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This morning, the precinct was somehow miraculously slow. Kat had been looking as busy as possible as she watched the morning news cycle on TV, slowly sipping her first coffee of the day. She sat at the table and turned her attention back to her phone. A couple of taps to the screen, and she began swiping left and right, mumbling as she did so. “Tourist, no; another tourist, no; guy with a fish… absolutely not.” She sighed, rolling her eyes as a profile full of group photos appeared. “Which one are you?” she wondered aloud, swiping left yet again.
Amanda appeared by her side, also still in the process of waking up. “Shoot, it’s still morning and you’re already tryin’ to get a date for tonight?” she chuckled, raising an eyebrow.
“I—nah, just killing time until the phone rings,” Kat said, grinning. “Mostly tourists, anyway. Or couples.” She rolled her eyes and took a long drink of her coffee, and Amanda giggled.
“Well,” Amanda said, making her way to the coffee machine, “it’s all luck of the draw by proximity anyway.” She poured herself a cup and yawned, leaning on the counter. “I bet you’ll have a date by lunch.”
Kat suppressed a yawn as she laughed, “Maybe; who knows?” She went back to the seemingly endless search in a sea of questionably-real people before landing on a profile that piqued her attention. A striking brunette appeared on the screen with the slightest hint of a smile on her lips; her eyes were the color of a summer storm cloud. More of the photos revealed her smile in full—most of them hugging some small child—and Kat was dazzled. She scrolled down to read the rest, hoping this wasn’t some elaborately-constructed catfish.
(None of the kids in the pictures are mine!)
I’m a full-time nanny, I’ve lived in New York all my life.
I love to go out dancing or get pizza after work (crazy hours) but I always make it to pilates on time.
Ask me about my favorite bodega cats.
Kat pursed her lips to stop herself from smiling as she swiped right, rolling her eyes at how endeared she was to this girl, and she put her phone down to sip her coffee.
“Any bites yet?” Amanda teased, sitting beside Kat.
“Not yet,” Kat said, shrugging. “One girl seemed, uh… interesting.”
Amanda cracked a grin and laughed. “Interesting? Is that what the kids call it these days?”
Kat couldn’t control the blush that came to her cheeks. “Shut up; you know what I mean. She was cute. And she seemed like a real person, which is also good.”
The door to Olivia’s office swung open, and out bounded a seemingly spring-loaded Noah, who was all too cheery for this early hour. “Hi Aunt Amanda! Hi Miss Kat!”
“Noah, wait up,” Olivia called after him, following her son as he made his way toward the elevators. “We can wait here, okay?”
Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Lucy runnin’ behind today?” she asked. “That’s different.”
“Yeah, something came up,” Olivia said, turning back in a futile attempt to rein in her son as he caught sight of Lucy turning the corner.
“Lucy!” Noah exclaimed, rushing over into her arms. Had he been any bigger, he would’ve toppled her over with the hug.
“Hi, kiddo,” Lucy giggled, giving Noah a squeeze. “Ready to go?” She stood, looking away in embarrassment, “Sorry again, Olivia; it was my—” she glanced over, locking eyes with Kat for a moment. The color of rain clouds. She turned back to Olivia and hurriedly finished her sentence, “My fault. Um, I’ll—get Noah ready.”
Shortly after, Noah and Lucy were well on their way out of the precinct, and Kat felt the buzz of her phone in her pocket. Not a text, just a notification: “It’s a match!” She swiped it open, and the screen changed—“This is the start of your conversation with Lucy.”
A message bubble popped up almost instantly:
Hi, I’m Lucy—coupled with a smiley face.
Kat grinned, typing out a reply.
I’m Kat
You’re even more gorgeous in person—followed with a winky face.
“You’re smilin’,” Amanda said, waggling her eyebrows, “who’re you flirting with? Interesting girl?”
“She just got a lot more interesting,” Kat said, slipping her phone back into her pocket.