Sara offered Barbara a refill on her glass of wine and topped off her own too. Then she sat down on the couch with the wolf shifter.
“I love this house,” Sara sighed. The Victorian-style home came fully furnished, which was good since Sara had no furniture of her own, but she also looked forward to making the place feel more like her.
“It is very lovely. Large, too.”
“That it is! I’m going to need a cat.” Sara laughed. “It’s far too quiet when everyone leaves.”
“Soon enough, you’ll have people coming in and out. I’m sure it won’t be quiet for long.”
Barbara was right. The four-bedroom home served as a Bed and Breakfast for traveling witches and sometimes a boarding home for witches who had yet to settle in their new permanent location.
Soon enough, Sara wouldn’t be alone.
“I can’t believe how much they cleaned up before they left,” Sara mused aloud. “And here I thought I’d at least be able to do some of that. I don’t know what I’m going to do to keep myself busy while I’m waiting for bookings.”
“Surely you’ll have many people stopping in to meet you,” Barbara reasoned.
“Perhaps, but I think most of them were here tonight,” Sara said. “And I already met the local coven at my initiation ceremony.”
Barbara smiled understandingly. “Well, if you’d like a chance to get to know some of the local shifters, we have a Scenting Ceremony coming up.”
“What’s that?” Sara asked.
“It is an annual tradition, a ceremony my husband Tristan and I host. The young wolves in our pack and other packs gather, hoping to find their fated mate.”
“Ah!” Though I didn’t have much experience with shifters, I did know about their fated mate sense. It was the magic they each had that activated when they met the one they were meant to spend their life with. “They wouldn’t mind an outsider being present at such a sacred event?”
“Of course not,” Barbara assured her. “Not when you’re personally invited by me.”
Sara’s tablet notifications chirped, which she realized it may have been doing all night, but she hadn’t heard it over the noise of the party-goers.
“Sorry,” Sara said, quickly pulling the device out of the drawer in her coffee table. The home screen was filled with notifications for the dating sight she’d signed up for on a whim the night before. “Oh jeez, I forgot I’d even signed up for that last night.”
Embarrassed, she tried to hide it from Barbara, but it was too late.
Barbara didn’t judge her, though. “Dating now that you’re out and free from the academy? Good for you!”
“I don’t know. I thought maybe I should start putting myself out there some, you know? Not that we weren’t allowed to date while working at the academy, but they don’t allow married witches to teach, so I’d never involved myself in anything serious that could put me in a situation where I had to choose between a man and the job I loved.”
“Is that part of why they force retirement at fifty?” Barbara asked. “To force you to get out there and live a little?”
“Maybe,” Sara shrugged. “It has a lot to do with their insistence that rollover is good for the school, good for education and progress, but yeah. It’s an early age for retirement, and I still have a lot of life to live.”
“And love to give,” Barbara added.
Sara nodded. “But I’m not sure I want to jump into a relationship or love or anything like that. I think I’m just looking for a night out here or there. Or maybe occasional companionship.” Sara said.
“Occasional companionship? What exactly do you mean by that?” Barbara smiled conspiratorially with Sara, clearly understanding exactly what Sara meant.
“You know what I mean.” Sara blushed.
Barbara nudged her. “You mean … sex? As in, you want to get laid?”
Sara giggled like a schoolgirl. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I meant.”
Barbara laughed right along with her and then motioned toward the tablet. “I’m always curious what kind of guys are on the dating sites. Tristan and I have been together since before those things existed. Can I see?”
Sara handed over the tablet, her profile visible for Barbara to view.