Chapter 2
Audrey pushed the button on the phone at the front desk in the office of the Mill Creek Elementary School and stood.
“I’m going to lunch, Wilma,” she said to her officemate who would answer the phone and let in visitors through the locked front doors while she was gone.
“If they still have any cookies in the lunch line, bring one back for me.”
“I packed today, but I’ll check.”
“You’re a doll.”
Audrey smiled and walked into the small breakroom and took her lunch from the fridge, then left the office to head to the cafeteria where her coworker and friend Lena would be waiting.
After maneuvering through the throng of third graders to ask if there was a spare cookie for Wilma, she took the bagged oatmeal raisin with her to the round table at the back of the cafeteria where Lena waited.
Audrey dropped into the seat with a sigh.
“Ew, who wants oatmeal raisin?” Lena asked, making a face.
“Wilma.”
“Oatmeal raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are why I have trust issues.”
Audrey snorted and opened her lunch. “I don’t like raisins either, but Wilma does apparently. So how was your weekend?”
While she took out the lunch she’d prepared for herself – a wedge salad with a side of grilled steak, and a Twinkie for dessert, along with her favorite orange soda – Lena told her about her weekend.
“Laundry. And I caught up on my shows. How was yours? Oh, you had a date last night, right?”
“Don’t remind me.”
Audrey had given a dating app a try a few months ago and had gone out on numerous dates. Most of those dates had been first-date-only, because the guys had been letches or arrogant or used pictures that weren’t theirs.
The latter had happened to her the night before.
“He looked freaking nothing like the picture!” she said. “He was in his late thirties, and not only is he between jobs, but he’s living with his ex-wife to save money! I can’t make this crap up.”
Lena laughed so hard she dropped her sandwich.
“It’s not that funny.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
Audrey glared at her friend and took a bite of salad and steak. After eating for a bit, she said, “I think I’m going to give up.”
“On what?”
“The dating app. It’s been nothing but a string of losers and momma’s boys.”
“I don’t think you should give up just yet.”
“Why? Because you like hearing my disastrous blind date stories?”
“They are hilarious. But no, I just think it’s okay to be hopeful.”
Lena was divorced and not dating anyone.
“Why don’t you download the app?” Audrey asked.
“I’m okay being single. You’re twenty-four. Live a little. And let me live vicariously through you. Just... one more date.”
Lena scooted her chair over as Audrey pulled out the phone. The dating app was a bright square on her screen, taunting her with the promise of a happily ever after.
She wasn’t even sure that was a real thing.
Her parents were happily married, but they’d known each other a long time before they fell in love. The dating app made it seem like the promise of love at first sight could be a reality.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” Audrey asked.
“Sure. What’s wrong with a little hope?”
Audrey shrugged. She ate a few more bites. “I don’t need someone. I just want someone. And every time I take a chance and swipe right, I feel like the universe is telling me that good guys are only in fiction.”
“Bad dates don’t mean all men suck, it just means you have to wade through the trash to get to the treasure. So, open the app and find someone. Just give it one more try.”
“Fine.”
She opened the app and began scrolling. As she bypassed various men who didn’t appeal to her in one way or another, she was beginning to think that she wasn’t going to find a guy to swipe right on anyway.
And then she stopped.
The man on the screen stood behind a bar, one hand on the polished wood, his dark hair short, his eyes a piercing steel gray. He was broad shouldered and clearly muscular, and while he wasn’t smiling fully, his lips may have been the most kissable ones she’d ever seen.
Darrin.
Wolf shifter. Bartender. Looking for something real.
Her thumb hovered.
“Oh,” Lena said, looking at the screen. “I’ve loved bartenders ever since I saw that one movie. Are you going to swipe?”
Audrey blew out a breath. Then swiped.
To her surprise, they matched.
Hi Audrey. I’m Darrin. I was wondering if you’re free for a date tonight? His message appeared almost immediately in the app.
“That was fast,” Audrey said.
“Yeah, it was. Are you going to answer?”
“Yes. He’s…”
“Hot?”
“I was going to say handsome.”
“You’re twenty-four, not one hundred and four. Hot is hot and Darrin is hot. Go for it.”
Feeling bold, she responded: Hi! Yes, I’d love to. Do you have a place in mind?
Have you heard of The Amber Howl?
Sure, it’s right across the river from where I live. Does six work? I can meet you there.
That’s perfect.
See you then!
Everyone in Mill Creek knew the tavern in the shifter town across the river, even if they’d never been there. And Audrey hadn’t.
She put the phone down and noticed Lena smirking.
“It’s just a date,” Audrey said.
“Your happily ever after has to start somewhere, and it might as well be at The Amber Howl with a sexy bartender.”
Audrey felt something loosen in her chest.
She could admit that this seemed different, but that could just be the hopeful part of herself that wanted to believe she might find love on a dating app.
The rest of the day dragged.
Audrey returned to her desk after lunch, answered the phone, buzzed parents into the front office, and tried hard not to look at the clock every few minutes or worry too much about the date.
At three, the buses pulled away and the office shut down, and she closed up her desk and walked out into the warm afternoon with Lena.
“I think I’ll wear jeans.”
“Not a dress?”
“I don’t know. What if a dress is trying too hard? It’s a tavern. Have you been there?”
“No. But a cute dress and a light jacket would be nice. But if you’re comfortable in jeans, then wear that.”
She stopped at her car. “Well, now I don’t know. Thanks.”
Lena snorted. “Sorry. You’re beautiful and whatever you wear will be fine. Knock ‘em dead. I can’t wait to hear about your date tomorrow.”
“Night.”
She got in the car and pulled out of the lot a few minutes later, heading to a small house she’d been renting for the last three years, since her parents decided to move an hour south and she had to move with them or move out on her own.
She’d chosen to get her own place because she liked Mill Creek and her job.
As she drove home, her mom called and she answered on the car’s speaker system.
“Hi Mom.”
“Hi hon, how was work?”
“Same old. I made a wedge salad for lunch with steak. Like that place we ate at in Indiana.”
“Yum. I made brownies.”
“For lunch?”
“Well, no. But your dad did eat two before he had his sandwich.” Her father had a notorious sweet tooth, and her mom was an expert enabler.
She told her mom about her blind date.
“Well, good luck. He’s a lucky guy to get to spend time with you.”
She grinned. “You’re biased.”
“I’m honest. And maybe a little biased. But still, you’re beautiful and sweet. And I happen to know that’s the truth because you take after me.”
“Thanks Mom,” she said with a chuckle.
“Have fun tonight. Let me know how it goes.”
“I will. Love you and love to Dad too.”
“Love you!”
She parked and walked inside, kicking off her sensible flats and heading right back to the bedroom. Lena’s suggestion – and her mom’s optimism – had made her reconsider her outfit.
Jeans and a shirt had seemed safe. The sort of outfit a gal wore when she wasn’t trying too hard and had no illusions that it would probably be a crappy date like all the others.
But when she’d sat behind the wheel and opened the app to look at Darrin’s picture again, something twisted in her belly and she felt oddly connected to him.
Who was he? What kinds of things did he like?
He hardly had a bio at all; it had been super short. But she liked that he was looking for something real. It reminded her of her own not into playing games line in her bio.
She opened her closet and pushed hangers around, finding a floral dress and a jean jacket that she could pair with strappy sandals.
Crap, she’d have to paint her toenails.
As she hung the clothes back up and headed into the bathroom to find nail polish and get ready, she said, “I think you might be worth it, Darrin.”