The night in the woods, my damaged reputation, lingered between us. I knew it made it harder for Mom to find me a match. There were no other quokkas in town, so another prey shifter would have to do, and pickings were slim for me. It was fifty-fifty which shifter any babies would take after, but we wouldn’t learn that until they presented around three years old.
My mom was complicated. She loved me fiercely. I knew that. She just went about things the wrong way. Still, it was good of her to apologize.
“It’s okay, Mom. Just… give me room to pick this for myself. I’ll try to get to know him, I swear it. He… he might not be who I’d choose to date for myself, but I will give him a fair shot.”
“That’s all that I ask. Thank you, Sully. Let’s go have a nice dinner, okay? Maybe tomorrow we could spend some time together? I’ve missed our lunchesout.”
Things had been tense between us since I’d come home from college. I’d changed and Mom needed time to adjust to the newer, braver me. The gossip about me wasn’t going to get me down like it had just after high school.
I smiled, a genuine grin crossed my face. “Yeah, we should have lunch. Rosie’s?”
“Where else?”
“You two ready?” Dad asked, opening the door and taking Mom’s hand.
“Yeah.”
My first impressions of Orson were that he was boring. Frightfully dull with no ambition to brighten his life. Maybe it was unfair of me after my promise to my mom to write him off so quickly, but his hand was clammy when I shook it! He barely maintained eye contact! At least he didn’t bring up my past, aside from asking about college.
We all ordered after making small talk about my degree and his recent business ventures. I immediately forgot his parents’ names. For their part, my parents did keep his occupied in conversation while we sat next to each other awkwardly.
“Why don’t we let the young ones move to another table and let them talk withoutus interrupting them?” Mom suggested with a polite smile. She caught my eye and gave a subtle wink.
Okay, it was possible Orson wasn’t speaking because his family took up all the words and air in the room. His dad was rather oppressive. I was glad we were wearing inhibitors because his pheromones would have been overwhelming.
A server was able to get us a table where we were seated opposite each other, like a proper date.
“Sorry about all this. I would have liked to meet you alone for our first date,” Orson’s words were softly spoken and earnest.
“I get it. Parents can be overbearing, can’t they?”
“Yes. Mine are determined to get me mated off before they hand control of the company over to me.”
Ah, like I’d started to suspect, he had little input to the whole thing.
“Mine want me out of the house!”
We both laughed, the ice broken. I took a sip of my iced water. Across the restaurant, I could see my mom smiling atus.
Orson leaned in as if telling me a secret. “I like your makeup. You look pretty.”
“Uh, thank you.” I could feel my cheeks heating. “My mom was upset I got all freckled in the sun, so I thought I’d cover them.”
“I bet your freckles are cute.” Yep, I was blushing. A grin stretched across his handsome face in response.
All I could do was smile at him even as I was flustered by the compliments. He was sweeter than I’d expected. Softer somehow. Where was the business guy I thought I was meeting? If he could be this charming, how had he not been snatched up already?
We lapsed into silence when our food came, occasionally offering up a comment about the food and the surroundings, eventually moving onto our friends and things we liked. Conversation was easier with just the two of us.
When we got to the dessert, a tasty cheesecake, Orson received a call. During the course of the meal he had checked it several times, occasionally replying to texts. It gave me the impression of someone overworked or maybe married to his job. He looked at the screen with a frown. He made hisapologies then answered.
“Hello?” A pause. “Now is not a good time.” Sounds came from the other end which he tried to muffle, seeing I was listening in. “You know I’m on a date tonight.” The other person spoke for a moment while a flush climbed Orson’s cheeks. He turned away a little, making it harder to see the expression on his face or listen in to the conversation. He whispered something into the phone I didn’t catch.
Louder he said, “I can’t. It would be rude to Sullivan.” When he turned back to me, there was an imploring look on his face. For a second, I wasn’t sure what to do. He clearly didn’t want to be with me, someone else had his attention.
For the briefest of moments, I felt a prickle of anger. I hadn’t wanted this date in the first place, now he was trying to ditch me! Then I realized it was for the best. I could escape this failed date much faster if I gave him what he wanted.
“Go,” I mouthed. “I’ll walk out with you. Make it look like we’re leaving together.” It was the best way for us to keep our dignity. My parents would assume I was at fault if I returned to their table.
