. “That is classic. Okay, let me see.”

“No!” He reached for my phone and we wrestled a little, both of us laughing until the captain cleared his throat and peered at us over his glasses. We both pulled back at the gentle reprimand, and I whispered, “Fine.”

He pulled up my messages. Almost all of them were some version of the greeting: “Hello gorgeous” or “Hi beautiful.”

“Why did you swipe this guy?” Silas whispered. “It’s all shirtless gym selfies.” Whoops. I’d gone sort of lax on my own rules when I started swiping at super speed.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged and shuffled in my seat, knowing damn well I’d been lured in by his sexy Italian scruffy jawline. “Don’t judge me.”

“He is clearly vain and is probably after a woman who’s also a workout-aholic, which you are not.”

“Are you calling me pudge?” I laughed but his face went hard.

“Harlow, please. You’re beautiful. I’m just saying, only swipe guys who have similar interests. This dude’s hella douchy, so let me help you out…”

Silas thought I was beautiful? Aww.

He clicked the corner of the guys’ profile and unmatched us, then gave me a smile. “All better.”

I feigned a dramatic gasp. It should have made me mad, but Silas’s attention always made me happy and there were plenty of other matches.

“Okay, fine,” I said. “Clean out all of the ones you think aren’t my type. But keep Dean.”

“Sweet.” The look on his face was too cute. I supervised, highly entertained by his reasons for unmatching me with one guy after another.

“Be wary of the ones with no bios,” he said. “They just want to get laid. Actually, most of them just want to get laid, but some will at least pretend to try to get to know you first.”

“How reassuring,” I deadpanned. “Why are you an expert?”

“I was the king of dating apps before I met Jacquie.”

“Oh, yeah!” I’d forgotten about that. “Didn’t you guys meet on Sparks?”

“Yep. Four years ago.” He smiled to himself and I awwwed, nudging him to make him laugh, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of his wife. It irked me that she would never come out to visit, and that she didn’t trust Silas to hang out with us. I mean, I guess I partly understood because most of his work friends were female, and he was handsome. But he was loyal to a fault. He wouldn’t even take pictures with any of us.

When we got to the airport it was filled with people who’d had their flights canceled yesterday, all grumpy and trying to get to their destinations. We were early and our plane wasn’t ready, so the four of us sat together at the bar and got food. I actually didn’t have much money in my account, so I browsed the menu and got a side salad. Silas looked annoyed.

“That’s all you’re having?”

Not this again. Truth was, flight attendants didn’t get paid much in the sky muffin phase. And I hadn’t been the best steward of my money during my college years. I was still paying off a credit card that I used for spring break travels and cute clothes that I didn’t need. Regrets. But if