The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

            Jack: I know it sounds weird, but I think Vanessa and I were just going through the motions. Like, it felt serious on the outside, but it kind of wasn’t at all when it came down to what matters. Does that make any sense at all?

            She was surprised that it sort of did.

            Jack: We made all the big moves—living together, near-engagement—but we weren’t especially close in our day-to-day lives.

            Hallie put her feet up on the coffee table and wondered if Ben would say that about their former relationship. She texted: Were you like roommates who slept together?

            Sadly, that was something Ben had said to her during his break-up speech.

            Jack: That is depressingly accurate.

            Yes—totally depressing.

            Jack: But regardless of the Vanessa mistake, I’m surprisingly serious about wanting to find someone.

            Hallie realized as she read his text that her opinion on Jack had already changed. She still thought he was moving a little quickly, but the way he’d explained the situation with his ex made her think that perhaps he just knew himself well enough to know what he was looking for now.

            She texted: For more than just a jostling?

            Jack: For jostling ’n’ forever. I want to find the person who makes me complete.

            Hallie: People really don’t use the country ’n’ enough anymore.

            Jack: We should give it a renaissance.

            Hallie: We really should. Hallie ’n’ Jack should bring it back.

            Jack: What about your soul mate goals? If a Looking4TheReal genie appeared and granted your dating wish, what exactly would you want to find?

            Hallie: Someone who likes me more than everyone else in the world.

            Jack: Likes? Isn’t that bar a little low?

            Hallie: Well, of course love, but I want to spend forever with my favorite human. The person who cracks me up and gets me and likes the way I think. Romance is nice, but I want to be with the one person where if something happens to me—funny, awful, wonderful—I’m dying to tell them.

            Jack: It sounds like you want to marry your best friend.

            Hallie: I literally do.

            Jack: Good luck. That’s a tall order.

            Hallie: No taller than your “you complete me” dream lady.

            Jack: Somehow, mine seems more possible.

            Hallie: Agree to disagree.

            Jack: Care to make a wager?

            Hallie set down the now-empty bowl of popcorn and reached for the throw on the couch’s arm. On what?

            Jack: Who finds it first.

            Hallie: Doesn’t that seem rather cavalier, to make a wager on something we’ve both agreed is important to us?

            Jack: I don’t think so, because it’s not like a bet is going to make me behave differently to win. I still want the same thing. I just win a prize if I find it first.

            Hallie: Ooh—I DO like prizes.

            Jack: Right? I already hate this app and blind dates and I really don’t feel like continuing. But if there’s a fun incentive, and I’m in it with someone else, it might not feel like an endless, depressing chore.

            Well, Hallie absolutely understood that. She was already tired of dating, and she’d only been on one date so far. Hallie: It has to be something really good, then.

            Jack: Duh.

            Hallie started thinking about what she wanted that he might be able to provide for her. Well, what services can you offer?

            Jack: (Ahem—elevator) What exactly do you mean?

            Hallie rolled her eyes but laughed. He had a way of teasing her about the hotel night that was funny but didn’t feel like he was trying to get her back into bed.

            Hallie: Example: I’m a tax accountant. I can do your taxes if I lose. And my sister is engaged to a guy who owns a Toyota dealership, so if you’re looking for a new Corolla, I can get you the friends and family price. What can you do for me?