Before I could respond, she was out the door, and I was alone.

PAYING FOR DATES

JOSEPH

When my meeting ended, Kayla popped back into my office, uninvited, and sat back down.

I glanced at her. “You thought of something?”

“Yeah. But you’re not going to like it.” She shook her head and made a face that told me I definitely wasn’t going to like what she suggested.

“What is it?”

“There are some firms that specialize in this kind of thing.” She said the words so quietly that my brain almost didn’t pick up exactly what she was saying.

But when it clicked into place, I mentally took back my previous thought about dating apps and decided that this was the very last thing I would do to meet a woman.

“I know you’re about to freak out, but just listen.” She put one hand in the air toward my face to get me to stop talking before I even started, but it didn’t work.

“No. I can’t do that. I can’t go to some firm to find a date!”

“But it’s not real. You’d just be paying her to be your fake date.” She couldn’t even get the words out without giggling.

“Are you going to stop laughing at me, or should I fire you?”

“Definitely fire me. But please give me a good severance package, so I can spend a month in Bali, doing nothing but working on my tan with a hot Balinese woman.”

Short of Kayla betraying my company secrets and selling my soul to the devil, there was very little she could do that would get me to fire her, and she knew it.

“So, are we a go for the dating firm?” she asked, her expression serious as she put her pen in her mouth and bit down.

“That’s the only thing you thought of this whole time?”

“Hey,” she started to argue, but I interrupted.

“We just need to slow down a second,” I said, my insides twisting.

“What’s the hang-up?”

“It’s kind of creepy, is it not?” I asked because it felt like it was.

She shifted in her seat before tossing her dark hair from her shoulders and onto her back. “It’s not though. Listen. It’s a business arrangement. You don’t want to fall in love. These women aren’t there for love. It’s a win-win.”

She pulled out her phone and started typing frantically on it. “Okay, these are the five high-profile firms for the rich and famous in the city.” She winced as she said the words out loud, gauging my reaction before continuing her spiel. “Basically, they sound like high-class escort services, I guess?” She shrugged, clearly in as unfamiliar territory as I was.

“So, I’d pay some girl to be my fake girlfriend for Social Month, and my mom will be happy and go check off the things on her travel bucket list?”