Read Chat Love for Free Online Page A

will laugh at us.”
    Leave it to Gabby to be blunt. I groan in frustration, “You do realize that this is about me and not about you or anyone else?”
    “Yes, I do. Don’t you think people will look at
you
as desperate and pathetic? I’m trying to help you out, Lu. What will you do when you go to your high school reunion and everybody knows that you are desperately seeking companionship on Chat Love?”
    I snap back, “Maybe I’ll have a date for my reunion, and maybe we’ll have met on Chat Love.”
    As my sister and I glare at one another, the tension in the room is making everyone else uncomfortable. To break it, my mother tries changing the subject. “Maybe at the reunion you and Matt will get back together. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”
    I turn to her, not even trying to conceal my exasperation. “Mom, Matt is married. In what way would breaking up a marriage be romantic?”
    Gabriella pipes in, “I think Angelo is going to be perfect for you.”
    I shake my head and get up from the table, giving my sister a purposeful and angry look. “I said I don’t want to date him. Leave my dating life alone, please.”
    “You have a dating life?” Gabriella asks, her words dripping with sarcasm.
    As I walk out of the room I hear Tony whisper to Gabby to leave me alone. I grab my coat and walk outside to the patio, taking a seat. If only my family knew that I’ve been considering trying online dating for a while. It’s just so hard to meet anyone of quality that I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been looking in the wrong places. Maybe I just don’t know where to meet the right man, and maybe I’ll find him on Chat Love. What if I meet a man on this site that I would have never met otherwise, simply because we didn’t go to the same places or we did but just didn’t go at the same time?
    Still, I’ve never been very fond of the idea of online dating. I know how to be flirty and fun when talking to someone in person, but when I try to be sexy through e-mail or texting, I just sound stupid.
    I hear the front door open, and my father comes outside. He takes a seat next to me, and we spend a while just staring at the house across the street; the house is practically identical to my sister’s, except for the two little boys playing in the snow. After a few minutes of watching the children playing, my father turns to me with a sad look in his eyes. I recognize it immediately; it’s the same look he gave me when I entered the kitchen earlier.
    “Don’t you want that for yourself, Lucia?” He nods toward the boys playing and laughing in the neighbor’s yard.
    “Of course I do, Dad.”
    My father looks back at me. “Then why is it taking you so long? It almost seems as if you don’t want to meet anyone.”
    I choke out, “I do want to meet someone, and I’ve been trying to, but it’s hard. It’s not like Mr. Right is just knocking on my door.” I run my fingers through my hair. “I have plenty of time to get married and have kids.”
    My father shakes his head. “It gets harder for women to have a baby when they are older.”
    “Yeah, Dad, when the woman is in her
forties
.”
    My father grumpily replies, “I just wonder how much longer I’ll have to wait till you get married and give me a grandchild.”
    I stand up, bothered by his statement. “Well, Gabby is giving you one, so maybe that will hold you over and I can have some peace without you, Mom, Gabby, Grandma, or anybody else asking me about marriage and kids!”
    I walk back into the house and throw my coat on the couch. I hear the sounds of voices and my mother crying. I stomp up the stairs to find my mother, Gabriella, and Tony all sitting in an empty room; Tony waves, encouraging me to come in and join them. I step in and see my mother crying, but with a smile on her face.
    Tony senses my confusion and explains, “Hey, Lucia, we were just telling your mom about our plans for this room. We’re going to make it the baby’s