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Koa and I were homebodies, with the exception of working. We had hobbies and interests and none of them had anything to do with the resort or tourists. We worked to live, not the other way around.
“Mom called. She said you didn’t answer her text,” I said as we got into my truck. We each had our own trucks but carpooling made sense.
Koa grunted and took his phone out of his pocket. “It was an hour ago. I swear if I don’t text her back within thirty minutes, she thinks we died or something.”
I chuckled while meandering through the constant parking-lot traffic. They tried to make it easier on the staff by specifying a parking area just for us that connected to the main road, but it wasn’t long before the guests took over. “She wants to know if we want to come over Sunday for dinner.”
Koa grunted. “We go every Sunday, don’t we?” While I drove, he sent her a text.
There was no question when Koa’s parents were killed that we would take him in. The day of his parents’ funeral, Mom had already put another bed in my room and added a dresser. Koa and I had been best friends for years, so him being over all the time was nothing new.
Koa had a hard time with the loss of his parents. I thought that was a big reason why he wanted a family so badly.
We had built our home on the side of the mountain and had the long road put in. Koa was the cook. Koa had learned under my mom’s gaze, while I had taken the wood-sculpting hobby from my father.
We parted ways to shower and quickly fell into our regular schedule, except this time instead of going to my shop to work on my latest creation, I sat at the table, forcing Koa to keep his word.
“First question?” I asked.
Koa’s shoulders drooped, and he shook his head. “Fine. Shoot.”
While I fired the questions at him, he stirred and fussed over the risotto and then shredded the beef.
“Human or shifter?” I asked. We hadn’t gotten to the difficult part, and already he was growly.
“Doesn’t matter as long as she’s our mate.”
Before dinner was served, I stoked the fire and set the table. “Let’s get this done.” The next questions made him roll his eyes at several points.
Sexual preferences. Kinks. Koa was no prude, but he was a virgin. I had been a wild child in college, but he’d kept himself for his mate.
Before the meal was finished, we had his profile complete and connected to mine.
“What now?” Koa asked, picking up the large empty bowls.
“We wait for someone to be matched to us.”
He chuckled. “Well, waiting happens to be something I’m a fucking professional at.”
Chapter Four
Druscilla
Anais thought I might find a Bigfoot on that app, but I didn’t think so at all. How ridiculous would it be if after all my searching all I had to do was fill out a dating questionnaire and just wait for them to chat me up. Still, how foolish could it be if I didn’t give it a try?
I had that argument with myself all the way home from school but came to no conclusion that by the time I parked outside my building. Since I chose not to work summers, spending them on my searches, I lived in a studio apartment in a less-than awesome section of town. It afforded me freedom not to spend every dime I made on living expenses. I’d been to so many parks and wild areas, following leads and hoping that this year would be the one where I’d find something to confirm my memories.
I ate leftover spicy ramen and tried to think about something else. But Mail-Order Matings kept ringing in my mind. Maybe I would not be able to find a Bigfoot ever, but that might be for the best. Maybe it was time that I turned in my final draft and looked around for some other creature to study. Because it was never going to be a great idea to spend my life obsessed with something that happened when I was such a little girl.
One of the reasons I managed to travel in summer was that I not only worked on my degree and taught graduate classes, but I also spent my evenings and weekends checking out customers and watching for shoplifters at a local gas station convenience store. I’d sworn that would end once I had Dr. in front of my name, but for now, it was off to the races. People couldn’t buy their energy drinks and overheated burritos without me there.
Three hours later, I was standing behind the counter waiting for someone to come in. Earlier, my shift had been busy, but after hours of putting hot dogs in buns and handing out receipts for the customers on pump 1 that still had a broken printer, I was all by my lonesome. Sure, I could be stocking shelves or sweeping or wiping down the bathroom, and usually I would have been doing that, but sometimes I got tired of doing work that had been neglected the entire day when there were three people working here.
And since I was, for once, doing nothing, my mind kicked into high gear, and I began to think about Anais’s suggestion. The app. If I were to do it, what would I even say? Would I be able to just click send me a Bigfoot or Bigfoot-adjacent creature?
It was a mating app, and even though Anais hadn’t intended to end up with the subject of her match, you couldn’t pry her out of there now with a…a pry bar. She truly had found her perfect mates. They adored her, and she them, and every time I spoke with her, my heart ached a little. With happiness for my friend, of course, but also the feeling that I’d never be as lucky. Skipping a few grades had me always younger than the others in my class, and somehow out of the rhythm of socializing that always seemed to come so easy for so many.
Anais was the first really good friend I’d made in school, so of course I was thrilled for her. But it just emphasized the fact that I was still alone. I picked up my phone and clicked on the link Anais had so helpfully texted me. I downloaded the app.
