“It’s not him. Can I come over?” I sniffle into the phone.
“Of course. Stay to eat. I’m making cornbread and chili to celebrate the beginning of fall even though it’s hot as balls today. Figure of speech. I wouldn’t know anything about the temperature of testicles, but maybe you can confirm.”
That drags a chuckle out of me. “Confirmed. Be right there.”
Before I get out of the car, I shoot off a quick text to my husband to let him know I won’t be homefor dinner, but there’s lasagna in the fridge for him. I drop my phone back in my bag and cross the cul-de-sac to the purple Victorian with the pink door. It’s not a historic home—it’s a 1990s build just like ours—but Heidi and Nicole have decked it out with extra trim and a colorful paint job so it looks straight out of the 1890s instead. The porch overflows with potted plants and windchimes. Their orange cat, Mr. Beans, is always hanging out on the front steps. It’s verythem.
Heidi answers the door with a messy wooden spoon in her hand and an apron over an insect-print dress. The colorful design brings out the blue in her eyes. Her wiry gray hair is clipped back from her face with barrettes shaped like beetles. She’s got the quirky-middle-school-science-teacher wardrobe down pat.
I must look terrible, because when she sees my face, she immediately crushes me in a huge hug, gripping my shoulders with her elbows so she doesn’t get chili drips on my top.
“Come in, come in,” she urges, pulling me inside. I kick off my shoes in the entryway, the comforting scent of cornbread enveloping me as I follow her to the kitchen. My stomach growls and gurgles, although maybe that’s from the latte. I usually get soy milk, but I drank what Ian ordered me withoutthinking and didn’t take my lactase pills until I was in the car.
“Heya, Julia!” Nicole calls from the TV room. The background noise of a college football game greets us on our way by. “I’ll be out to chat in a few.”
“Sure, she will. I’ve heard that before,” Heidi scoffs, but her expression is indulgent. She and Nic have an amazing relationship. They appreciate each other’s strengths and call each other out on their bullshit. I really envy how easily they communicate.
Heidi installs me on a bar stool and then stands across from me, leaning her elbows on the counter. “Now. Tell me what has your eyes puffed up like it’s grass season?”
I sip the glass of water she hands me. “Oh god. I don’t even know where to start. This guy named Ian came into the bookstore today. A wolf guy. A wulver,” I correct. Heidi’s eyebrows lift, and she points her wooden spoon at me.
“Was he mean to you? If he was, Nic will beat him up for you,” she jokes. At least, I think she’s joking, although Nicole is asilatinstructor so she could probably put anyone on their ass with her martial arts skills.
“No. He…um…asked me out to coffee after my shift. And I went. Platonically,” I say hurriedly. “He said it was just to talk about books.”
“Let me guess, it wasn’t about books?” She gives me a knowing look. “A man is not paying for your coffee to talk about books. He could talk to you about books in thebookstore.”
“Yeah. I realize that now. I just didn’t think…” I look down at my front, where my stomach rolls are making ripples in the front of my orange shirt. I gesture at them. “I look like a pumpkin! What good-looking guy in his thirties asks a literal gourd out on a coffee date?”
She rolls her eyes, hard. “You are the prettiest pumpkin in the patch, babe. Are you really surprised a handsome man is interested in you?”
“Yes! Nobody has hit on me since the Backstreet Boys were together.”
“They’re still together, Julia.”
“You know what I mean!”
“Did you let him down easy?” she teases. When I start to well up again, her mischievous expression drops. “Oh no. What happened? Was it bad? Or did you kiss him or something?”
“No, no. It was fine. Well, it started out fine. I gave him some book recommendations. But then he dropped a huge bomb on me. He claims he’s my fated mate. Or I’m his? I don’t know exactly how it works, but he thinks I’m hissoulmate.”
Heidi’s face changes from a smirk to a grimace, like she wants to say something but she’s holding it back.
“What is it? I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but he was so earnest. I feel terrible that he’s fated to me, but obviously I can’t give him what he wants. It’s not fair.”
“Yeah…” she says doubtfully. She sighs. “I hate to say this, but he sounds like a romance scammer. You know, those guys who get women to fall for them and then squeeze money out of them somehow.”
“Oh.” Shame floods me. I didn’t even think of that, but it makes perfect sense. Why else would Ian approach someone like me? “Well, I told him that I’m married, so I guess that’s the end of that.”
Heidi comes around the end of the kitchen island and gives me a side hug with her free arm before returning to the stove. A cloud of fragrant steam billows out when she lifts the lid on the pot to stir the chili, and my glasses fog up. She turns her head to look at me over her shoulder. “So why are you so upset? Did he take the rejection well or was he weird about it?”
“Um, I don’t know. I was a little flustered at the time. He pretty much said he didn’t care, but that I should talk it over with my husband because I’m the only one who can have hispuppies. He seemedmore interested in that part than having a connection with me.”
“Huh.” Heidi clinks the lid back on the pot. “That’s interesting.”
“Is it?” I ask miserably. “I was thinking it was just another lie to prey on my feelings.”
“Well, he’s telling the truth that wulvers can only procreate with their genetic match. It’s a quirk of their biology. They call it fated mates, but there’s science behind it. It lends some credence to his story.”
