“If nothing else, that Wil Belgian Wheaton beer might be a contender for the quest,” Jude says. “It was pretty tasty.”

“It’s not over yet,” I reply. “We can still salvage this.”

“You think?” Jude asks as he squeezes the lemon into his water. Then he shrugs. “I don’t know. Remember what you said about efficiency? Maybe we should just move on.”

“I don’t think so,” I reply almost immediately, even though, normally, if my client wasn’t feeling it on the first date, I would 100 percent agree with exactly what Jude is saying. There are plenty of profiles in the sea, especially for a guy like him, and my job is to keep my clients from wasting their time.

But that’s the thing. I don’t feel like Bree is a waste of time. Sure, this wasn’t the most amazing date in the history of romance or anything, and maybe the sort of story they’d have to embellish if it got to the point where they were telling their grandkids about it (on the other hand, maybe it’d be hilarious: the hairdo that almost wiped out their existence). But it could also just be one mediocre date; everything I’ve seen and read of Bree so far makes me think she’s worth another shot. I tell Jude so.

“All right,” Jude says. “But I’ll be honest: I’m not sure she thinks I’m worth another shot.”

“Let me think on that,” I tell him. “If that’s true, I’ll come up with something to make her change her mind.”

“You’re the expert,” Jude says, raising his glass to me.

That night, when I get home, it’s to the welcome sight of solo Dylan on the couch with a tray of chips and salsa on his lap as he watches Shark Tank.

“Where’s Charles?” I ask, hoping the answer is something along the lines of “gone forever.”

“Having dinner with a former student, one of his mentees,” Dylan says.

Okay, fine. I have to admit that’s a better answer. Charles and I may not get along, but I’d be totally blind not to realize that he and Dylan are crazy about each other. And if there’s one thing I’ve always been, it’s a hopeless romantic.

Here’s where I butt up against this problem again: Regular Miles isn’t here and I’m genuinely not sure I want him to return. Because being a hopeless romantic meant that I left myself so wide open that I got my heart pummeled, steamrolled, and left for dead.