Today's Reading
People made plans and decisions each day of their lives—where to go on holiday, what college course to take, even whether to have ketchup or mustard on a hot dog. However, love was something often left to chance. Was it really likely you'd meet your ideal match while reaching for a can of soup in the supermarket or when ordering a glass of Merlot in a busy bar?
Someone who made you sing like a Disney princess while hanging out your washing was all very well, but you could spend weeks, months and even years getting to know someone, only to discover they were still hung up on an ex, believed in UFOs or were related to a serial killer.
When Carla had married her first husband, Aaron, love (or was it lust?) had skewed her sensibilities, making her jump into marriage feetfirst. And then look what had happened. Her subsequent, devastating divorce appeared to validate her family curse even more. From then on, Carla had made it her mission in life to help prevent others from going through a similar energy-sapping, emotion-wrenching, soul-sucking, crushing experience.
And that was why she'd set up her matchmaking agency, Logical Love.
Her business ethos was framed and displayed on her office wall.
Logical Love
Meet your match, scientifically
We're a different kind of matchmaking agency, helping you to find your perfect partner in a logical way. We don't believe in swiping a screen to dismiss someone within seconds. Instead, we employ a much more in-depth approach. You're likely to be pragmatic, maybe even a little jaded, and your head probably rules your heart.
Don't worry, we're exactly the same!
Through our comprehensive range of questions and unique algorithms, we help to take away the uncertainty of finding your soulmate, making it more practical to meet your right match. Love can become a decision rather than a chemical reaction.
Join us—you're in safe hands.
Carla was living proof that her business model worked. She and her fiancé, Tom, had met through the agency, scoring an overall suitability factor of eighty-four percent. It was one of the highest figures ever recorded at Logical Love and she was delighted (and somewhat relieved) that her search for Mr. Right was over. In one month's time, she'd become Mrs. Carla Taylor, finally putting an end to her family's jinx/spell/hex (or whatever it was her gran, sister and aunties believed in) forever.
She smiled as she sat down in her office chair, perusing a list of that week's love matches, when her sister barged into her office.
"You've got mail," Jess sang, tossing two pink envelopes in front of her.
Carla liked her desk to be neat at all times, and she never opened her post until after she'd dealt with her emails. "You should learn to knock," she said, promptly moving the two envelopes to her in tray.
Jess shrugged. "It's not like you're in a meeting or anything."
"We're at work. We should try to keep things professional."
Jess performed an eye roll. "Come on, we're sisters. Lighten up."
Since she'd founded the agency ten years ago, Logical Love had flourished and Carla now employed a team of sixteen people, including Jess as her customer data manager, and her gran, Lucinda, in a part-time accounts position. She treated them exactly the same as her other employees, and their hard work and support meant she couldn't be accused of nepotism.
Jess nudged the in tray with her backside as she sat down on the corner of Carla's desk. She picked up the two envelopes again and waved them in the air. "They look like invitations, if you ask me."
Carla pursed her lips, really wanting to check her clients' matches. They made her feel like a mother hen proudly surveying her chicks, but to satisfy her sister's curiosity she opened one of the envelopes.
A thank-you card said Love is the greatest science in the universe and had chemical symbols on the front. A photo inside showed a man and woman in their late thirties, both wearing space helmets at Cape Canaveral. They'd met through the agency and had attended a rocket launch while on their honeymoon.
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