Perfectly Mismatched

Chapter 1

Ashlyn Beaufort

Houston

Only Friends and Family need apply.

Tradition.

My life was steeped in tradition.

And yet growing up the middle child of five, two older brothers and two younger brothers, I could safely say that my life was nontraditional.

“What about this one?” Charlotte held up a light blue cardigan sweater. “It’s cashmere.” She said, running a hand along the soft wool.

Charlotte, my best friend, and I were doing our annual back to school shopping. It had been our tradition for almost fifteen years, starting sometime in high school, lasting through college, and following us into adulthood. It didn’t matter than neither one of us was not a student anymore.

I, in fact, worked from home so I lived in jeans and t-shirts. Charlotte taught kindergarten, so if either one of us qualified for back to school shopping, it would be her. It did not help, however, that she also wore jeans and t-shirts to work. Nonetheless, Charlotte was newly married and had a husband to impress.

Still. Tradition was tradition.

The Galleria was crowded with people doing legitimate back to school shopping. We blended right in.

I scrunched up my nose at the blue sweater.

“How are you going to get the play-dough out of it?” I asked. “And the finger paint?”

“It’s not for work. It’s for going out with Jeff.”

I turned from the rack of flowy skirts and looked her in the eye. “How long have you been married?” Since I had been her maid of honor, I knew perfectly well how long she had been married, but I had a point to make.

“Two months, tomorrow,” she said. “We’re going out to celebrate.”

I shook my head. “You can’t wear that. Two months of marriage isn’t long enough to start wearing old-lady clothes on a date. At least wait until you’ve been married a year.”

Charlotte stood her ground. “It’s not old-lady. It’s professional.”

“Fine,” I said, turning back to the rack of skirts, any of which I did not need. “Wear it to a faculty meeting.”

“Okay.” She put her hands on her hips. “Tell me what you suggest then.”

It was funny Charlotte had always had a good eye for fashion, but marriage had altered her brain. Maybe she just needed to have her focus reset.

A quick scan of the store and I quickly found what I was looking for.

“Come on,” I said, taking her by the arm.

“But…”

I stopped. Made a face. “Bring the sweater.”

Smiling, Charlotte picked up the baby blue sweater and brought it with her.

I rolled my eyes. The thing was Charlotte would look sexy in a paper sack. But as her best friend, it was my obligation to keep her off the slippery slope to looking matronly at twenty-eight.

I led her straight to the sexy dresses section.

“I don’t need another black dress,” she said.

“It’s not about needing it. We don’t need anything. Besides…” I pulled a low-cut silver sheath dress from the rack. “This is definitely not another black dress.”

“Ohh.” She took the dress from me and held it up to her. “This is pretty.”

“Try it on,” I said, grabbing a navy dress for her to try on, too. “And this one.”

Reaching the dressing room, I sat on the sofa while she headed to one of the rooms.

“What about you? What are you trying on?”

“I REALLY don’t have anywhere to wear a dress like this. Most definitely not.”

Charlotte looked at me sideways. “We’re going to have to fix that.”

“Go ahead,” I said, ignoring her reference to my current single status. “I need to do some work for a minute.”

While Charlotte tried on the silver dress, I reviewed and submitted a dozen orders that came in through my website. My online store was just one of many things I did.

I came by my entrepreneurial spirit from both parents. I definitely had my grandfather’s entrepreneurial spirit. My grandfather, Noah Worthington had started Skye Travels, the most successful private airline company in the country from just one airplane. Now he had a whole fleet of planes.

My father had his own company, too, in the gaming industry. Even my mother, who was also a pilot for Skye Travels, had a side company delivering service animals to people.

“What do you think?” Charlotte asked, coming out to model the silver dress.

“I think Jeff won’t know what hit him.”

“I love it. But I’m going to try on the navy one, too.”

“I’ll be right here.”

As I checked my emails, a text came in from my grandmother.

Grandma Savannah

Hi Ashlyn. How are you?

My grandma used texting like a phone conversation. She didn’t seem to grasp that texts were ongoing and didn’t require greetings every time.

Good. Are you ok?

Grandma Savannah

Rose had a family emergency. I’ll be working late tonight. So sorry to have to reschedule.

My Grandma Savannah had her own private practice as a psychologist here in Houston. She had brought in a couple of social workers and a psychiatrist, but the psychiatrist had recently retired. Rose had worked for her forever.

I understand. Hope everything goes well with Rose.

Grandma Savannah

When I know more, we’ll reschedule. 

Okay. Let me know if you need me to do anything.

Grandma Savannah

Just enjoy your shopping trip.

I stared at the phone. Had I told her I was going shopping? Probably not. But I had told someone in the family and word traveled fast.

“What about this one?” Charlotte asked, coming out of the dressing room.

She looked stunning.

“You have to get both of them.”

Charlotte stood in the three-way mirror, biting her lip. Then I remembered. She was married now and Jeff might have different ideas about the way they spent their money.

“You’re having too much fun,” I said, putting my phone away and standing up. “Let me try on the silver one.”

“You know it’ll fit.”

I just shrugged as I slipped into the dressing room.

Of course I knew it would fit. Charlotte and I could pass for sisters, maybe even twins, except that she had shoulder length red hair and I was most definitely a brunette.

But if I tried it on, I would have an excuse to buy it. Even though I didn’t need it, Charlotte could borrow it.

Minutes later, I stood next to her in front of the mirror.

“We should go on a double date,” Charlotte decided.

“You know I’m not dating right now.”

“I need to do something about that.” Charlotte stood on her bare feet and turned around.

“I’ll date when it’s time.” And I was not ready. Anyone who had experienced what I had with my last boyfriend, would probably enforce the same moratorium.

Charlotte didn’t say anything else about it until we were back in our clothes heading to the checkout counter.

“There’s a new dating app out,” she said.

“Charlotte,” I said. “You’re a married woman. You shouldn’t even know about such things.”

“It’s not for me Duffus. It’s for you. And you know my husband does programing.”

“He programmed a dating app? I thought he was into those time management apps.”

“His friend developed it.”

“Let me know how that works out.”

Standing in line at the checkout counter, I changed the subject.

“You know, I think you can wear that sweater with that dress.”

I’d never used a dating app and I didn’t see any need to start doing so now. Besides, I wasn’t dating right now.

Not dating.

Definitely not dating.

Chapter 2

Colton Smith

My office on the tenth floor of the Worthington Enterprises building gave me an awesome view of Uptown. It was so awesome, in fact, that I had to lower the shades when I had clients. It didn’t matter which way I turned my chairs, either me or my client would be distracted by the view.

From here I could see the traffic backed up in front of the Galleria and I could watch the cars on the 610 Loop. I especially liked the view at night. Thousands of people all going somewhere. The hustle of the city. So many people and no one saw anyone else.

Having grown up in a small town, no matter how long I had lived in the city, I was fascinated by all the cultural aspects.

In all truthfulness, the distracting view from the window was probably mostly me.

I loved the view so much I was looking into buying a high-rise condo for myself. But it was a big investment and I was taking my time. I was not a rush into it kind of guy.

The client sitting in front of me was something of a social recluse. I’ll call him John.

In the four months I had been working with him, he had dated all of zero women. And yet he spent his time in my office lamenting that he was nearing twenty-five and was still single.

But it was my job to listen to him and help him navigate his world. To try to make his life better.

I hadn’t prescribed him any medication. At least not yet. First of all, there was an ethical issue about using medication to make people more social. And second I just didn’t think he needed it.

“What do you think, Doc?” he asked. We were nearing the end of our session. He always asked me what I thought and I never gave him a direct answer. It wasn’t my job to live his life for him.

But today I was feeling like we weren’t making any progress. It had been six months. It was time to get more direct. Past time.

“I think it’s time you put yourself out there.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, obviously surprised that I had actually given him a direct answer to the question he asked me at the end of our session every week.

“I mean… do something different.”

“I’ve been trying everything you suggested.”

“Right.” Journaling. Self-reflection. Going out in public places. None of those things seemed to be working for him.

“There’s a new dating app out there that I’d like you to try.” I wrote out the name of it on my prescription pad and handed it to him.

“Have you used it?”

“No.” I mostly kept my personal life personal, but I would answer basic questions like my marital status when asked. He had asked.

“Why not?”

“Because, John, I’m not in the market. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“But you would use it,” he asked. “If you were in the market.”

“I would,” I said. But the truth was, I had never used a dating app in my life. I always managed to find a date when I needed one.

Mostly I was content to stay to myself. I was practically married to my work anyway.

I’d yet to meet a woman who could deal with that for very long.

Of course, like the view, that could actually be my problem, too. Maybe I hadn’t tried very hard, but I had yet to meet the one. And as much of a scientist as I was, I believed in my heart that one day I would meet a woman and fall head over heels in love. No doubt. That was how it was supposed to work—at least according to the old movies I had grown up watching.

“I think I’ll wait,” John said, leaning back in his chair.

“Wait?”

“I think I’ll wait until after you’ve tried it.”

“I don’t—” I had always said that I would not ask my clients to do anything I wouldn’t.

Had I just come to that tipping point? The one where I broke my own rule for the good of the client?

“Let me think about it,” I said. “And you think about it, too. Our time is up for today.”

“I’ve thought about it, Doc,” he said. “I’ll wait for you. You first.”

“Alright, then,” I said. “How’s that journaling coming?”

“Great,” he said, not hiding the sarcasm.

I nodded. I knew that John did not like writing anything. Next week I would talk to him about using a recording device. Speaking into a recorder had been shown to have some effectiveness for those clients who didn’t take to journaling.

But not today. Today’s session was over and he was ready to go.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Dr. Savannah Worthington sitting at her receptionist’s desk.

“Everything okay?” I asked her after John was on his way down the elevator.

“Not really,” she said, pushing her shoulder-length hair back behind an ear.

It was odd. I had never seen Savannah anything other than completely composed.

“Anything I can do to help?”

“My assistant had a family emergency. In Iowa. Noah is flying her up himself.” She glanced at her watch. “He’s due to be back in just under two hours. Anyway, there were some things she left undone that need to be caught up on. I hadn’t realized just how far behind she had gotten with everything.”

“I hope she comes back soon,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. “I’ll be in my office. I’ve got paperwork.”

I did have paperwork, but I also did not want to get involved in whatever was going on with Savannah Worthington.

Going back to my office, I sat down at my desk and unlocked my phone.

The first think that came up was the new app I had just told John about. It was called Blurry Chats.

I liked the concept of it because instead of choosing people based on their appearance, you filled out a profile starting with basic questions that led to potential matches.

Looking out the window, I noticed a flock of black birds landing on the cars in the parking lot below. I never saw birds up this high.

Strange. And maybe it was the first negative thing about potentially moving into a high-rise condo. I would have to research that. To find out how high birds would go.

I didn’t blame John for not wanting to experiment with an app I hadn’t used myself. I realized, of course, that it was merely his excuse for not doing it.

I clicked on the app. Maybe I would take his excuse away.

The profile started with one basic question. Do you like cats or dogs?

Well. That was certainly important.

And an interesting way to start off.

Intrigued and curious now, I answered the question.

Chapter 3

Ashlyn

Mixing friends and dating apps is contraindicated.

After what I considered a successful shopping trip, I headed back to my two-bedroom condo on the twenty-eighth floor of a new building off of Woodway.

Charlotte got some new outfits including a new dress with shoes to go with it as well as some more practical clothes to wear to work.

Although I’d gotten a new dress, too, I was most happy about my new iPad mini. Like I needed another iPad. I had one in every size now. But I could read novels on the little one. It’s what I told myself anyway.

I hadn’t lived here but two months and I still found it interesting to look over uptown from the west side. I’d always lived in River Oaks with a view of Uptown from the east.

Stepping off the elevator, I was met by my two silver Persian cats. Medley and Kit Kat. Twins. Rescue kittens. They were grown up now, but when I first got them a year ago, they were so little they could go under closed doors.

I dropped my bags on the sofa and ran a hand over my older cat, a Snowshoe with classic features, Remmie. He rolled over onto his back and purred. I wasn’t sure how old Remmie, also a rescue, was. His vet thought he was around eight-years-old, so I went with that. If he was older, I did not want to know it.

My three cats got along famously.

Sometimes I thought about getting them a sister, but four cats would be a lot. I might have to get a bigger place.

I went straight to my refrigerator for a bottle of cold water and sat down on the little loveseat in a window alcove. It was my favorite spot in the condo and the reason I would probably never move.

From here I had a perfect view of Woodway below and morning sunrises on those rare days I got up early. 

Medley jumped onto the back of the sofa and Kit Kat curled up in my lap.

“What have you guys been doing all day?”

Kit Kat purred in response, but Medley was the strong silent type. Remmie, however, didn’t mind talking to me.

He sat at my feet and meowed.

Time to eat.

Singing along with a song on my AirPods, I opened a can of cat food and divided it out into three plates. Remmie, a big cat, put his front feet on the counter in anticipation of dinner time.

As I set the plates on the floor in front of the cats, my phone chimed, a funny little chiming sound I hadn’t heard before.

Going back to my window seat, I opened the notification.

You have one new match.

What the—?

It was an app called Blurry Chats.

Charlotte.

She had gotten into my phone while I’d been waiting for the guy at the Apple store to bring out my iPad.

I hadn’t been paying any attention to what she was doing, but now I remembered she’d held the phone in front of my face.

This is what happened when you kept friends around for twenty years. They thought they could just do whatever they wanted.

But since it was on my phone, I opened up the app.

And there was my match. A blurry picture of a guy. I think it was a guy. It better be a guy. Named SoulMate23.

Well, what good was this? I couldn’t see his picture and I didn’t even get his real name.

What name had she given me anyway?

I clicked over to my profile page and laughed out loud.

I was going to kill Charlotte. I was going to kill her dead.

Chapter 4

Colton

I might have gotten a little caught up in playing with the Blurry Chats app.

I almost answered the first question with dogs, but that would have skewed the whole thing, so I answered honestly.

And although I didn’t actually have a cat, I liked them. I’d grown up with them. My parents still had cats and my sister had four.

She also had four children with one on the way, so I strongly predicted that she would be getting a fifth cat to go with the fifth child. I don’t think she even realized she was keeping the number of cats up with the number of children. In fact, I think she’d gotten the fourth cat before the fourth child.

Anyway, by the time I finished the profile, it was dark outside.

Savannah, looking somewhat more put together, stopped at my door to say goodnight before leaving me alone on the floor.

It wasn’t anything unusual.

I liked it here much better than my apartment on the ground. I actually had to drive below ground to park my car and my only view was a swimming pool with more apartments on the other side.

Besides, I was busy.

I’d no more than submitted my profile and ordered a sandwich to be delivered when I got a match.

Just as expected, her profile picture was Blurry. There was, however, a picture of her three cats. Great. A crazy cat lady.

And her profile name was Cinderella101.

I laughed out loud. Who gave themselves the profile name Cinderella?

I suppose it wasn’t much worse than Soulmate23, but I was just playing around. I wasn’t actually looking to meet anyone.

I was most definitely NOT looking to meet anyone.

I stared at the profile for a minute wondering what I was supposed to do next.

It wasn’t like I couldn’t figure it out. I did have a medical degree, after all. But I’d never used a dating app. I didn’t know the protocol. There was a whole culture within the dating apps that I had purposely avoided learning.

My food arrived and I went back to my office, sitting at the little table near the window.

I gave some consideration to deleting the app.

Then as I sat there eating my French fries and fish sandwich, I thought about John.

This was research.

John wouldn’t be the only client who had trouble dating.

I needed to at least have the basic experience of it all, especially if I was going to go around recommending it.

So I found the chat box.

Hi

I waited. Maybe Cinderella didn’t want to talk to me. Even though I claimed to like cats, since that was the first question that had gotten me here, I didn’t have a cat picture posted.

I could fix that.

I sent my sister a text.

Will you send me a picture of one of your cats?

Tiff

Why?

I’m doing some research.

It wasn’t a lie. And if I told her, she would badger me about it.

So just the cat. By herself.

I couldn’t use it if she sent a cat picture with kids in it. My whole experiment would fall apart.

A minute later, she sent a photo of her white cat named Bella. I think her name was Bella. Well, she was Bella now.

I posted it on my Blurry Chat profile.

And it worked. I got a response.

Cinderella

Hi

The response came with a little unique chime.

Whoa. That was a little dopamine hit.

I wasn’t sure what I thought about this.

Looks like we’re a match.

Cinderella

So it seems.

I didn’t understand this. People actually did this?

Cinderella

My friend signed me up. I’m not actually looking to date.

Well. That should be disappointing.

I’m not looking to date either.

Cinderella

Ha. Well. I guess we really are a good match.

Good point.

Still. I was not looking for a date. So did two wrongs somehow make a right?

Cinderella

How does this work, anyway?

Oh. My. God. This woman was me. As a woman.

I was hoping you knew.

There was silence.

What are you doing?

I probably shouldn’t ask that.

Now I had three messages in a row with no answer.

She was going to think I was a stalker.

Cinderella

Right now? I’m looking out over Houston.

So am I.

There was a thing on the app about location. It made perfect sense. There would be no point in me getting to know someone in Chicago or San Francisco.

Cinderella

It’s a beautiful night. I can see the full moon from here.

I leaned over and looked out. There it was. A bright full moon hanging over the city.

So was she in a high rise, too? She had to be if she was looking out over Houston.

Should I lasso it down for you?

More silence.

Then.

Cinderella

Sure. Nice to meet you Jimmy Stewart.

Ha. I gave myself away already.

Cinderella

Seems fair since you know my name.

Funny. This girl was funny.

I liked her already.

Uh oh.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

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