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I actually preferred to eat alone, or at least I had until I met my mate, but I was keeping that to myself.
She seemed to be fighting with herself, so I waited patiently, my eyes never leaving her face.
“Okay, one drink,” she finally said. “Half an hour, max. I promised Sage I’d stop in and check on Cami at the Rosewater Emporium.”
Cami had been working at the magical bookshop her family owned since she was old enough to work the cash register. I had no doubt the request was more about Sage trying to get Nora into town where she might run into me than it was about any concern she had for her daughter.
If there was one thing the people of Greysden had in common it was their love of matchmaking, especially when fated mates were involved.
“Great, let’s go.”
I positioned my hand at the small of her back but didn’t touch her. I just hovered it a few inches away from her hoodie. It made me feel close to her and also sent a message to any other shifters we passed that Nora was taken.
“Have you been here before?” I asked as we slid into opposite sides of one of the wooden booths.
“No.”
“My cousin Ben owns this place,” I said. “Along with his mate, Marie.”
“Ben is a bear then I take it?”
“Yes.”
“And Marie?”
“I’m a wolf.”
Marie appeared at the table as if we’d manifested her. She stuck out her hand for a shake.
“We didn’t get a chance to meet the other day at the Harvest Festival. I’m Marie. It’s nice to meet you Nora.”
My mate shook her hand. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to living in a small town,” she said ruefully. “Back in Indy I had the same neighbors for years and had no idea what their names were.”
“What can I get you guys?” Marie asked, pulling out her pad.
I nodded at Nora who said, “I’ll have a Diet Coke please, and a glass of water.”
When Marie turned towards me I said, “I’ll have the shepherd’s pie please, with a corned beef sandwich, a bowl of beer cheese soup, and a basket of fries. Oh, and a large iced tea please, with extra sweetener.”
As a person who’d grown up among shifters and lived with a bear, Marie was unfazed by my order, but Nora looked surprised. “Are you really going to eat all that?”
“I didn’t have lunch, remember? But I’ll share the fries with you if you’d like.”
Her lips twitched but she just nodded. We were both silent until Marie returned with our drinks.
“Tell me about yourself,” I prompted.
She raised an eyebrow. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
Nora
It had been a long time since I’d been on a date, if we could even call this a date, but I remembered the drill. Tell me about yourself wasn’t really the question it seemed to be. Typically I’d share a couple of things about myself and that would prompt the guy to start talking about himself.
If I said I was an accountant, he’d tell me about his own job. If I told him I had kids, he’d either tell me about his kids and awful ex or give me a dissertation about why he never wanted kids. If I told him about a hobby, he’d interject with his own.
But to my surprise Ollie did none of that. Maybe it was because he was plowing his way through the equivalent of three lunches for a normal person. I couldn’t believe how much food he was putting away. If I couldn’t see with my own eyes that he was fitter than guys twenty years younger than him I’d be worried he was unhealthy. But no, he was healthy as a horse. Or a bear, I guess.
