Maggie nestled into one side of her best friend’s worn but comfy couch with a container of rocky road ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other. After the week she’d had, ice cream and a girls’ night in was exactly what she needed.

“Do we want to open the red or white wine?” Gwen called from the tiny, galley-style kitchen.

“Red. That’s a good pairing for cookie dough ice cream, right?” Lisa said, already digging into her ice cream from her perch on the other side of the couch.

“Everything’s a good pairing for cookie dough.” Gwen reappeared with a bottle of red wine and three glasses on a tray, along with her preferred flavor, chocolate ripple.

Gwen served the wine and then settled into a somewhat battered armchair with a contented sigh and raised her glass. “We survived another week. Here’s to the weekend.”

“Amen,” Maggie replied, before downing a significant portion of her glass.

“Uh oh. You only drink your wine that fast when the espresso machine at work is on the fritz or you’re having man trouble. Which is it?”

Maggie wrinkled her nose and sighed. “The latter. Jorge went back to his wife.”

Gwen’s hand froze, her spoon hovering halfway between the carton and her mouth. “Wife? I thought you said he was divorced?”

“He is. Well, he was. They finalized the divorce three years ago.” Maggie took another drink, but the wine couldn’t wash away the bitter taste that had lingered in her mouth since she got the text from Jorge the night before.

“Weren’t you two planning a romantic getaway next weekend? How the hell does a guy go from booking a trip with his girlfriend to getting back together with his ex-wife?” Lisa leaned over to snag the bottle of wine off the table and refilled Maggie’s glass.

“It was his turn with the kids last weekend. I guess he told them about me, and they went home and told their mother.” Maggie paused to take another spoonful of ice cream while Lisa and Gwen reacted like the best friends that they were.

“He’s an idiot. She doesn’t want him back, she just wants to make sure he isn’t with anyone else. The moment she finds out he dumped you, she’ll call it off again. If he can’t see that, he’s not worthy of you,” Maggie said, utterly indignant.

“Please, tell me you had a moment of glorious red-headed temper and tore him a new one before punting his sorry ass to the curb,” Lisa added.

“He didn’t give me the chance. He told me by text message late last night.”

“He broke up with you by text? The least he could have done was tell you in person. What kind of man does that?” Maggie asked.

“The only kind of man the three of us ever seem to attract. Weak, selfish assholes.” Lisa stabbed her spoon into her ice cream. “We need to expand our dating pool.”

Maggie shook her head. “I’m not sure how we’d do that. I work in a coffee shop, which means the only guys I meet are over-caffeinated business types who never look up from their phones long enough to flirt. You’re a street artist, so you’re surrounded by buskers all day. Those guys barely make rent, they can’t afford a girlfriend.”

Lisa grinned. “No, but the cute ones can rent me for a couple of days. Not every relationship has to last forever.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Some of us are getting too old to play the field. I’d like to meet someone special. He doesn’t need to be perfect, just…perfect for me.”

“You’ve spent too many years reading those romance novels you love, Gwen. There’s no such thing as a perfect man. He’s a myth, like unicorns and little green men from outer space.” Maggie took another drink of her wine. “I agree with Lisa though, we do need to find a better class of men to date. There has to be some out there, somewhere.”

“Given our track records, maybe not. Between us, we’ve dated a card-carrying member of the Ghostbusters fan club, complete with his own proton pack, two guys who forgot they were still married...”

Gwen chimed in with “Don’t forget the guy who met Lisa for coffee, talked about himself for an hour, then told her she was clearly a submissive and asked her to wear his collar…on their first date.”

Lisa groaned. “Seth. Oh man, I’d forgotten about him. He was a wannabe Dom with no clue what he was talking about. Quick, someone pass me more wine. I’m going to need it to erase those memories again.”

They spent the next hour drinking, laughing, eating ice cream, and reminiscing about their worst dating experiences. They’d been friends for so long they knew all the stories already, but that didn’t matter. They still laughed at each other and tossed in the occasional reminder about a detail someone had missed. Usually something that made the whole tale even more humiliating. That’s what friends were for.

Gwen and Lisa were more than friends, though. They were the sisters of her heart. They had been there for Maggie when she’d first landed in foster care as a broken and terrified twelve-year-old. Since then, the three of them had forged a friendship that had lasted twenty years.

“This might be the wine talking, but I think I’m ready to try online dating again,” Lisa announced. “It’s that or dye my hair. Whichever. It’s time for a change.”

“You have gorgeous hair. Do you know how many women would kill to be natural blondes?” Gwen tugged on a curl of her tightly spiraled, jet-black hair to make her point. “Me, for one.”

“Then I’m taking your comment as a vote for a return to online dating. And so we’re clear, I’m not going alone. You two are coming with me.” Lisa grabbed her phone and started poking at the screen. “I got this email the other day. Some new dating site is coming online in the next few months, and they’re looking for some brave souls to beta test it for free. Maybe we should give it a shot.”

Maggie groaned. “You say that like you’re going to give us a choice.”

Lisa waved her hand around in vague circles. “What, and spoil the illusion? I like to let you guys think you have some say.”

“We’ve been friends too long. That illusion got shattered years ago.” Gwen drained her glass and then reached for her phone. “I can’t believe I’m even considering this.”

“Me, either.” Maggie checked her email and quickly found the invite. Star-Crossed Dating Service.

A quick scan of the contents made her curious enough to click the link. The site looked professional enough. No spelling mistakes or weird links. She started to read, then stopped and read the same sentence over again.

“Am I reading this right? They offer a money back guarantee? If we’re still single after six months, we get double our money back? I thought you said this was free?”

“Keep reading. In the next paragraph, they promise to pay us the cash, even as beta testers. They’ve got to be pretty confident to make that kind of offer,” Lisa said.

“There has to be a catch.” Gwen’s expression darkened as she kept reading. “Young women looking for adventure and an out of this world dating experience. I’m not that young anymore, and I’m not sure I’m the adventurous type.”

“You’re thirty-four, not eighty. Come on, Gwen. Maybe your perfect-for-you guy is on this site, waiting to meet you. You’ll never know unless you try.” Lisa turned her gaze to Maggie. “So, what’s your argument going to be?”

“I’m working on it. Give me a minute. I’ve had enough wine and ice cream that it’s tough to think right now.”

“Perfect. In that case, have another glass.” Lisa held up the nearly empty wine bottle. “Drink up, then sign up. We’re doing this.”

“Bossy cow,” Maggie muttered with a laugh as she held out her glass.

“Mooo ‘betcha,” Lisa retorted, and all three of them burst into a fit of giggles.

The laughter continued as they filled out the questionnaire for the dating site, each of them offering up suggestions on what the others should put. It was certainly more fun than doing it alone, but Maggie still didn’t expect much in the way of results. When it came to dating, being skeptical kept her from getting her hopes dashed over and over again.

As a girl, she’d lived like a princess in a fairytale, but when her father died, she’d lost everything. Her friends. Her home. Even her mother. She’d learned her lesson. Now, Maggie kept her expectations low and her dreams small. It was safer that way. If this dating site was as good as it claimed to be, then maybe it would match her with a man who understood how to live the same way she did. Small and simple.