“I have to repay you, somehow,” Azura began. “The work you’ve done on the property, the luncheon, the dresses, it is all too much, Gerri.”
Gerri scoffed, then stepped away from Azura, picking up the dress bags to hand to her.
“As I said before, I know a good investment when I see one,” she began, then cocked her eyebrow with a smirk worming onto her lips. “In more ways than one.”
Gerri handed her the dress bags, and Azura frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Gerri crossed her arms and then let her grin run wild.
“I’m a matchmaker, as well,” Gerri said. “After meeting you a few weeks ago, I knew exactly who to match you up with.”
Azura stood there holding the bags, her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Um, sorry?” Azura asked.
Gerri chucked, then took Azura by the shoulders. It was another motherly gesture that Azura could appreciate, despite the sudden increase in her heart rate.
“I have met a man who I know will suit you. He isn’t just a man. He’s a shifter.”
Azura could feel her body getting overwhelmed. It was a familiar sensation, like water rising over her mouth and nose to choke her.
She had mastered the feeling since losing her parents, but unknowingly being told that she had been set up with a shifter was a lot to take in.
“A shifter?” Azura breathed.
“He’s also from Nova Aurora, another planet,” Gerri said with a wink.
Azura thought that she was joking. It must have been some kind of practical joke, maybe set up by Gerri and Martin?
But Gerri didn’t seem to be joking. Her arms fell from Azura’s shoulders as she looked at her watch, then tapped it mercilessly.
“No more time for chitchat,” Gerri said. “Try those on and see what suits you. I can have someone here ASAP if you need assistance with your makeup.”
“I’m okay with that,” Azura said. “I’ll go get dressed.”
Gerri hurried her up the stairs with an easy glee. Azura didn’t want to seem unappreciative of everything Gerri had done, so she kept her confusion to herself. She walked back into her bedroom in a trancelike state.
I haven’t dated in forever, and now I have to meet some strange shifter … from another planet?
Azura did what she had always done in unexpected situations. She put one foot in front of the other, and she did what she could to survive.
It was a defense mechanism against pain. A therapist had told her that surviving would eventually lead back to living again, but Azura was beginning to lose hope of that ever happening.