Swipe Left for Love
a galley kitchen ran along the hallway led to the bedroom and bath. Macie hated the white walls, the stereotypical first apartment. She hated the singularity of it. Lauren loved it, if only because she shared it with Ford. Lauren grinned as she tapped the table with her nails.Macie glared at her over the laptop.
“Come on, Mace,” Ford said, as he flipped the pages of his guitar magazine. He tossed it on the coffee table and stood from the gray couch. A smile curled on his lips as he walked to Lauren’s side. “Zac’s a good guy once you get to know him.”
“Oh, I know him.” Macie went back to the graphic and adjusted the font on the invites. It didn’t look right. Wedding had one more letter than Bridal and the ‘g’ threw off the entire balance. She sighed, deleting the word completely.
“You really don’t.” Ford squeezed Lauren’s shoulder and stared at Macie. “Just talk to him without insulting him.”
“Then I’ll have no fun.” She pulled out the stylus and began to draw the letters onto the screen. “And remind me why we’re doing this again. The invitations were already finished.”
Macie knew she was being a bitch, but she had worked her ass off on creating something unique for Lauren. There were other things that needed to be done, like finding a job and putting a hefty deposit on an apartment and getting through her finals. The PBS station hadn’t called yet. Rivot Design hadn’t called yet. Nobody had called. She was going to end up back in her mother’s small two-bedroom trailer and waiting tables at the same dank bar her mother worked at.
“We just wanted to do this together. I mean, men don’t get a groom’s shower.” Lauren gazed at Ford with so much love in her eyes that Macie almost let her lunch make a reappearance.
“No, they get bachelor parties,” Ford said. His gaze matched Lauren’s. “And we’re doing that together, too.”
“Together forever,” Lauren whispered.
Macie couldn’t stop her eye roll. “Guys, I’m still in the damn room.”
They at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Macie ignored them as they talked about their honeymoon. One thing they weren’t doing was taking a honeymoon straight away. Ford’s teaching job at Joseph Academy, an all-boy’s private school, began a week after the wedding. The school wanted him to start immediately to work with the kids who had summer school. Lauren’s life was going to be insane before the wedding. She’d agreed to work for her mother rebuilding websites for Sylvia’s vast media empire and doing who knew what else Sylvia decreed. That was Lauren’s way of paying her mother back for college. And Macie was going to do whatever it took to help Lauren get her dream wedding and ease the pressures off her friend. Macie knew Lauren would do the same for her.
Lauren also had other things going on. Blind Friends had gotten some attention from a couple different companies. The money they’d offered at first was minimal, but the bidding war had only gotten started. Macie finished drawing the new version of the shower invites and added a cursive font. It looked damned good too. Why wouldn’t someone hire her? She was more than capable of every aspect of graphic design.
Maybe she should freelance, be her own boss. It would take time. She could keep working at Hoof, slinging drinks while she built her business. Hell, she’d probably have to do that anyway.
“Here,” she said, turning the screen around to face them. Lauren’s face lit up, but Ford’s didn’t. In fact, he looked disgusted. Macie’s heart sank. “What now?”
“You can’t read it.” He had the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry, but the letters are only outlined.”
Macie dug her nails into her palms, but Lauren jumped in to save her. “Hon, that’s just a sketch of it. She’ll fill it in with the same coloring as before.” Lauren turned to Macie. “We are sticking with the silver, right?”
“Of course. That way they match the save the date cards and the wedding invites.” Macie turned the screen back toward her and filled in the W. She chided herself for letting Ford’s critique get to her. He didn’t understand the process. Lauren had been around Macie and her work long enough to get the idea. If she did get hired at Rivot Design, the clients would probably do the same thing on the mock-ups. She needed to work on that. A lot. Macie turned the screen back around so Ford could see the W.
He smiled. “Okay, I get it. That’s great.”
But his stilted voice gave away one fact: he didn’t like it. Well, Macie wasn’t going to change it. The invitations needed to go to the printer as soon as possible. If they weren’t mailed out by the end of next week, they wouldn’t get to people in time to RSVP. Macie had learned a long time ago that people rarely RSVP anymore. Maybe they would for wedding showers. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own lives to bother.
Macie finished filling in the letters and cleaning up the lines. The art calmed her. Besides, people would show for Lauren’s shower. That was just the way it worked for her friend. And another reason she planned on eloping if she ever met Mister Right.
“Have you heard from him lately?” Lauren asked.
Macie glanced up from the screen. At some point Ford had left the table. Macie looked around their apartment. He may have even left completely. Weird. She didn’t remember hearing him move. She turned her attention back to her friend.
“No. The last message said he would be off-line a lot because of finals.” Macie shrugged and went back to her tablet. She smiled at her work. Not bad for an unemployed graphic designer. She attached it to an email, sending it to Lauren. “Get that invitation to the printer.”
Lauren’s phone dinged a new email, but she didn’t take her eyes off Macie. “Have you asked to meet him yet?”
“No.”