Color Me Mine
COLOR ME MINE – February 20, 2026 – Mesa, Arizona, USA
Kaden was new to online dating. When he set up his profile, he worried about what picture to use. He finally chose one that was taken while he was hiking. His beard was trimmed and he liked the way the photo made him look thinner than shots taken while he was sitting. As he studied profiles of potential matches, he stressed about how hundreds of strangers would be scrutinizing him in the same way.
After swiping right on a few girls, Kaden got matched with someone named Lucy. She described herself as outgoing and outdoorsy. She was an early riser who started her day at a gym. Her main photo showed that she had very curly, dark hair.
Kaden sent Lucy a greeting using the dating app’s chat screen. Lucy replied and after a few back-and-forth messages, Kaden proposed they meet.
“Do you have a place in mind?” Lucy asked.
“I’m open to suggestions,” Kaden replied.
After a few minutes, Lucy typed, “I’m not sure if you’re into painting and ceramics, but how about Color Me Mine? I always have fun there. Haven’t been for a while.”
Kaden had been to Color Me Mine once in high school. He was only lukewarm about the experience, but he messaged back, “Sounds good. Maybe we can grab dinner after.”
They decided on a date, time, and location and made plans to arrive separately.
The chosen Color Me Mine studio was in a strip mall between a Chinese restaurant and payday loan business. Lucy arrived a few minutes before Kaden and they recognized each other right away. They stood just inside the doorway exchanging pleasantries about how far they had driven and the last time they had done an art project.
“I’m pretty good with a paintbrush,” Lucy said with a warm smile.
“Ah, so that’s why you wanted to come here. I’ll warn you now, I’m not good at all with a paintbrush. I can barely color between the lines with crayons.”
“Well, I won’t hold it against you,” Lucy added with an even brighter smile. “So don’t feel intimidated.”
They introduced themselves to an employee who asked if they had been there before and then pointed out the painting stations and ceramics they could choose to paint.
“Once you’re done painting, we’ll fire the ceramics and you can come back and pick them up. It’ll probably take three days.”
After Kaden and Lucy chose a painting table, they perused the shelves of ceramics for interesting figures. The collection included everything from bowls and plates to animal figurines.
“Wow, they’ve got a lot to choose from,” Kaden said. “It’s a little overwhelming. Kind of like picking a movie to watch.”
“How about we pick something simple?” Lucy suggested. She grabbed a plain, slender flower vase about twelve inches tall. “What about something like this? We could both do the same thing and then see how different they look when we’re done. It’ll be fun.”
“Alright. I’m good with whatever you think.”
They carried their vases to their table and then chose paints and brushes. Kaden’s simple plan was to paint different colored horizontal stripes on his vase. He lightly marked the stripes with a pencil and then tried to keep paint for each stripe from bleeding across the lines.
Lucy had something more complicated in mind. She traced an orange snake that wrapped around the vase above a background of green leaves and vines.
“I can’t believe you’re doing that freehand,” Kaden said with appreciation.
“It’s gonna be really cool, if I do say so myself,” Lucy replied with happy confidence.
Despite concentrating on their hands, they held a steady and lively conversation. They both liked hiking and camping and had been to many of the same places. Kaden was from southern Arizona. Lucy had moved to Mesa from California. As they worked, each stole glances toward the other and smiled unconsciously.
As they put the finishing touches on their vases, Kaden said, “We’re still going to grab something to eat, right?”
“I sure hope so.”
“I know we didn’t talk about this, but I’m happy to pay for our ceramics.”
“You don’t have to. I can pay for my own.”
“I want to. It’s my treat.”
“Okay. Then let me pay for dinner.”
Kaden shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “If you want.”
When they were finally satisfied with their last brushstrokes, they handed their vases to the employee who oriented them. When Kaden paid their fees, the employee said she would message him in three days, when the fired vases were ready for pickup.
For dinner, they walked to a taco place in the same strip mall. The longer they were together, the more freely Kaden talked about his family and job at a mortgage company.
“Shamrock Mortgages. It’s actually named after a dairy. Our slogan is ‘Your good luck lender,’ which I think is pretty cringy.”
Lucy stayed interested in her tacos and in Kaden. When they said goodbye, they both agreed they should get together again.
“Definitely,” Kaden said. “And we can admire the vases when they’re finished.”
“I can’t wait. Promise you’ll let me know as soon as you get the Color Me Mine message.”
“I promise. And be thinking of what we can do next.”
They both drove away feeling light hearted. They told themselves to tamp down their happy expectations in case things did not work out, but at the same time, they sang along joyously to the music playing in their cars.
For the next three days, Lucy checked the dating app in case Kaden tried contacting her. “He won’t say anything until he hears about the vases,” Lucy told herself when she saw no messages. She checked more frequently on the third day and when she still saw nothing, she concluded that something must have gone wrong with the ceramic firing. “He’ll be in touch,” she assured herself. She stayed hopeful on day four and then day five. Still nothing.
A week passed with no communication. Lucy dug deeper into the dating app and discovered that she and Kaden were no longer matched up.
“How did that happen?” Lucy cried. “What’s wrong with this guy?” The positive memories from their date disappeared as Lucy said out loud, “Typical man. Attention span of a goldfish. Promises to call and then immediately forgets.”
Lucy spent the next few hours cursing Kaden and then questioned what might be wrong with her. “How could I have totally misread him? He seemed interested. I thought we had fun.”
After her brush with self-doubt, Lucy moved on to thinking about her vase. She remembered it as something close to museum quality. So what if she did not make a love connection? At least she should get her ceramic masterpiece out of the date. She drove to Color Me Mine and spoke to someone behind a reception desk.
“I’m here to pick up a vase.”
“Okay. What name is it under?”
“The first name is Kaden. I’m not sure of his last name. We met on a dating app before we came here, so I don’t know a lot about him. But I can tell you when we painted our vases.”
With a little investigative work, the receptionist tracked down the vases and said, “It looks like someone picked them up.”
“Both vases?” Lucy asked angrily.
“Yeah, both of them.”
“So now he’s got my beautiful vase on display. He pretty much stole it from me. Can you give me his phone number so I can call and get it back?”
“I’m sorry. I can’t give out customer information.”
Lucy stewed and said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll track him down some other way. He’s not getting away with this.”
Without a phone number or last name, Lucy was not sure where to start her search. Then she remembered Kaden talking about his mortgage work. She could not remember the company name but she did remember the slogan – “Your good luck lender.” An internet search quickly brought up an address for Shamrock Mortgages in Mesa. “That’s got to be it,” Lucy said to herself with satisfaction.
She showed up at the office in the middle of a work day wearing a dress she was sure flattered her figure. A girl sat behind a desk in the front lobby. “I’m looking for Kaden,” Lucy said as an introduction.
“Kaden Monfrey?”
“How many Kadens work here?”
“Just one.”
“Then that must be him. Can I see him?”
“Yeah. I’ll show you where he sits.”
They walked into what looked like a typical office space and found Kaden inside a cubicle with his back toward them. On the desk space next to his computer sat the two ceramic vases. The one with horizontal stripes looked like it was produced in an elementary school. The one with the orange snake was strikingly elegant.
“Hey, that’s my vase!” Lucy shouted.
Kaden spun around. His face morphed from shock to excitement. “How did you find me?”
“You were supposed to call. You took my vase!”
Kaden stumbled over words as he tried to explain. “It was an accident. We got unmatched somehow on the app. I must have done something wrong. I wanted to message you but I didn’t have any information. I swiped through a million profiles trying to find you again, but you never came up.” Kaden held up his phone as if it was proof of his search.
“Why do you have the vases at work?”
“I’ve been taking them back and forth between here and my apartment. I hoped you’d be smart enough to track me down at one spot or the other and then I could give it to you. I’m really glad you found me.”
Lucy looked at both vases. Then she stared into Kaden’s eyes for any hint he was lying. She only saw sincerity. “I remembered the slogan,” she said. “The one you don’t like.”
“Your good luck lender?”
“Yeah. That’s how I found you. I came to get my vase and break your nose.” Lucy smiled to show she had dropped the second part of her plan.
Kaden grabbed the snake vase and handed it to her. “You were right. It turned out amazing.”
Lucy turned it over in her hands. “I wasn’t sure about the leaves, but I like the contrast with the shades of green.”
“How about telling me your last name and your number? I don’t want to lose you again. That is if, you know, you’re interested in me not losing you.”
Lucy smiled slyly and slowly said, “Lucy Callahan.” She picked up two of his business cards displayed on his desk. She wrote her number on one of them and handed it back.
Kaden held the card like it was a life-saving prescription. “I’ve seen you paint. How good are you at golf or bowling?”
“Just as good.” Lucy gestured toward the striped vase. “And please tell me you’re better with a ball than a brush.”
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