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each other?”
    A hundred thousand. “None. It’s a blind date.”
    Mira stilled. “How do you know what he’s like?”
    Lexie’s brain scrambled, grabbing ideas and letting them go. She settled for a simple, “It was a very thorough ad.”
    “An ad .”
    “It’s an online date, Mother. Of course it was an ad.”
    “Does that mean …” Mira’s voice trailed off as if she had to gain strength before going on. “Does that mean you placed an ad as well? Like a …”
    “Like a what?” Lexie couldn’t even guess where her mother would take it next.
    “You know, this fellow in my church group has a son who lives at home. He does something with computers, too. I was going to get his phone number for you. Brett didn’t tell me much, but his son sounded lovely even if he is a bit of a loner.”
    Lexie bit into another piece of bread, barely even tasting it anymore. She stared at her mother without responding.
    Mira pointed to the butter knife in Lexie’s hand. “Now you’re just trying to upset me.”
    Lexie rolled her eyes. Carefully, she put her knife back onto her plate with a clink, and then she set down the half-eaten piece of bread. “Well, you’re easy to upset. I apologize for ruffling your feathers.”
    “It’s just that I want you to be healthy …”
    “I am healthy. I run. My cholesterol is jaw-droppingly great. I told you that.” No, no, no , she didn’t want to go down this road. Not again. She couldn’t take it tonight. “And the guy I’m going out with likes a girl of normal weight.”
    “But …”
    “I’m normal , Mother, whether you like that or not. Average is size 12 to 14 now.”
    Mira gasped.
    Lexie met the gasp with a sigh.
    James burped and reached for the bottle of wine. “Fill ‘er up.”
    “At least have a salad when you go out with him. Just a salad.”
    Lexie’s head dropped forward. When she lifted it again, she said, “Fine.”
    Her mother had won. Her mother always won.
     
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    “This one.” Coin pointed at a woman who looked as if she painted her teeth with Wite-Out.
    “No way. What if she bit you?”
    “Okay, click that one. I like brunettes.”
    Lexie peered at the screen. “Is one of her eyes drooping?”
    “Are you going to kick them all out of my empty imaginary bed without even letting me read their profiles?”
    Lexie took a moment to wonder what that bed might look like. “You make your bed every day, don’t you?”
    Coin, his elbow on the table next to her laptop, said, “Yeah. Doesn’t everyone?”
    Lexie made her bed once a week when she changed her sheets, whether she wanted to or not. “Sure. What about her?” She indicated a woman perhaps a little higher on the age spectrum Coin had stipulated.
    “She looks good. If I wanted the Early Bird Special and to save money on her movie tickets.”
    “Don’t be mean,” Lexie said, but she couldn’t keep the laughter out of her voice. Looking at people online had always been interesting, but it had always held a strange intensity, also. It wasn’t like meeting someone in the grocery store or at church. You didn’t get to interact with them a few times before considering having a private meal together. You had to look, read, and then project your entire life—marriage, babies, death—based on what his favorite band was. She could tell Coin was quickly learning that. He’d found a woman he liked the look of, and he’d been excited when she liked Beck. “I like Beck!” he’d said. Then he’d gone on to read that the woman worshipped Beck, and went to every single one of his concerts, and her number one goal in life was to get her hands on a backstage pass, and then to get her hands on Beck’s personal backstage. Coin had tilted his mouth to the side. “That’s not good, is it?”
    “No,” Lexie had said gently. “Click the next one.”
    An hour later, Coin had the hang of it. He’d even reached the point of explaining it to her. Lexie leaned back in her seat