FANCINESS LEVEL:

Pajamas

Activewear

Everyday casual

Business casual

James Bond movie

PREFERRED GREETING:

Contactless

Victorian greeting (small curtsey and a slight nod)

Handshake

Hug

Air kiss on both cheeks

High five

PREFERRED MODE OF TRANSPORTATION:

Please have Justin pick me up at the following address:

I would like to transport myself (destination to be provided no later than two hours before the start of the date)

I was cracking up. “He sent me a pre-date questionnaire.”

“What? Let me see that,” Maddy said. She took my phone. Then her eyes raised to mine. “I like this.”

“So do I.”

She handed me back my phone and I bit my lip. I really, really hoped he smelled good.

I started filling out the form. I picked Lunch, Wildcard (Justin’s choice) for the activity, Justin’s pick for the food since I figured he’d know the best places to eat and I wasn’t picky. I almost went with James Bond for the fanciness level, just to see what he’d do, but I went with Everyday casual instead since I didn’t have anything James Bond level to wear. I picked Hug for the preferred greeting, and I opted for him to pick me up so Maddy would have the car.

I hit enter and sent it through.

The next morning I woke up to an Evite invitation.

It was floral and it was titled “Casual Date With Justin”:

  JULY 28TH, 11:00 A.M.  

PLEASE JOIN JUSTIN AT THE ADDRESS YOU PROVIDED AT 11:00 A.M. SHARP FOR A SURPRISE ACTIVITY, LUNCH AND CONVERSATION. PLEASE WEAR LONG PANTS.

I laughed and scrambled out of bed and let myself into Maddy’s room. “Look at this,” I said, climbing onto her comforter while she yawned and took my phone.

She looked at the invite. “I gotta give it to him, he’s putting in the work.” She handed my cell back and stretched. “Too bad he’s just your future ex-boyfriend.”

I bit my lip and beamed at the invite.

“Hey,” she said. “Try and find a way to reject him on this date.”

I looked up. “Huh?”

“Tell him no. See how he reacts. Or beat him at a game. If he takes you bowling or to miniature golf or something, destroy him. You can tell a lot about a guy by how they deal with rejection and getting their asses handed to them.”

I laughed a little. “Okay…”

She threw the blanket off. “I’ll start breakfast. You should get ready.”

“Right.” I hopped up and hurried to my room to pick out something to wear. I settled on olive leggings and a slouchy white T-shirt and gold sandals, gold dangly earrings and a matching bracelet. Then I went to take a shower.

The water smelled weird. Like rust. Maybe the house was on a well? When I got out and brushed my hair, it felt like I hadn’t conditioned it.

I opened the bathroom door and leaned out. “Is the water weird to you?” I called. “My hair feels all gross.”

“I think it’s hard water,” she called back from the kitchen. “We’re in the iron range.”

I made an unhappy noise and wrestled the brush through my stiff knots. We started work tomorrow and I was going to shower at the hospital locker rooms whenever I could. This was awful.

I finally got through it and plugged in my hair dryer, and when I turned it on, the whole house turned off.

“Uh… what just happened?” Maddy called from the kitchen.

I tipped my head back. “I think we blew a fuse.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing, I just turned on the hair dryer.”

We spent ten minutes looking for the breaker panel until we finally gave up and called Maria.

“Oh, it’s very sensitive,” she said. “You can’t use the toaster and hairdryer at the same time. When I vacuum, I have to unplug everything.”

She told us where to find the panel. We reset the breaker and started a twenty-minute trial and error of what we could and could not use while I dried my hair. The answer was nothing. We couldn’t even use the coffee maker with the hair dryer on without tripping the breaker.

We prioritized power for the coffee maker first and we brewed a pot while I sat in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around my head. When it was done, Maddy poured me a cup and handed it to me.

“The house is old,” I said. “What are you gonna do?”

She leaned against the counter with her mug in her hand. “I bet it’s hard to even get a repair guy out here. You gotta go pick him up.”