60%

“What?” Carla shouted and stared at the figure. Something felt stuck in her throat and she began to cough. “That’s not right. In fact, it’s impossible.” She coughed some more.

Jess thumped her on her back. “What’s wrong?”

Carla jabbed a finger at the screen. “There must be a glitch in the system because we’re eighty-four percent suited, not sixty. We need to get in touch with Data Daze immediately. They designed the data interface and app.” She snatched up her phone and located their number, clicking her tongue when she reached an automated message. “Damn it, there’s no one there.” She noticed on her phone screen that Tom had called her a couple of times, but this was more important.

“It is Sunday,” Jess reasoned, taking a moment to think. “There’s someone I could reach out to...” She paused. “I, um, had a fling with one of the data guys.”

Carla’s jaw hung open. “You did? While Data Daze was working for us?”

“Hey, it happens. He’s called Arnie and he still messages me.”

“That is totally unprofessional,” Carla scolded. She then side-eyed her sister. “Can you reach him today?”

“Possibly. He really likes me. Get some fresh air while I try to contact him.”

“I have to stay here...”

“You can’t control everything in life, and sorting this out can be my apology for taking you to Silverpool. Why don’t you call Gran or something? She’s been quizzing me about your reading. She thinks there’s something you’re keeping from her.”

Carla felt her neck mottling and she shifted her gaze.

“There is, isn’t there?” Jess prompted, her voice rising. “What did Myrtle tell you?”

“Nothing.” Carla ran her tongue over her teeth. “I’ll go for a walk,” she said, grabbing her coat.

Jess picked up the silver pixie and handed it to her. “Take this guy and don’t worry. Give me an hour to sort this out.”

Carla marched around the village center, where couples and families huddled outside coffee shops. She stood in front of a travel agency, gazing at the photos of blue skies and beaches in the window, wishing she could feel the sun on her own skin. Spring hadn’t fully kicked in yet and she was fed up with the unpredictability of the English weather. One week there was a snowstorm, the next there was hazy sunshine, followed by a week of heavy downpour.

After precisely one hour, she headed back upstairs. She took off her coat and placed the silver pixie on the desk. “So?”

Jess picked up the ornament and toyed with it, not meeting her sister’s eyes. “Heyyy.”

And in that one word, Carla knew something was terribly wrong. “What is it? What did Arnie say?”

Jess set the pixie down again with a thud. “Data Daze updated their system a couple of years ago, meaning they changed our interface, too.”

“Changed it?” Carla squinted.

“Yeah, a standard business procedure we didn’t need to know about. Unfortunately, in the process, it appears some of our questions and their corresponding answers got switched around. It’s probably why my percentage match with the client changed so much.”

Carla sat down heavily on the edge of her desk, shoving her in tray to the side. “So, you’re saying that, two years ago, there was a period of time our system was faulty?”

“Yeah.”

“And how long did this go on for?”

Jess’s lips moved without any sound coming out for a while. “Like, a year,” she finally said.

Carla gripped the desk to keep upright. “Twelve months?” she spluttered.

“Technically, yes, but Data Daze sorted it out as soon as they spotted the issue.”

“We matched clients incorrectly for a year.” Carla heard blood whooshing in her ears. “Surely we’d have seen an increase in client complaints during that time...”

Jess fell quiet, redness spreading across her face. “Well, yeah, there was a report that showed a spike.”

“Why the hell didn’t you bring it to my attention?”

“I spoke to the team.” Jess’s voice grew smaller. “We assumed the increase in client dissatisfaction was due to the pandemic. People were meeting online rather than in person, so didn’t feel as connected. I didn’t want to worry you, so we presented you with the positive matches only.”

Carla glared at her sister. “What happened to the report?”

Jess gave an audible swallow. “I buried it.”

Carla laced her fingers across the top of her head and pressed down, wishing she hadn’t just heard that. “You all met without me? This is my business, my algorithms and my reputation, and you hid this data from me? You’re my sister.”

“At work, I’m the customer data manager and I thought it was the right thing to do. Arnie says everything should have functioned normally since the problem was resolved.” Jess gnawed her lip. “And we’re really only half sisters.”

It was a comment she flung at Carla whenever she wanted to wound her, and it always worked. Their fathers’ names on their birth certificates were both blank, something that connected them and that could also divide them.

Floating spots in her eyes made it difficult for Carla to see properly. “Should have functioned normally isn’t good enough,” she said. “We need a full and proper audit.”

“They made a mistake, which has been corrected. Arnie said a full check could take weeks to run. This stuff happened two years ago, and our clients don’t need to know anything about it. We’ve gotten away with it, so don’t act like we’re screwed.”

Carla’s eyes flashed and she clamped her lips together, not wanting to blast words at Jess she might regret. She pressed her palms against her fiery cheeks and tried to think.

Logical Love had potentially paired hundreds of clients over a twelve-month period who weren’t supposed to be together, and she and Tom had also matched during that time. Had their eighty-four percent compatibility score been incorrect, a mistake thrown out by a problem in the system? Was their true score really much lower?

The sixty percent was still a decent enough match but one Carla wouldn’t have considered, especially after Aaron. It meant she and Tom were actually forty percent mismatched. And didn’t his decision to visit a game convention in Denver before their wedding prove that?

She tried to wrench the possibility from her mind.

Carla wiped her face with the cuff of her blouse, scratching her face on a button. She stared at all her cards and flowers, and they made her feel like a fraud. Her clients had relied on her, trusted her with their hopes, dreams and futures, and she worried she’d let them down badly. How many couples had she set on the wrong path with the wrong partner? How many would end up like her and Aaron, torn apart and miserable?

Jess tried to take hold of her arm. “You okay?”

“Oh yes, I’m absolutely marvelous, thanks. Never better.” Carla jerked her body away. Failing hundreds of couples was terrible, and a doubt was also spreading in her mind like algae on the surface of a stagnant pond. It was something Myrtle had warned her about and which Carla had vehemently denied.

Tom was no longer her ideal match.

Was she about to walk down the aisle with the wrong man, all over again?

Seven

Red Dress