Page 10 of Dancing for His Omega

“Yeah. Sorry. I went somewhere else.”

“Not good when you’re paying for an hour. Want to share what captured your thoughts?”

“A mistake I made a few days ago. I’m not sure I can undo it either.”

Shay scribbled something down. “Do you want to? Undo it?”

“Yes. Desperately.”

“Talk me through it. I bet there’s a way to work it out.”

“I met someone.”

Shay lifted one of his eyebrows in question. “Who? Here in town or online? I hear a lot of people are meeting their mates online nowadays.”

“Not online. In person. Here. It’s Micah. The chocolatier.”

Shay sat back. “I love that place. Keeps my mate in great spirits. I bought him a custom box for his birthday last month. And you like Micah?”

“I do. I did. No, I do. A strange thing happened when I met him.”

“Which was…”

“My bear told me he was my mate.”

“Has that happened before, Edwin? Did it happen with Jacob?”

I laughed out loud. Maybe I’d hit a turning point. The thought of Jacob being my mate was comical to say the least. Interesting. “No. It never happened with Jacob. My bear… I hate to admit this, but my bear wasn’t all that fond of Jacob.”

“And he very much likes Micah.”

“He practically burst out of me trying to get to him. He hasn’t been pleased that I haven’t gone to see him and apologize.”

Shay scooted forward in his chair and then recrossed his legs. “What makes you think you have something to apologize for?”

“Because I do. We had plans to go on a tour of the town and then have dinner. That was until we saw the old dance studio.”

“Ah. Did that trigger you?”

“A lot. I told him everything. It was the most embarrassing emotional vomit session. I told him about dancing and Jacob and all of it.”

“What was Micah’s reaction? Did he do or say something to make you think that bothered him?”

“No. That’s the thing. He just stood there and listened.”

Shay cocked his head. “So what is there to apologize for, Edwin?”

“Because after I said all those things, I got embarrassed and felt ashamed. I told him I didn’t want to go to dinner and then I ran away like a coward. To make things worse, Micah sent dinner to my house that night. He was so kind and understanding and nonjudgmental, and I’m treating him as though he did something wrong. He’s my mate. What am I going to do?”

By the end of my spiel, I was crying—hard. Hurting my mate was the most painful thing in the world. Worse than quitting my career. Worse than hearing the bad news from Jacob. The pain was excruciating.

“I think that’s your good news, Edwin. He’s your mate. The one Fate chose for you. That means, he’s sure to accept your apology, but you must go over there and say the words. Have you seen him since?”

I groaned and swiped my wet cheeks. “I’ve been walking the outskirts of the town and avoiding his shop and all of Main Street since. Goddess, now that I say it out loud, it makes me sound like the biggest baby.”

“It doesn’t. More like you’ve been hurt before and are slow to trust. What did we talk about with being so hard on yourself. We’re all human—or half human. These emotions we have are normal and part of the human experience.”

“So you think he would accept my apology.”

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