Page 3 of Darrin: The Wolves

He waited for a response and was rewarded a few minutes later.

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!

He put the phone down on the bar.

“You okay?” Trick asked.

“Yeah. I just made a date for tonight. Here.”

“No shit? Cool. Do you want me to cover the bar or do you want to bring in Caleb?”

“Caleb doesn’t like working on Mondays, so would you mind covering it?”

“Yeah, no problem. That’s too awesome. Maybe she’s your truemate?”

“Truemate?” Sigh asked as he walked into the main room with Juliette. “Did you make a date?”

“I did,” he said.

“I told you,” Juliette said. “The burgers are magic.”

Well, Dare wasn’t sure about that, but one thing he was certain of was that this was his last chance. At least when it came to dating apps.

If things went south with Audrey, he was deleting the app and hoping fate dropped his mate into his lap.

He was done with blind dates and swiping right.

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?”