“The woman you were looking at earlier and who just turned the corner.” She gave a chuckle. “I’ll be honest. I swiped right, but she obviously didn’t feel the need to do so in response to my picture.”

“I don’t know her from Tinder. She works at the Pink Bean,” Lou said.

“Really? She must be new then.”

“She is.” Lou confirmed, taken aback by the fact that she and her date were actually talking about Mia. Everywhere she went, no matter what she did: Mia. And of course Meredith had swiped right. And Lou had swiped right on Meredith and this was the world they lived in now. Swiping left or right could have a lasting effect on your future.

It was strange to go back to dating after being in a relationship for seven years. The way dating in itself had changed, Lou might as well have started dating Angie in another lifetime. They had met the old-fashioned way. At a party thrown by mutual friends. Not that Lou wanted to pass judgment on one way being better than the other, but things had changed so much. In a way, the internet and online dating was a blessing for her, because at parties she didn’t always have the repartee and quick-wittedness to stun her conversation partners. She was the quiet, observing type. Definitely never the life of any party—in fact, after she’d met Angie and they had moved in together, Lou would have been fine with giving most parties a miss. At least the noisy, boisterous ones with too many people crammed into too small a space. Lou would take a small, civilized dinner party over that kind of set-up every day of the week.

“We’re not our parents just yet,” Angie used to say. “Put your glad rags on, babe. We’re going dancing.” And Lou did go dancing and enjoyed it most of the time, but not always, not like Angie who came alive under a spotlight and under the gaze of her friends.

They took an Uber to a restaurant not far from Meredith’s apartment near the CBD. Lou had suggested the restaurant as a compromise: close to where Meredith lived, but serving excellent vegetarian food for her, according to the reviews.

“So I’m your first date, huh?” Meredith asked as they sat across from each other in the restaurant. “That doesn’t bode well for me.” She followed up with a chuckle.

“Why not?”

“What are the odds of you finding love again on the first date after your relationship ended?”

“I’d say those odds are not greater or smaller than on any other date. But maybe you know more about odds than I do because of your profession.”

“Not when it comes to this, so I’ll go with your view on things. And, by the way, do tell what kind of dirt Robin dished on me?”