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Miles texts the next night in our festival planning group chat that he has a draft of the event proposal ready and asks if we could get together to work out some details, but we can’t seem to find a time this week when we’re all free.

Eventually we decide to meet on Friday at seven, after I’m done at the flower shop.

Neither Cara nor Miles is working, so I tell them to meet me at LoveBug.

Cosmic is dead on Thursday, so Jenn asks Cara and me to change the windows again. She thinks the eighties stuff might be bringing bad memories and preventing people from coming in, so we’re going nineties beach bunny.

“I can’t believe how bad Miles’s first setup went,” I say as I slip a Hawaiian shirt on the male mannequin.

“I’m kind of surprised that he’s letting me set him up again, actually.

” The shirt is way too big, but I love the color.

The purple and green are so inviting. “I can’t believe we got kicked out of a festival on our first research trip!

Or that Abbey accidentally threw a fish at him! ”

“The date was dead even before the fish incident,” Cara says. “Her brother was terrible.”

I nod. Thankfully, Abbey hasn’t said a word to me at school since our trip to Little Portugal. And I’m not planning to tell anyone about the festival food fight.

“Abbey’s not the right girl for Miles, anyway,” Cara adds. Cara is wearing jeans and a pink and gray flannel today—uncharacteristically light colors for Cara, but she still looks great.

I pin the back of the Hawaiian shirt, but that makes it drape weird. I shake my head. This shirt isn’t going to work.

“Try that orange and blue one,” Cara suggests. She’s put a purple bodycon dress on the girl mannequin, and it fits like a glove. I’d picked the purple and green shirt to coordinate with the dress.

I grab the other shirt. “Why don’t you think Abbey is right for Miles?” I agree with Cara that Abbey and Miles are a bad match, but hearing another person’s opinion may help me pick better next time.

“She was sweet… but maybe too sweet? I think she was too quiet for Miles. Maybe because her brother is such an ass, she learned to be invisible.” Cara suddenly takes her phone out of her pocket.

She looks at it for only a moment before putting it back.

I can tell that whatever she saw upset her, but she’s trying not to let it show.

I wonder if it’s Hannah. I got a weird vibe from her at the festival.

Hannah didn’t really talk to anyone except Cara.

I have no idea if there is trouble in paradise between Cara and Hannah, but if there is and Cara doesn’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to force it.

“What kind of girl do you think would be better?” I ask. I love matchmaking, but I’m kind of stumped with Miles. I can’t picture who would work for him. “Abbey’s so pretty and seemed harmless.”

Cara shakes her head. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just because you find Abbey pretty doesn’t mean Miles will. What did he say about her?”

“He said he didn’t like that she talked so little. He likes… invigorating conversation.” Actually, what he said was that he liked talking to me , but I’m not sure what he meant by that.

“Makes sense. Miles needs someone who can challenge his brain, not just agree with everyone.”

“So… someone smarter? Someone who he’ll match with on an intellectual level more than a physical level?” Cara nods. I smooth the new Hawaiian shirt I’ve put on the guy mannequin. “But also, someone that looks good with him,” I add. “Because someone who looks like him deserves someone equally… hot.”

Cara laughs. “You seem pretty preoccupied with how attractive Miles is.” She looks at the shirt. “That actually looks pretty good with the purple dress.”

I step back to look at the couple together. They do look good. Not matchy-matchy, but complementary. “Yeah, I like it too.” An idea suddenly comes to me. “Charlene! She’s studying biology at U of T! She’s perfect for Miles!”

“The girl who works at LoveBug?”

I nod. Charlene has been very friendly and chatty every time I’ve been in LoveBug. And she seems so smart—I saw her textbook once, so I asked her what she was studying, and she started going on way over my head about complex genetics.

“Ever notice she always has rodents on her clothes?” Cara asks.

I hadn’t noticed that. “What do you mean?”

“Every time I see Charlene, she’s got mice, or hamsters, or something like that on her shirt.”

“She’s a bio major. She likes animals. Maybe she wants to be a vet.” I clap my hands together, delighted. “Where should we go? It needs to be romantic . But not, like, obviously romantic, because Miles doesn’t buy into that stuff.” What’s romantic but also, like, a normal thing to do?

“A walk on the beach?” Cara suggests.

I shake my head. “It’s still too cold.”

“A fancy meal? Sunsets? Ballroom dancing?”

“That’s it! It’s perfect! ”

“Really? No offense, but Miles totally doesn’t seem like the ballroom dancing type.”

“No, not that— sunsets . We can go to Riverdale Park to watch the sunset.” Riverdale Park is a cute park not far from here that has a big west-facing hill.

At sunset the view of the Toronto skyline from the hill is absolutely gorgeous.

“I’ll set it up. You’ll see. Miles and Charlene won’t be able to resist the beauty of a Toronto sunset. Or each other!”

I go to LoveBug during my break at Cosmic, and thankfully, Charlene is there.

I tell her I want to set her up with Miles from the bookstore, but only if she’s interested.

I heavily imply that Miles is interested in her, which makes her face light up.

Charlene is totally into the idea, which doesn’t surprise me.

Miles is good-looking and smart. He’s a total catch. I text him as I’m leaving LoveBug.

Sana: Change of plans. We’re moving the festival meeting to Riverdale Park tomorrow.

Miles: Why? How are we going to have a meeting in a park?

Sana: Charlene wants to see the sunset. I’ll bring snacks. Do you have a picnic blanket?

Miles: Who’s Charlene? Not another blind date.

Sana: It’s not a blind date, because you know her. It’s a visible date! Charlene from the café. She’s into you.

Miles: The girl with the rat T-shirt?

I make a face. Why has everyone noticed Charlene’s rodent attire except me?

Sana: She’s studying bio at U of T. She’s smart, and a great conversationalist.

Miles: I still don’t know why I agreed to these setups.

Sana: Because you can’t say no to me. I told you that you would acquire a taste for me.

Miles: You weren’t kidding when you said you were determined.

Sana: Come on, Miles. It will be fun. The sunset view at the park is unmatched, and since Charlene works on Love Street, she’ll have ideas for the festival. She’s lovely. And she’s vegan, so she won’t throw fish at you.

Miles: Fine. I know where Riverdale Park is. I’ll meet you there. What time?

Sana: Seven. Don’t forget a picnic blanket.

On Friday after school, I prepare the most perfect date food for the picnic.

I pack fancy cheese cut into cubes, a sliced baguette, hummus, gingerbread cookies, some grapes, and some dried dates.

I know Charlene’s vegan, so she won’t eat the cheese, but there’s plenty of other stuff.

I even have a cute little pint of fresh strawberries, which are without a doubt the most romantic food in existence.

I consider dipping the strawberries in dark chocolate, but I don’t have time.

I dress in high-waisted, wide-legged pink jeans and a white T-shirt, topping it with a fantastic cardigan Mom made me out of variegated yarn in all the colors of the sunset—orange, red, yellow, white, and a touch of purple.

I add a cute yellow bucket hat to finish my “early spring picnic in the park” style.

I look in the mirror. “Perfect,” I say to Zuri. She meows in return.

With my backpack stuffed with food, I rush to grab a streetcar to the park after I leave the flower shop.

Everyone will be meeting there, since Hannah and Cara are having dinner with Hannah’s friends first, and Charlene will be coming straight from her school, where she works in the lab.

Miles isn’t working—and I still have no idea where he lives.

I check my watch once I board the streetcar. I’m going to be a bit late.

When I get to the park, the hill is crowded with people.

This is a popular place to watch the sunset in the city, and now that the weather is milder, I guess a lot of people have the same idea as me.

I scan the crowd and see Miles and Charlene sitting on a blue tarp on the grass.

Perfect. I briefly consider waiting before joining them to give them more time alone, but this bag is heavy.

And honestly? We do have work to do on the festival plan tonight. I head toward them.

“There you are! Hope I’m not interrupting anything!

” I plop down on the tarp next to Miles.

Charlene is on the other side of him. “Oh my goodness, Charlene, you look amazing! I love that sweatshirt! Isn’t purple totally her color, Miles?

It makes her skin glow!” Charlene’s sweatshirt is a pale lavender with an illustration of…

yep, rodents on it. Gerbils, I think. I admit, it’s an odd quirk.

But the fact that the girl likes small animals is hardly a red flag.

And she looks so good next to Miles. He’s in a blue checked cotton shirt with jeans, and I can see his messenger bag at his feet.

He looks like he dressed up for this. Good.

Charlene did too. She has a lace collar coming out the neck of her gerbil sweatshirt.

There’s a cream backpack in front of her, and I decide not to look too closely to see if there are rodents on it.

Charlene beams at the compliment. “This is my favorite sweater! I love yours, too. Did you get it at Cosmic?”