"Not all of us can be admired from afar by genius hackers disguised as waiters, Sandra." I gave my friend a teasing smile, referring to her husband, Alex. They'd been married just under a year and a half and were the image of marital bliss.
"Can we go back to your date? You didn't realize until you left that by asking if kidnapping and sexual torture sounded like fun to you, the guy was referring to your book and not trying to make a lewd proposition?" Kat asked. She was sitting on the floor and gazing at me, her elbow on the coffee table, her chin in her palm.
"Exactly." I nodded once, remembering the odd encounter and feeling both embarrassed and indignant. "However, in my defense, I'd been very distracted by his bizarre behavior by that point. Like I said, he didn't look at all like his picture-"
"I hate it when that happens," Kat lamented flatly, lifting her martini glass toward me.
"Thank you." I mirrored her gesture, lifting my glass as well. "Why do they do that? What's so difficult about accurately representing oneself on dating websites?"
"I know I missed out on online dating," Elizabeth twisted the end of her braid thoughtfully, "but it seems like this is par for the course, right? The picture not matching the person?"
"Yes, well, sometimes. Except in this guy's case it didn't make sense."
"How so?" Fiona asked, her gaze moving between her knitting and me. She was working on a baby hat with yarn so soft it felt magical.
"For one thing, he was heavier in his picture online, softer in the middle. Less fit."
"That's your type, right?" Sandra licked the edge of her glass, peering at me. "You like the cuddly kind."
"Exactly. But this guy, in real life, clearly worked out several times a week. At the gym. With weights." I made a face of distaste. "Who misrepresents that? Usually it's the other way around."
"You said his eyes were the wrong color too, right?" Ashley had righted herself from her couch and was also sipping from a martini glass. As much as possible, she tried to coordinate her beverage choices in Green Valley with ours in Chicago.
"Correct. His profile had listed gray, but his were brown. Not that I minded at all," I rushed to add, "because he had gorgeous eyes. I don't know why he'd list the wrong color."
"But no beard," Ashley added. Her Tennessee twang and wrinkled nose made the observation sound like an accusation. "What kind of man claims to have a beard, posts pictures of said beard, and shows up beardless?"
"That just ain't right." Sandra nodded her agreement, pointing at the laptop screen and Ashley's image. "You don't cry beard. Where is the trust after that?"
"Gone," Ashley proclaimed with a snap.
The sound of Fiona's front door opening and closing had me glancing over my shoulder. I spotted Greg and Alex strolling into the family room. The tall Brit was dressed in his exercise gear but he didn't look like he'd gone running yet, and Alex, naturally, wore his signature black.
"But why did he do it?" Fiona asked, drawing my attention back to her. "Do you think he was ashamed of how he looked? Or do you think he used someone else's picture?"
Alex crossed to his wife, but instead of sitting next to her, he bent and whispered something into her ear, his fingers fiddling with a strand of her hair, then stroked her neck. She nodded and winked at him as he leaned away. He straightened and left the room, strolling into the kitchen without speaking to anyone else.
Alex Greene, gorgeous and genius hacker, was an unending mystery. He wasn't sullen, though he was distrustful and remarkably socially awkward. At first, his silent, withdrawn ways took some getting used to. As a group, we'd warmed to him as a lurking figure in the background. We'd even embraced it, mostly because he always wore whatever we knit him and seemed genuinely surprised and grateful for every nice thing sent his way. I made him cookies once and he gave me a hug that lasted for what felt like a full minute. He'd even thanked me for them several months later.
Having Alex around made us all feel like we had a little brother to spoil. A tall, dark, handsome brooding little brother. Admittedly, the dynamic was unusual, but I think that's what made it remarkable.
"That's the thing." I shrugged, sitting back in my seat. "The guy was attractive. Very attractive." In an efficient, nerdy but fit way. "He just didn't look anything like his picture. Maybe it was someone else in the picture."