Raine sighed. "Gran, thank you for the vote of confidence. I haven't had a date in a really long time. Since, well yeah. Gerri swears he's perfect. I don't want to ruin this. Anything to get you to just go rest and stop haunting me."
A nervous laugh was all she could manage. Truthfully, she never wanted Gran to leave her, anymore than she wanted to go on some setup by another crazy old lady.
Running her hands over the stomach of her cotton dress and smoothing it over her butt, she twisted to one side then the other. Nope. It wasn't changing. She was still curvy. Hopefully that man enjoyed hips.
With an audible sigh, she took one more glance and turned away. "Fine. Let's go."
She grabbed the keys off the small hall table and then stood starring at the door. "What do I do now?"
"You walk out the door young lady."
"Really Gran? At least I come by my attitude honestly."
Gran floated in front of her. "Oh sweetie. Just go. What you do now is you go and give this guy a chance."
Raine had an all out MMA fight in her stomach, complete with gut punches. Swallowing down her nerves, she took a few steps forward.
Gran laughed. "Silly child. Breathe. Just go sit down. Maybe this is when we use the saying of making a man wait? Maybe you are too efficient. I failed you."
Settling in a kitchen chair, Raine tried to breathe. "In and out. In. Out."
Her nerves wouldn't let her calm down though. She crossed and uncrossed her legs.
Raine glanced at the clock.
"Sweetie, are you okay? It's just a date?"
"I'm fine. I promise. I think. Maybe I'm a bit nervous. I still have some time, but maybe I'll just go anyway. It's just coffee. I can have several before he meets me. Perhaps I can make a pit stop at the liquor store on the way."
She got up again and took a few arbitrary steps one way and then turned to face Gran's ghost. "I still don't see why I didn't get his name. What does 'you'll know him when you see him' even mean?"
She paced again. "I mean. What does that mean? Is that some kind of Paranormal thing? Do they just know? I mean technically I just see ghosts, I'm not one of those shifters that just knows things by scent or instinct."
"Goodness child. I failed you. Alright dear, let's just go. You're going to wear a hole in the carpet if you don't stop."
Stopping, novel concept. Sure. Stopping.
"Besides. He's probably early anyway," Gran said under her breath.
That made Raine stop. "What?"
"Nothing dear. Now, just go."
Raine shook her head. Gran said what she said regardless of what you wanted to hear. Raine's decision to have eggs for breakfast suddenly seemed like the worst idea ever as they threatened to come back up.
"Gran. I am only doing this for you. I find a date for my birthday and you will go to Heaven or wherever you think you're supposed to go."
Gran laughed. "Ha. Me? Heaven? In my younger days I was quite the hell-raiser."
Raine pushed passed the nausea and started for the door as Gran headed down memory lane. Raine took that as her cue to hum rather loudly, anything to block out stories no one, especially a granddaughter needed to hear.
No filter that one.
Exiting her building she turned towards the coffee shop. It wasn't too far and as least she had time to walk. She needed the air.
Deep breaths Raine.
As she looked both ways to cross the busy afternoon street, Raine tried to breathe past the dread of dating. Michael had seemed normal. He'd been her first shifter and at first he felt safe, but then the drugs started. The edge of danger she’d seen as exciting suddenly made boring seem safe and desirable.
A few months with him and she should have seen the signs. He wasn't just an alpha male, possessive and abusive. It took another month of trying to break up with him for the truth of his addition to surface. She nearly passed the coffee shop, distracted and terrified that this was another disaster.
Standing out front, she eyed the door. Did she go in? Raine's only talents with men seemed to be attracting train wrecks.
She took a step forward and then stepped back. Nope. She didn't want to go in. People pushed passed her on the sidewalk as she stood and glared.
No matter how much Gran had tried to raise her right, she still seemed to gravitate towards dysfunctional relationships. Raine had traded the issues she had with her mom for new issues, each one making things worse rather than better. The problem was, this last one ended up dead.
Raine started at Gran's voice.
"Alright dear. He's there and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Just remember, Gerri is never wrong. Never. But if you choose to not let this work out, then let him know I'm interested."
"Stop sneaking up on me Gran."
Gran floated in front of Raine. "Oh sweetie. I thought you knew I was a ghost?"
"Haha Gran. Very funny."
Raine's nose wrinkled as Gran's words registered. "Ew. Gran. Seriously? I haven't even met him yet and you're already calling seconds? How did you know who he was anyway?"
It was real. He was here. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she tried to trip the conga line of butterflies in her stomach.
"That’s my cue to make myself scarce. You'll see him."
"Gran? Wait?" she'd already disappeared though. Who knew if she was still spying, it's what Gran did, but apparently this was something she was supposed to do all on her own.
Pushing her way through the door Raine couldn't stop the anxiety. She closed her eyes as she stepped inside.
Calm. Just calm down.
Her eyes flew open as she slipped. "Oh, crap!"
Lucky for her she'd fallen in front of a full coffee shop and her date. Before her butt hit the ground, a strong hand caught her arm.
"Careful. They just
