Sure enough, my program turns up a list of prospective matches right away. Usually, there are only a handful for any of our test subjects. I’m adding new sign-ups to my database every day, but it’s still in the early stages. Part of the investment from Maverick will pay for marketing to get the word out, so we can expand our pool of potential matches, but even now, I find there are dozens of women who fit Jack’s criteria.

I skim through the list. All other things being equal, I think I can make a few assumptions. Like that he’d prefer Never Previously Married over Twice-Divorced with Two Kids. And also Knows How to Smile For a Photo over Ready to Crawl Out of Her Skin In Front of The Camera.

Still, I need to hand-pick a few of them for the pool, and they need to be the right ones. It would just show him if I managed to hit the jackpot on his very first date. He’d have to eat his words—and sign me that massive check.

My stomach grumbles. It’s three o’clock, and, sure, I should probably eat lunch at some point. I leave my computer reluctantly and head down to the bodega on the corner for a sandwich. Their Philly cheesesteaks are almost as good as the ones back home. I’m heading back with my first bite melting in my mouth when I find Barb, my landlady, on the front steps of the building. “McKenna! How are you doing, sweetheart?”

I stop and smile. “Not too bad. How’ve you been?”

“Oh, you know, keeping an eye on things, keeping Marv on his toes.” She winks at me and smooths her hand over her cloud of blue-white hair. I hope mine’s half as thick as hers when I hit seventy.

“What’s new with the kids?” I ask.

She lights up like I knew she would. “Oh, Bernard just moved into his new house with the family. I’m so glad they’re closer now. And Cynthia was here with her wife for dinner just yesterday. They’re talking about adopting. Isn’t that lovely? Of course, I have to thank you for that.”

“No need,” I say. “It’s great to hear they’re doing so well.” Until a couple years ago, Barb was always fretting about her “spinster” daughter, as if being single at thirty-five made her a lost cause. I offered Cynthia a trial run of Perfect Match, and a year later she was getting married. I don’t think Barb will ever stop thanking me.

“Now how about you?” She shakes a finger at me. “I haven’t seen any young men coming courting lately. You can’t neglect your own happiness while you’re looking after everyone else’s, you know.”

“Don’t worry about me. It’s just a matter of finding the time.” Despite what Jack said, it’s not my deal-breakers holding me back. These days, I’m basically in a relationship with my work. “Well, if you need any help in that department, you know I’d love to return the favor,” Barb says, patting my arm. She’s told me she was quite the matchmaker—in the traditional way—when she was younger. “I’ve still got the knack here and there. No shortage of nice young men around if you know where to look.”

I should probably be glad she doesn’t have any single sons to throw at me. “Thank you, Barb,” I say. “I’ll definitely let you know.”

Back upstairs, I’ve only just sat down at my computer when a groan carries through the wall. I cringe. Ah. Tessa has Drippy Doug over. And from the sound of that heavy breathing, he’s having a very good time, at least.

I turn up my music to drown out the panting, but it’s still loud enough that when my phone rings, I head for the fire escape. The only way to escape Drippy Doug’s enthusiasm.

It’s my brother. “Hey!” I say, sitting down on the rickety metal platform. “How’s life in Philly?”

“Pretty good,” Drew says. “I’m working with a new singer, recording some tracks for her album. What about you? Did you ever land that investor you were chasing?”

I think of falling into Jack’s pool a few days back. “Kind of. But I can pull it together.”

“You know, if you need me to kick you some cash—”

“I know,” I say quickly. “I’ve got this, Drew. No need for big brother to swoop in and save the day. As much as I do appreciate the offer.”

“Well, as long as you remember it’s there,” Drew says, sounding unruffled.

“How’s it going with Maggie? Still think you made the right choice?”

Drew chuckles at my teasing. He and my childhood BFF are so obviously right for each other, but it took them some time to figure that out. Just because he’s older than me doesn’t mean he’s always wiser. “Haven’t doubted it for a second. We’re actually . . . Since she’s working in the building all the time, and she hasn’t been able to find a decent apartment . . . we’re talking about her moving in with me.”

“That’s a big step! Making it almost official. Congrats.” I’m grinning, but at the same time I can’t help feeling a pang.

Seeing Drew and Maggie together didn’t just tell me that they were awesome together. It also reminded me of the kind of relationship I wish I could have. Being totally into each other, totally in sync—and able to talk through any problems, eventually at least. Really being partners.

It’s just so hard to find that when you’re going in blind. Our parents thought they were meant to be, but I could see the distance growing between them even when I was a kid. They didn’t get divorced until I was in college, and by then I was relieved for them. They liked each other fine. They were just missing that deeper connection. Passion, I guess, although please don’t ask me to think about my parents that way.

Of course, passion by itself isn’t any better. I’m not going to say anyone should turn down awesome sex, but great orgasms can be blinding in their own way. Take my first love—and heartbreak—Cam, a grunge-hot slacker musician I met in college. Sexy as hell, check. Couldn’t keep our hands off each other in the bedroom, check. Everywhere outside the bedroom? It took a whole lot of suspicious texts and evasive answers and heartache before it sunk in that he liked to spread that passion around. Then came Jamie, bookish and sincere. We split when he took a job on the West Coast after graduating . . . and I plunged head-long into a rebound relationship with Andreas, the sexy bartender down the street. It’s been like that ever since, and looking back, it’s clear I have a pattern: either the hottie heartbreaker who rocks my world, then breaks my heart, or the intellectual who connects with my brains and ambition, but winds up putting his job first.

It’s a shame I wasn’t a bio-chem major, so I could Dr. Frankenstein myself the perfect combination. Minus the cheating, of course.

Drew and I shoot the breeze a little more, and I promise to come visit soon. As I’m hanging up, Tessa’s window slides open. She clambers out onto the fire escape down from me and sits, looking out at the view—of a cinderblock wall.

“Finished?” I call over.

She startles seeing me, then blushes. “Sorry.”

“Thin walls.” I shrug. “Tell me at least you had a good time.”

She lowers her eyes. “Well, he did. But don’t get me wrong! He totally tried. Anyway, he had to rush off, and I think we’d better get moving too.”

“We—oh, crap!” We’ve got tickets to Jill’s new play, and it’s almost show time. I scramble to my feet. “I’ll meet you in the hall in five.”