Chapter One

Contrary to popular opinion, I am not desperate. Not yet anyway. I would just prefer to have an escort for my best friend's wedding before my friends find me a mercy date. I suppose I just don't understand why anyone cares that I have a date for the wedding. It's not like I have a reputation for being normal. When I show up to any event, it's expected that I'll dance to the beat of my own drum. It's part of my charm.

Besides, a mercy date is so demeaning. I shudder to think about the reading of the vows next to someone I barely know. There's the uncomfortable shifting, the avoiding of glances while the romantic promises are read. Does anyone facing thirty really need that kind of pressure? I think not. A girl of my age should be allowed to show up at a wedding unencumbered, to pluck from the trough of the buffet without fear or recriminations. I am a modern woman. I'll get my endorphins from chocolate, thank you very much.

Why must we always come down to the men? Men are a dime a dozen. (Well, not the good ones, but my point is still valid.) I'm not doting or cutesy or even able to hold my tongue at the point when most women know better. My goal is health: to make as many people healthy as possible. Most people simply aren't concerned about their health, and when I look into a pair of green eyes surrounded by a yellowish tint, how can I not comment on their liver function? I'm a doctor, after all! Granted, I didn't actually take the Hippocratic oath-I'm a chiropractor. However, I did earn the "Doctor" title and so I like to think that brings me in under a