Page 8 of Promise & Artem

“I just tell it like it is. You didn’t sleep well?”

“I never do.”

She hummed and got quiet for a long moment, then said, “You’ll find your truemate this year, I know it.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” he said.

As he turned onto the main road that led to town, she said, “What do you want to talk about?”

“How about you risking our lives by getting a stranger’s address and going to their house to pick up some old piece of shit?”

“I’m not risking our lives,” she said. “Everyone does it.”

“Yeah, murderers.”

“You wouldn’t let anyone hurt me, and besides there’s nothing wrong with taking risks on occasion.”

He glanced at her and rolled his eyes. She gave him a friendly punch on the arm.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, but I still think it’s dumb.”

“Meh. I’ve gotten some great items doing this, so you’re just going to have to suck it up.”

He snorted. She put the address into the GPS and talked his ear off on the short drive about the campground owners’ idea to host a summer gathering instead of a fall gathering.

“Why would they change it?” he asked.

“Because they’ve had fewer and fewer people coming to it. They think a timing change might help.”

“Anything’s possible. So what, like in August?”

“Probably, since June is almost over. They’re going to send out an email to the groups that send unmated people to the gatherings to gauge interest before they make any changes.” Sheelbowed him. “Maybe your truemate will show up. Or mine! Swoon. I hope he’s sexy.”

“Ugh.”

“What, you don’t want me to have a sexy mate?”

“I don’t want to think about you and any male, period.”

“Fair enough. I’ll just keep a good thought for both of us to find our happily ever after sooner rather than later.”

He pulled to a stop in front of a small house.

“Keeping a good thought isn’t going to do much, you know. You can’t manifest your way to a truemate.”

“But being open to good things happening can’t hurt, right?” She got out of the truck and smiled at him. “Trust me on this, Artem. Your truemate is out there somewhere, hell maybe she’s on the way to Little Hope right now!”

His phone rang before he could think of something to call his sister besides being a perpetual bucket of sunshine.

“Hey, Dad,” he said as he watched his sister go to the door and knock, wanting to make sure she didn’t get snatched.

“I need you to run an errand for me. There’s a four-wheeler company going out of business and I brokered a deal to buy two of their four-wheelers, we just have to go get them. It’s at least a three-hour drive one way. Do you mind?”

“Sure. I’ll head out after I get back to town with Isolde.”

“Thanks, son. Check in with me at the shed and I’ll help you hook up the trailer for the four-wheelers. You can take someone with you if you want, like Kieran.”

“I’ll reach out to him.”

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