Page 12 of Overbooked at Dragon's Landing

“Well, if you want a real downer, I could tell you why I’m in town.”

That sobered them. It was best I let them know right away, anyway. It wasn’t like I could hide it for their comfort.

“Okay?” Ralph sounded unsure, but now that I put it out there, I couldn’t really ignore it.

“A long time ago, my parents were killed in an accident, and all I had left was my grams. But she moved here, wanting to be away from the city—and I think, away from the memories.” I gave them the CliffsNotes version, not wanting the atmosphere to become too sullen. It was our first day together. I wanted it to be a good one.

“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Ralph’s empathy poured off him.

Craig, too, but in a different way—he looked like he wanted to fix it.

Such good mates. I barely knew them, and I already knew that much.

“Yeah, well… My grams died last month.”

Both their faces fell.

“I came here to settle the estate.”

They both started to say they were sorry again, but I just couldn’t take it. I had been hearing that far too often since it happened.

When strangers said it because it was socially acceptable—that was one thing. But with them? They felt it. My pain was hurting them, even though we hadn’t mated yet. And I was not okay with that.

“So, anyway—boner problem solved.” I winked and walked toward the door, hearing the two of them grumble about how, while I was right, it sucked that I had that story to share. And that was true.But we can’t change our history. It is what it is.

We ended up taking their car—mine not as large—and opted to drive away from town, figuring anything there would be too packed. We pulled into a diner about twenty minutes away. There were cars everywhere, but, just as we walked in, a family got up and gave us a seat.

“Have either of you been here before?”

They both shook their heads.

“Yeah, me neither.” The only reason I knew about it was from seeing the sign on my way here.

I set the menu down just as the server came over with our water.

“Any questions on the menu for the day?” She pointed to the specials board, which looked like it had the same specials as…always, given that it was written in marker and not chalk. That had been a choice. Probably not a well-received one but a choice.

“It’s my first time here,” Craig addressed the server. “How about you just pick something out that you like?”

From most people, that would sound weird. But from him, it was charming.

The server giggled. “I’ve got you.”

We all ended up ordering the same thing—or maybe different dishes, depending on what she brought—but at least we didn’t have to spend the first part of our date reading a very in-depth menu.

When she came back, she had chicken croquettes, meatloaf, and a burger—giving us each one of them. Within a few minutes, we had swapped everything all around.

As we ate, we talked about our jobs and where we lived. You know, basic get-to-know-you, first-date kind of stuff. It was going well. At least, I was feeling like it was.

After we told our server we were ready for the check, Craig looked straight at me and asked, “Can I meet your dragon?”

“Absolutely.” Even if I had wanted to turn him down, I couldn’t. My dragon was right there, ready for it.

I gave Ralph directions, and he drove out to a small clearing I knew—off the beaten path, where we wouldn’t run into tourists. Probably. It wasn’t the kind of place you accidentally stumbled upon, and, to my knowledge, wasn’t on any maps, but that didn’t mean someone really pushy wouldn’t find a way toget the directions. Dragon lovers were weird—except Craig. He was perfection.

“Okay. I have to take my clothes off first.”

Craig giggled. “My bestie’s a wolf. I know how this works. But, with you, I don’t have to pretend not to look.”

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