Page 35 of The Mr. Right Checklist

I drink more liquid courage, preparing for my mission, even if the thought of setting him up with a woman makes me feel a little queasy. “I’m serious, Fletch. You need more than casual dating. You need to connect. To find that spark that makes your heart race with the person who invades your every thought.”

“Sounds painful.”

“It does not.” I swat his arm. “Trust me. You need some love in your heart, and I’m just the girl to help you find it.”

“Let it go, sunshine.”

“Nope.” I need you to be taken, so I don’t ruin our friendship. “I need to narrow down your type, and right now all I know for sure is that it’s not a chatty, impulsive girl from the South. What was your ex like?”

He gives me the side-eye and takes another drink.

I turn in my seat, scoping out the women around us.

Fletch turns around, too. “What are you doing?”

I nod in the direction of the brunette. “She’s cute, and she was watching you when I was signing up for karaoke.”

“I’m not looking for a lady friend.”

“You’re bullheaded for such a laid-back guy.”

I spend the next ten minutes trying to pry his type out of him, but he’s locked up tighter than a girdle. We finish our drinks and order another round, with a basket of fries for him and mozzarella sticks for me. I’m halfway through my second drink and feeling good all over when I decide to try to pry information out of him from another angle.

“How long have you been divorced?”

He eats a fry without answering.

“More than five years?” I push.

“Twice that.”

“Really?” I take a bite of a mozzarella stick. “Have you had any long-term relationships since then?”

He arches a brow. “Have you?”

“Since I was seventeen? Let’s see. I dated one guy in high school for about six months. Jackson Robby. I really liked him. He was great with his hands. A real rough-and-tumble kind of guy. But when he went away to college, he wanted the full college experience, which didn’t include being tied down to a girl back home.”

“That must have sucked.”

“It was hard, but it was for the best. I found out two months later that before he left for school, he was seeing another girl who went to a different school, and she ended up pregnant.”

“So he was a cheating asshole.”

“I know how to pick ’em.” I take another drink. “I always seem to be attracted to guys who aren’t great for me. I’ve dated a few guys since then, but none that feel like Mr. Right. What about you? It sounds like you got married young.”

“Married at twenty-four, divorced at twenty-six.”

“Wow. It only lasted two years? What happened?”

He stares into his drink for a minute, and I can tell he’s contemplating his answer. He looks at me, his serious, slightly pained eyes tugging at me. “I don’t think it was any one thing.”

He says it so low, I have to lean closer to hear him. “What do you mean?”

He sets down his glass, giving me his full attention, and studies me for a beat. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

It feels like there’s more to his question, but I can’t put my finger on what that more is. “You’re helping me every day, and I want to do the same for you. I’d like to know why you’ve closed yourself off to the best, most magical feeling in the world, but if you’d rather not tell me, it’s okay.”

FLETCH