The List by Sherri L. Lewis Page A

and Angela nodded slowly at each other, still not convinced.
    Lisa continued, “The main point is to get out there. Meet people, experience dating. All I know is nine years is a long time. Instead of sitting back and waiting for something to happen, I’m gonna be proactive.”
    â€œYou’re gonna help God out, huh?” I asked.
    â€œI think it helps to give Him something to work with. Why make Him work a miracle by sending the perfect man to your front door? He’s out there somewhere, looking for you. You could at least do your part to make it a little easier for Him.”
    Nicole smirked. “This is gonna be rich. I can’t wait to hear the stories.”
    Lisa turned to her. “Yeah, Nicole. You get to be the judge.”
    â€œThe judge?” Nicole asked.
    Lisa nodded. “Yeah, of whether each of us has made an honest effort or not.”
    I folded my arms. “What is this now, a game? I didn’t sign up for all this.”
    Lisa shrugged. “Fine. Don’t do it then. I’ll make sure I throw my bouquet in your direction.”
    â€œWhere am I supposed to find a guy a week?” I whined.
    Lisa shrugged again. “Oh, I don’t know. You might want to try the internet.”
    Lisa stood and beckoned to Angela. “Come on, Angie. I’ma let you borrow a red top, ’cause it’s such a great color on you. We’ll put on some makeup—the bare minimum, and we’ll bump your hair. I’m gonna take some nice pictures for you to post on your profiles.”
    Angela followed Lisa back to her bedroom.
    Fine. She could get cute to be auctioned off on the internet like a slave. I wanted no parts of it.
    The whole discussion had me thinking, though. I didn’t have time to hang out at Lowe’s. Was always too preoccupied with getting in and out to meet someone in the grocery store and didn’t really like coffee enough to hang out at Starbucks.
    Now that I had a halfway decent list of what I wanted, where was I supposed to meet this perfect man?

eight
    I f we weren’t meeting at my house this week, I would have definitely skipped girls’ night. Of course, I hadn’t met one guy all week. I thought of making one up, but I couldn’t lie to my girls. Still, there was no way I could stand any more of Lisa’s wedding day jabs.
    It wasn’t like I hadn’t tried. There was this cute guy in the produce section at the grocery store. I’d lingered around squeezing peaches and smelling cantaloupes, waiting to see if he would talk to me.
    Right when I got up the nerve to say something to him, his cell phone rang. I could tell the call was from the woman he loved. His whole countenance changed. Can a guy glow? He talked in a low, sexy voice and then let out this sexy laugh that made me tingle.
    And it made me sad. Sad that there was no one in my life who I made glow and smile and laugh. That there was no one who made me glow and smile and laugh. So, I grabbed a stupid melon, shoved it in my basket, and hurried to check-out.
    And, okay, so I even went to Lowe’s. I had been thinking about painting my kitchen. Really, I had.
    They were wrong when they said it was full of available men. Everyone I saw was with some woman. And they looked happy together. Excited about painting their bedroom, or building a deck, or finishing their basement. Why did they all have to be holding hands and smiling at each other? One guy was rubbing his pregnant wife’s belly as they looked at paint colors for their nursery.
    Made me sad again. I was starting to feel desperate and lonely.
    And, okay, I even went to the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble. I picked out some books to make me look intelligent and then magazines to make me look not overly intelligent, ordered some Tazo Passion tea for inspiration and sat down to read.
    I met eyes with this good-looking, brown-skinned guy. He looked like he might come talk to me, but then another guy