“I see you’ve already started,” Kathy said, gesturing at Hope’s mimosa as she sat down. Catching the waiter’s attention, she ordered her own drink and made patient chit-chat until it arrived. Then she unleashed the barrage of questions.
“So? Was he cute? Is he a shifter? What happened?”
“Yes, he’s cute. Yes, he’s a shifter. And God, so much happened, I don’t even know where to start.”
Kathy’s brown eyes sparkled mischievously, and she scooted her Bloody Mary to the side of the table so she could lean forward. “That good?”
“Uh,” Hope said, inconveniently flashing back to the muscled expanse of Josh’s torso, his long-fingered hands...
“You slept with him?”
Hope winced at Kathy’s high-pitched squeal, which carried to the neighboring tables despite Hope’s precautions. “It wasn’t the plan.”
“Damn.” Kathy fanned herself with a hand. “I haven’t seen an expression on your face like that since the last Colin Firth movie marathon.”
“Yeah, like that,” Hope admitted. “Times about a thousand.”
“Okay, spill,” Kathy said. “I don’t need details, but this sounds like a big deal.”
Hope took a big gulp of her mimosa and related the events of the past couple of days. Kathy let her tell the story without interrupting, which Hope appreciated. Listening to herself explain how she and Josh had met and immediately fallen into bed, it felt like it had happened to someone else, or like it belonged in one of those movies Kathy
had mentioned.
After she finished, she fell silent. Kathy regarded her with slightly narrowed eyes, toying with her glass. “So what’s the problem?”
“Are you kidding me? I barely know him, and he’s convinced I’m his mate! You were the one who said this matchmaking service was a weird idea.”
“Yeah, but from your perspective, it worked. They matched you with a hot guy that you really liked, and he’s great in bed.”
“Come on,” Hope said skeptically. “That’s not a reason for me to drop everything and marry him right now.”
“I understand. But it is a great reason for you to keep going with this, and see what happens.” Kathy shrugged, and the motion set her long earrings swinging. “You could sit here forever, making excuses and having second thoughts. You want someone to tell you what to do, so I’m telling you. Take the chance.”
“I’m not the kind of person who enjoys taking chances.” She’d never been the first to start a conversation with a new person, never the one to stick out her hand or try a scary-sounding dish at a new restaurant.
“I know.” Kathy laid her hand over Hope’s. “I’m not telling you to change your entire personality. But you did take a chance. You already took the first step and reached out. And you met a great guy with a big family that could be yours.”
“Or they could be horrible.” Hope envisioned a room full of screaming, bickering people who judged her for being different from them. Her, sitting in a corner, miserable and wishing she could escape.
“You’re not going to know unless you meet them, and that’s not going to happen unless you give him another chance.”
Hope took a shuddering breath. “I’m scared.”
“I know that too,” Kathy said. “You don’t think I’d be scared? But you have to decide what you’re really worried about. If you don’t think he’s someone you could spend the rest of your life with, fine. If he just jumped the gun a little bit because he wants you so much, is that really an excuse for you to chicken out?”
Hope knew that her history with her parents had made her wary of abandonment, and consciously or not, she’d spent her adult life making sure that no one else in her life could do that to her. Having no real ties to anyone meant that she was always in control, and no one could take her by surprise. But if she really wanted her life to change, Kathy was right. She had to do things differently.
Really, it comes down to this, she told herself. Are you honestly prepared to never see Josh again?
Hope took another deep breath and held it for a few seconds. When she let it escape from her lungs, she imagined that all of her doubts and fears left her body along with the air. Then she reached for her phone, trying to ignore Kathy’s enthusiastic thumbs-up. “Josh?” she said when he answered. “It’s Hope.”
As Kathy tactfully left the table, Hope could hear the relief in Josh’s voice. “I’m so glad you called. I want to apologize again for what happened last night. I thought we were on the same page, but I would never want to pressure you or make you uncomfortable.”
“I know,” she said. “I do. And it’s okay. I get that it was an honest mistake, not you trying to rush me into anything.”
“Good. I just really wanted to make that clear. I understand that the mate thing—it may not be okay with everyone. And if you never want to hear from me again, I’ll respect that.”
“No, I think we should definitely want to see each other again.”