Page 6 of Darrin: The Wolves

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 ownnot into playing gamesline 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.”

Dare wasn’t nervous by nature. He’d been on dozens of dates through the app and had never felt the nerves that he was tonight. Maybe it was because he felt like a lot was riding on how things went. He’d said he would delete the app, and that meant he was giving up on finding his truemate until she fell into his lap through some twist of fate.

Maybe he wasn’t going to get a truemate. Maybe all the bad dates were just the universe’s way of telling him his heart and bed were always going to be empty.

Shit, he was depressing himself.