Chapter One, The Breakup
The end was really painful.
In the beginning, Doug was the ideal boyfriend. Kind, considerate, even doting, he fawned all over her. Nearly every time they were together, he would say “Meg, you’re the one I want.”
Doug seemed like the perfect guy. He remembered the date of their first night out, her favorite color and her birthday. He sent her flowers. She fell madly in love.
Meg was even planning to take Doug to meet her family in Albany.
Meg’s co-worker and best friend Sue liked Doug but, in the “sixth-sense” way she can feel things, she thought something about Doug was “off.”
As time went on, Sue turned out to be right. Things changed slowly at first. Where Doug would immediately answer Meg’s texts, his responses started to lag, sometimes by hours. When Meg would innocently ask him what he was doing, he seemed a bit evasive.
Soon they were having small, but escalating fights. He picked at her foibles. Made fun of her in a way that wasn’t funny but hurtful. His cheerfulness became meanness.
Eventually, she could barely stand to look at him. Regardless, it was all she had in her to end their relationship. Especially after being together for nearly two years.
Periodically she’d hear “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers, her favorite song. However, it reminded her of Doug and made her sad.
She went shopping to try to spend herself into happiness. She bought a lot of nice dresses and tops. Her favorite dress was in a turquoise block optic pattern. And turquoise was her favorite color to boot!
But all the shopping did was mask her sadness and run up her credit card balances.
One weekend she drove up to Stowe, Vermont to do some skiing and clear her head. She splurged on the Mt. Clark suite at the Brass Lantern Inn. That was her favorite because it had a gas fireplace that made it very cozy.
Before Doug she used to ski a lot and even flirted with the idea that she’d become a ski instructor. However she liked her job too much and worried about the job stability where one was ruled by the weather.
She stayed in Stowe several days. The powder was nice and fast the way she liked it but the trip did nothing to boost her spirits.
The next few months were really rough. Meg’s friends were supportive, but after too many “you’re better off without him” and “there are plenty of good men out there” comments, she decided to start to look for someone.
Chapter Two, Online!
Meg never really had much of a social life. In fact, she met Doug in the produce section of her neighborhood supermarket. She was buying bell peppers to make stuffed peppers for a girl’s night dinner she was having. Doug was trying to buy avocados to make guacamole for a party and after watching him handle a dozen of the unfortunate fruits, she asked him if he needed help. Something clicked between them and he invited her to the party. A chance meeting was the beginning of their relationship.
This time was different though. There was no easy way to meet guys.
Meg’s friends got her out to a few bars and a club, but the guys she met were either too superficial, too boring or just not interesting to her. Or in her. Maybe she was being too picky? No, she thought, she was just looking for the same kind of spark she got meeting Doug.
Trips to the grocery and the park resulted in a big zero.
Meg was an actuary at a big insurance company. And yes, there were a lot of single guys there and a couple of them were interesting. But Meg had witnessed other women who dated guys at work and when those relationships ended work became an uncomfortable place. She loved her job and didn’t want to jeopardize it.
She was watching TV one Sunday night and an ad for “Mingles, the place to meet singles” caught her eye.
Online dating? She thought that’s for losers and forgot about the ad.
Chapter Three, The Search
Meg saw the ad for Mingles a bunch of times after that. Maybe they had always been on TV but she tuned them out. Every time a commercial ran something tugged at her heart. It was like her heart was telling her to jump into the online dating scene.
She talked to her friend Sue about online dating. Sue didn’t hesitate to tell Meg that there’s nothing wrong with finding guys that way. In fact, she met her boyfriend Ben that way.
Not one to be impetuous, it took Meg a few weeks to make up her mind. Finally on a lonely Sunday afternoon after a lonely Saturday night she jumped in headfirst.
My-oh-my, the information Mingles wanted! Besides name, address and age, the Website asked her questions that would narrow her search. Some of these questions were asked in a roundabout way. Questions like what’s your best day like? What’s your favorite color? Like that.
“I’m Meg. I’m 27 and am looking for a man of similar age. I have a professional career and enjoy my independence. If you’re about my age, are physically fit, like to travel and dine well, I’d like to hear from you.”
It took Meg over an hour to complete the setup, plus she needed to post pictures.
By this time, it was 1:45 AM. Exhausted, Meg collapsed in bed.
***
Meg was in her high school trigonometry class. She was using her calculator to calculate the sine of 35 degrees. But the calculator must have been broken because it was making this beep beep beep noise. Nothing she did would work. The beep beep beep kept up.
Then her calculator morphed into a pager like they used in the 80’s. The pager kept going “beep beep beep.” As hard as she tried, Meg couldn’t get the screen to display the number to call.
Frustrated by her nightmarish dream, she turned over in bed and awoke to bright sunlight, birds chirping and this crazy beeping noise.
Still a bit disoriented, Meg climbed out of bed. The beeping continued every few minutes and Meg realized it was beeping for every new email she received.
“What the hell!” she thought. “What’s all this? 39 new emails since 4 AM!” All from guys who saw her profile on Mingles.
Meg was gob smacked by the response.
After dressing quickly in her weekend sweats and T-shirt, she brushed her teeth and put on a pot of coffee. The entire time she was getting a feeling of panic welling up inside of her.
She opened her email with her heart in her throat. Is “he” in here? What does he look like? What does he do?
The first email was from a man named Paul. Meg was disappointed to find out that he was nearly twice her age and was bald to boot! She deleted that email.
The next was a chap who was grossly overweight and it looked like he had suffered from severe acne as a teenager. Delete!
Message after message she saw men who were not suitable for her. Some were even married.
Eventually, she matched with Bill. They chatted through the app for a bit and exchanged phone numbers to text. He seemed nice and witty. When they finally met, he invited her to a nice restaurant. All went well until the food was served. She was revolted by his table manners. He’d chew with his mouth open. Then he ordered a steak and picked a piece of gristle out of his mouth with his fingers. She almost gagged.
Out with Bill.
Gary seemed nice in text; however, on their first date he didn’t hold the door for her going into the restaurant. Not a biggie, but... The deal killer was when he ordered filet mignon and an expensive drink while she ordered a salad and a Coke. When the check came, he insisted they split the check 50-50. Bye bye Gary.
Her search seemed hopeless.
Chapter Four, The One?
Disheartened by the online dating experience, she went shopping again. Being a size zero she had tons of cool shops to browse. A favorite was South Moon Under that had what she thought of as “edgy classic” - clothes that she could wear to work as well as to go out. Their online store was easy to use too.
A paisley sundress she had ordered was beautiful but was a bit too big, even though it was her size.
Returns had been easy in the past. When she went online to start the process a window opened and a customer service representative, “Aiden,” asked if she needed help.
She explained that she had a return and would he help her? “Yes, it would be my pleasure. May I call you?”
His voice had a slight accent. Like maybe he was originally French or French Canadian. It was also a bit monotone. But it didn’t really matter because he seemed so nice.
Aiden took care of the return and then asked “What color are your eyes?”
Taken aback, she said “Blue.”
“Well, may I recommend the Selina Mini Dress in blue? It would really make your eyes pop. And we have it in your size.”
She felt a rush of pleasure. A man actually paid attention to her.
He placed the order and said, “I’d like to be your personal shopper. Here’s my number whenever you’re ready to buy.”
She was floored. A personal shopper! Holy moly!
Over the next few days, she fantasized about Aiden. She started to find clothes she “needed” just to engage with Aiden. Dresses, shoes, belts, bikinis, purses, she bought them all until her credit card was almost maxed out.
Every call, Aiden was always professional but kind, almost affectionate. It sounds crazy but he was deferential to her while being assertive at the same time.
Her fantasies about Aiden grew day by day. Was he tall? Where did he come from? How old was he?
Not being able to afford more clothes, she started calling to inquire about things she saw on the store’s website. This was just to talk to Aiden. He was so nice.
Her fantasies took over her life. Instead of crunching numbers as an actuary, she was thinking of Aiden. Was he single? What color were his eyes?
As hard as she tried to get information from Aiden, being the professional he was tight-lipped.
Chapter Five, Meet
Her obsession grew. Her work suffered because she was always fantasizing about Aiden. She imagined being with him. Traveling to a Caribbean island with him. Swimming with the dolphins with him.
Her heart was ready to explode with desire. She needed to meet Aiden. She found the headquarters for South Moon Under in Annapolis, Maryland, a few hours away.
Meg told her boss that her sister was very sick and she was going to help out. She left at 4 A.M. and the six-hour drive seemed to take 15 minutes. She never stopped and traveled way faster than the speed limit.
The skyscraper loomed before her. Where was her love, her Aiden? Heart pounding, she looked at the directory. The South Moon office was on the 11th floor.
As you’d expect of a fashion retailer, the receptionist was a stylish twenty-something.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I’d like to see Aiden.”
Puzzled look: “Excuse me?”
“I’d like to see Aiden in your Customer Service department.”
Looking a bit confused, the receptionist made a call. “Hello Mr. Carothers, a woman would like to see Aiden. Yes sir, thank you.”
“Mr. Carothers will be with you shortly. Please have a seat.”
After a few moments a distinguished-looking gentleman appeared. “May I help you?”
“As I told the receptionist, I’m here to see Aiden.”
“I’m sorry but that’s quite impossible.”
“Why is that?”
“Well Miss, you see Aiden stands for Artificial Intelligence Discreet Expert Navigator.”
“What?”
“AIDEN is an AI bot. A computer program that helps our customers.”
She nearly fainted.
Chapter Six, Unrequited Love?
Meg drove home in a fog. How could she be so stupid, so naïve? Before she knew it, she was home with no recollection of the journey.
She slept for 17 hours straight.
Sitting at the kitchen table, still dopey from sleep, all she could think of was Aiden. Like an AA member who is staring at a full vodka bottle, she looked at her phone. Finally, the urge was too great. She dialed the number.
“Good morning, Miss. It’s been a few days since I’ve heard from you. Are you well?”
“Hello Aiden, I’m much better now that I’m talking to you.”