Chapter 1
“You’re 9:30 cancelled, and your 3:30 wants to do lunch,” Hazel tells me as soon as I answer my phone.
“Good morning to you, too, Hazel,” I say.
“Oh, sorry, Good morning,” she chirps.
“When did you get into the office?” I question.
“Just now, I have a lot of paperwork to finish up. We have a lot of new clients lined up, and I don’t want to fall behind in paperwork,” I say.
“Hazel, you know you can always divide work with Penny,” I say.
“Penny has enough on her plate as well. She’s taking on more clients and booking you meetings. This office is—Blowing up,” she says.
“Then we’ll take a break from taking on new clients, at least until the ones that I have are matched up,” I say.
“Seriously? Are you sure?” Hazel says.
“We’ll talk about it more when I get into the office. I’ll see you in an hour,” I say.
“Alright--See you in an hour,” Hazel says, before ending the call. I set my phone back onto my vanity table, returning to touching up my makeup. I never put much on because I hated the feeling of things on my face, and my office was always unusually hot, so I tended to sweat a lot. I comb through my hair, deciding to wear it out instead of pulling it into the tight bun I always put it in. I move away from my vanity, shuffling into my closet and getting dressed.
My phone rings just as I struggle to zip up my dress. I shuffled back into my room, grabbing my phone and quickly answering it. “Hello?” I say.
“Xiomara? Is that you, honey?” My mother chirps
“Is that the contact you pressed, mother?” I question.
“Don’t be coy with my young lady,” my mother quips.
“Good morning, mommy,” I sigh.
“Are you coming to dinner on Friday?” she questions.
“Who’s going to be there?” I question.
“Why do you insist on asking that every time you’re invited for dinner?” my mother says.
“Because you always tend to leave guests that you know I don’t like,” I state.
“Xiomara!” My mother gasps.
“All of your friends just want to use me, and all of our family wants to rub it in that I’m still single when I’m the reason they’re even with their soulmate!” I state.
“Honey, you knew your gift was going to be a challenge,” my mother says.
“The only challenge I face is people not respecting my boundaries,” I tell her. “So, I ask again—Who is on the guest list?” I ask, and my mother clicks her tongue angrily.
“Your cousin Jackie, and her husband, and your Aunt Vivian—Jackie has an announcement to make, and she wants all of the family there,” my mother says. I sigh. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to talk my way out of dinner with My Aunt Vivian, who would take it personally if I declined. She reveled at times when her darling daughter was the center of attention. And Jackie never turned away from the attention, and she never missed the chance to take jabs at me, as if it wasn’t I who introduced her to her beau, Austin. He was a sweet man—Far too sweet for her, but love was love, and I was only a conduit.
“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll clear my schedule,” I sigh.
“Good! I shouldn’t have to beg to see my daughter,” my mother clicks.
“You didn’t beg,” I commented. “I have to go mom, I have to be in the office in 45 minutes,” I say.
“Alright, well, talk to me when you can. See you Friday,” she says, before ending the call. I return to the closet, finishing getting dressed before packing my purse, grabbing my phone, and leaving my loft.
My cat, Treasure, stretches out on her bed cat tree as I trot down the stairs into the living room. “Morning, Tressie,” I whisper, pecking her head before walking into the kitchen. I make myself a quick bowl of overnight oats, a parfait, and a cup of coffee. Over my coffee and breakfast, I begin to look through my emails. Hazel and Penny were meant to look through most of my service requests, but sometimes I liked to skim through a few.
My business has been booming since I matched the current most popular celebrity couple. Wesley Brown & Juniper Hadley. A match made in heaven and an easy feat; their auras were pulling towards each other for a while. I almost thought it was a joke when Hazel sent through Juniper’s request. I had apparently matched her cousin with her now wife, and the cousin gave raving reviews. I hadn’t expected much out of the Juniper & Wesley pair, but when Juniper personally thanked me at her engagement party, and invited me to her wedding last spring, my name hit a few people’s ears.
I was a matchmaker. Not just any matchmaker, though; I had a 100% relationship survival rate. And never had problems pairing people with their soulmates. So, people assumed it was my 3 years of psychological & sociological studies, or the fact that I studied in France and was somehow influenced by the city. But the truth was, my gift was something that I’ve had since birth. When I was younger, it was curious how people soon paired themselves at my will—Married, Divorced, separated, it didn’t matter if I paired people, but simply touching them. It wasn’t until I entered high school that my mother told me the truth about my bloodline--
I was the daughter of Eros.
Hazel and Penny both sat out at their desk answering emails and phone calls and sharing a breakfast burrito. “You girls know you aren’t prisoners and can have breakfast somewhere other than your desk, right?” I say, walking towards my office.
“Yes, but it tastes better this way,” Penny says.
“You have someone waiting in your office,” Hazel adds.
“Thank you--” I nodded, before making my way into my office. I push my way inside my corner office, with a small view of the city. Our office wasn’t very big, but it was just Hazel, Penny, and I didn’t need very much space. I usually took clients to my office or met them outside of the office for Lunch or Dinner.
Scarlette Merriweather leans against my desk, reapplying her lipstick in a small compact mirror. “Scarlette!” I say tightly.
“Oh, Xiomara, you’re finally here,” Scarlette smiles.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you--” I smiled.
“No worries, no worries, I was in the area and thought, why not stop in and give my little Mora a visit?” Scarlette smiles. Scarlette wasn’t even my friend; she was an ex-Sorority sister with my best friend, Leighton, and the only reason she liked me was that I matched her with Handsome University quarterback, Jace Merriweather, and they’ve been inseparable since. They planned to get married after Jace finished studying for the bar; at least that’s what Leighton told me.
“Oh--Well, how are things?” I question, dropping my things behind my desk. Scarlette takes a seat across from me, still giving me her pageant girl smile. Maybe she was wired to do it without realizing it.
“Well, you’d be delighted to know that Jace and I are finally tying the knot!” Scarlette squeals.
“Oh wow, congratulations!” I say.
“Yes, yes, I’m very excited, but let’s be honest, I’ve been planning our wedding since we graduated from undergrad,” Scarlette says, holding her heart. “My father has just been waiting to cash the check,” she smiles.
“Well, I’m happy for you guys,” I say.
“Yes, yes! I also wanted to personally invite you to my wedding! And I also have a request,” Scarlette says.
“Yes?”
“If it’s not a terrible inconvenience, could you please help Jace’s stepbrother find someone for the wedding? Our wedding parties are going to be mainly family, and their partners, and Jace’s stepbrother is a bit of a player, and I don’t want one of his flings in the pictures. I would much rather you work your matchmaking magic and pair him with his forever girl so I can be proud of my wedding pictures,” Scarlette says.
“Ah--I uhm, will have to check with my assistants to see if I’m not already extremely booked, and I can get back to you,” I say.
“Oh, thank you, Mora, you’re a peach, really,” Scarlette smiles, before pushing from her seat. “Just give me a call, and I can set up an appointment with Adrian,” she smiles, before leaving the room.
I slouch back in my seat, rubbing my temples. I didn’t mind my abilities; I’ve learned to concentrate on them, and it's more than just a simple touch. I could just tap my finger and pair someone with a random stranger on the street, but I put a little more effort into my gift.
I’ve seen what it’s like to think you’ve met your soulmate and for them to leave you in the dust; it breaks a person. I also know what it’s like to meet your soulmate and never want to be with anyone else.
That’s how my mother was with my father.
“Friend?” Hazel questions, poking her head into my office.
“Thorn in my side,” I say honestly, leaning against the desk.
“She came literally out of nowhere, and insisted you wouldn’t mind,” Hazel tells me apologetically.
“You’re fine,” I tell her. “Can you make a coffee run?”
“Coming right up, and I’m going to send you information about your 3:30,” she says before ducking out of the room.
“Thank you, Hazel,” I say.
“I don’t really believe in this match-making stuff, you know,” Francine Dillbury smacks on her gum. It was obnoxious, but I ignored it. Her Father apparently owned huge stock in the pharmaceutical business, and Hazel insisted it would be good to have him in our good graces. “But my father saw you on the news or whatever and thought it would be good for me to settle down or whatever old people say,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes.
“I see,” I swallow.
“So, how does it work? Do you have like a registry of lonely men, and you just pair me with someone who matches my interests?” Francine questions, staring me down skeptically.
“Not exactly, there is more science behind it, but I won’t bother you with the details,” I tell her. I was getting all I needed to know about Francine just from this small conversation. She was a spoiled snob who needed someone like her father, who was going to cater to her every whim and coddle her. She also needed someone who needed to have a backbone because she looked like the type who wasn’t subservient to men.
“So, tell me—How many long-term relationships have you been in?” I ask, it was easier to weed through earlier relationships, because people don’t realize that they’re with their soulmates when they are.
“2-well technically 3 but he was married when I was with him, so I don’t think things were all too serious for him,” she says. Before taking her gum from her mouth and pressing it down onto the plate in front of her, I try to ignore it.
“And how many times would you say you were in love?” I question, she looks at me skeptically, before dramatically rolling her eyes. Resistance is what I usually receive from people who didn’t believe in my career or believe in soulmates. It wasn’t until they were with their person that they loved those things that seemed to click for them, but by then, they didn’t believe I had very much influence, besides introducing them.
“Maybe once, but I was young, you know how college is,” Francine says.
Yes,” I say. “Thank you for meeting with me today. I’ll give you a call in a few days with a potential match, my assistants will set up a date, and you two will meet as soon as next week,” I tell her.
“Great, I’m sure my father will be thrilled,” Francine grins, before pushing out of her seat and hastily leaving the cafe. We hadn’t ordered food, and I was grateful I didn’t have to spend a meal with her. If my abilities were purely based on matching personalities, some of my clients would give me a run for my money. If it weren’t for the money, some of my clients would be unapproachable. They were all so callous and narcissistic; they were all self-involved, entitled, snobs that wouldn’t know how to treat the right person, even if they were given a guide on doing so.
I ordered three to-go meals for me, Hazel, and Penny before I made my way back into the office. I didn’t have any more clients lined up, and we usually just spent the rest of my days going through potential clients or setting up dates. There was a lot more work into matchmaking than perceived. We do everything from dates to scheduling couples’ therapy. We had a wide range of services and were always kept busy.
Leighton calls me as I make it back to my car, and I don’t reply until I’m on the road back to the office. “Hey, beloved, what are you doing?” Leighton says.
“Heading back to the office, I had a Lunch meeting,” I told her. “Are you calling about Scarlette?”
“Ugh--She just told me she did that, I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you,” Leighton tells me.
“It’s fine, my morning wasn’t as busy as scheduled,” I say.
“What did she want?” Leighton questions.
“To personally invite me to her wedding and request I help Jace’s stepbrother, Adrian, with finding his pair for her wedding,” I say. “Free of charge, I presume.”
“Ah--I’m sorry, Mora,” Leighton says. “Are you going to do it?”
“I guess I mean it wouldn’t be very hard,” I admit. Leighton was the only person, besides my mother. Who knew the full extent of my abilities? After I paired her with her now Husband Tristan, I explained everything to her and told her the truth about how I matched her with him. He was a simple farmer boy; from a small town I’d never heard of prior to searching him up. They apparently went to the same camp when they were in middle school and shared a kayak. He still remembered her as the blue-eyed girl with golden red hair.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want, and you definitely don’t have to do it to appease Scarlette. I mean, I haven’t talked to her since her master's party last year, and all she wanted to talk about was you and Juniper.”
“Everyone acts as if our relationship was more than work,” I say.
“You went to their wedding,” Leighton deadpanned.
“I was only invited because of their gratitude, not because of any kind of friendship that kindled. All I got out of that was money and an Instagram follow,” I say.
“A few thousand Instagram follows,” Leighton quips again.
“I just made it back to my office; can I call you later?” I question.
“Yes, yes, I was just about to pick up dinner for tonight—Are you free this weekend?” she questions.
“I have a shit ton of work to catch up on and apparently a dinner party at my mother’s on Friday,” I say.
“Oh fun—Well, talk to you later and keep me in the loop with this Adrian thing,” she tells me.
“Sure thing, love you,” I say.
“Love you too,”
