I spotted Brad and Benny at the back of the restaurant and made my way over.

“Finally,” Brad said as I slid into the maroon booth. “You know some of us have limited lunch breaks, dick.”

“Sorry, I had to give Brad his dewormer. I brought some for you too.

Faith said you’ve been dragging your ass on the carpet?”

Benny snorted and Brad tried to keep his face serious, but he couldn’t.

My best friend was in a Hawaiian shirt and pink cargo shorts. He was a general manager at Trader Joe’s. I missed not having to go to the grocery store now that he had moved out. Actually, I missed a lot of things now that Brad had moved out. Like having another human to talk to, even if it was this one.

I plucked a mozzarella stick off the appetizer platter they’d ordered and dipped it in marinara. “What’s good here?”

“The wings,” Brad said.

“How did I know you were going to say that?”

Brad got wings at every restaurant we went to, without fail. He’d get wings at a sushi place if they had them.

Benny nodded at the menu. “The burgers are good. They make their own buns.”

“Oh cool,” I said, taking off my jacket. “How’s Jane?” “Good. She says hi.”

Brad put an arm over the back of the booth. “Yeah, Faith says hi too.

And to rename your fucking dog.”

“Nope.” I made a popping noise on the P while I grabbed the menu. “It’s

viral. I can’t back down now, where would my principles be?” “That Reddit thing’s still going?” Benny asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I said, talking while I looked at the menu. “I think it hit TikTok the other day, so it started up again. It’s been nonstop all week.”

“What are people saying?” Benny asked.

I laughed a little. “Mostly that I’m not the asshole.” I looked directly at Brad, and he smirked.

“A few people told me I should have sued you for breach of contract.” I laughed at this. Never. “A bunch of comments said we’re both assholes.”

“This is true,” Brad said, looking at his phone. “We are assholes. But only to each other. It’s the foundation of our friendship.”

“I had a bunch of girls ask if I’d date them and break up with them so they can find their soulmate,” I said, amused, perusing the burger options.

“Are you gonna do it?” Brad asked. “Offer your services?” I scoffed. “No.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“They only want to date me to break up with me. I have like two hundred messages right now and they’re all the same.”

“What if there’s someone cool in there?” Benny chimed in.

I gave him a look. “Someone cool who wants to break up with me? Before we’ve even met? I’m a novelty. A fun story to tell their friends. They got to date the good luck charm guy from Reddit. No thank you. Besides, my streak’s not even a real thing.”

“As someone on the benefiting end of it, I’m gonna tell you, it’s real,” Brad said.

“It’s a series of coincidences,” I said. “There is nothing magical about any of it.”

Brad shook his head. “Look, you can believe whatever the heck you want. But when I met Faith, and I mean the second I laid eyes on her, it was like I got hit by a truck. It was the same way for her. You’re ferrying women to their happily ever afters. You could charge for this shit.”

“Oh, now you tell me,” I said, slapping the menu shut. “I could have used the extra twelve hundred bucks last month.”

He flipped me off.

I grabbed another mozzarella stick. “You know, I actually did sort of

meet somebody from it.”

Benny looked interested. “You did? Who?”

“Just some girl. A nurse. She messaged me a few days ago. Said she’s got the same thing I do.”

“The good luck charm thing?” Benny asked. I nodded. “Yeah.”

She was beautiful. In her picture she was wearing light blue scrubs and her long brown hair was in a braid. She had hazel eyes, a broad grin. She didn’t look like a nurse. She looked like a movie star playing a nurse. She seemed pretty cool too.

“So you gonna hook up with her or what?” Brad said. “I don’t think she lives here. She’s a travel nurse.” “Damn. That sucks. Where’s she at?” Brad said.

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“You should ask,” Benny said. “What if she’s in Vegas or something?

We could all go. It’d be fun.”

Brad nodded at me. “You know, if she’s got the same thing you do, if you guys date each other, you’ll both find your soulmates when you break up.”

I laughed a little, dipping my mozzarella stick in ranch.

“No, I’m serious,” he said. “Think about it. You guys would cancel each other out.”

“I don’t know about that. She was pretty nice though.” “Did you text her today?” Brad asked.

“No. Why?”

“I don’t know. Just getting tired of your ass being single all the time.

You’re messing up the ratio.”

“Bold of you to assume I care about the ratio,” I said, taking a bite. Only lately I sort of did care.

Benny and Brad were both in serious relationships now. I didn’t like fifth wheeling it when their girlfriends were around—and they usually were.

They were starting to do the couples thing for all the trips and birthdays. They were all going up to Lutsen in October to go hiking. They asked me if I wanted to go, but I didn’t. Not alone.

I puffed my cheeks and blew a breath. “I’m just getting burnt out on

dating, I think.”

“I hated dating,” Benny said.

Brad leaned back in the booth. “You lucked out. Met Jane through your sister. And you know she’s ride or die too ’cause she was with you before you even had kidneys.”

Benny laughed. He’d had a kidney transplant two years ago, donated by Jane’s brother Jacob.

Brad took a swallow of his drink. “Ask that nurse out. Go wherever she is. Pitch the idea to her, she might be into it.”

I eyed him. “Pitch the idea?”

“Yeah,” Brad said. “She dates you, you guys break up, and she rides happily into the sunset too. It’s a win-win. Seriously. This is your chance. If you don’t do something you’re gonna spend the rest of your life sending women on to their forever families and never getting one for you.”

“Ha.” I finished my mozzarella stick. “You know, it’s not a science. Not

every woman I date goes on to get married.”

“No, it only happens with anyone you like enough to ask out more than twice. Look,” he said, leaning onto the table. “You know I’m not a superstitious person. I don’t believe in magic or hexes or curses, but this thing that’s going on with you? It is real and it’s been happening for three years and it’s going to keep happening if you don’t do something. Maybe this is the something.”

I shook my head. “Why do I care if the women who didn’t work out for me go on to be happy? I don’t see why I need to put a stop to it.”

“Because every girl you’re serious enough about to date more than a few weeks is cosmically destined for someone else?”

I paused and stared at him.

Brad looked me in the eye. “You will never find someone as long as all the women you date aren’t actually meant for you. You’re not their soulmate. Their soulmate is the person they meet after you. It’s decided the minute it starts. They are literally fated not to be The One. Think about it.”

But I didn’t have to think about it. Because the second he said it, I knew it was true.

He was right. Ever since I noticed the streak, there was always something… missing. Nobody ever felt right. Not enough chemistry or I just lost interest after a few dates. I didn’t think much of it. Just figured it

wasn’t a fit. But now that he mentioned it…

“Message her,” Brad said, going on. “Try it. What can it hurt?” Benny was nodding.

I had actually thought about her. I’d checked once or twice to see if she’d messaged me again. She hadn’t. The last message was me telling her it was nice chatting with her, three days ago. Trying to keep talking to her was a dead end if she lived somewhere else. But I don’t know. Maybe Brad had a point. What could it hurt to try? Worst-case scenario, I’d spend some time and money and have no connection with her. What was new? I was already doing that with every date that didn’t pan out anyway.

Screw it. I opened my phone and started typing a message to Emma16_dilemma.