Shiftr Swipe Left for Love (Hope Valley BBW Online Dating App Romance #5)(7)
“Click on the alerts and look at the messages they’ve sent you!” Lauren said excitedly. Dina’s finger hovered over them.
“I feel like I really want to wait and see if Tamika can find the first guy for me. I just have to know first,” she said. “Can I wait to reply to the alerts?”
“Of course,” Lauren said. If they think you might be their fated mate, they’ll wait for as long as it takes.”
Lauren was starting to yawn.
“Home-time for me,” she said. “I’ve got a sleepy bear waiting for me in bed. I’ll let you know what Tamika says as soon as I hear from her.”
“Thank you so much for tonight,” Dina said. “Goodnight, hun.” They hugged each other, and Dina waved Lauren goodbye at the door. She stood on the doorstep, watching Lauren’s retreating figure until she was out of sight. She was envious that her friend was going home to a big sexy man who’d take care of her. Normally her envy would have been a sharp, bitter pain deep in her stomach, a gnawing fear that she’d never find the right guy for herself. But tonight she had a sliver of hope that there could be someone out there for her. She brushed her teeth and climbed in between clean sheets, and fell asleep dreaming of a black-haired, muscular man with the most delicious deep brown eyes.
Chapter Two
Dina was on her way to work next morning when Lauren called.
“Good morning!” she trilled. Dina flinched at the volume of her voice.
“Good morning yourself,” she mumbled, barely awake yet. Morning was definitely not her favorite time of day.
“Hun, I have the best news for you! You’re going to be so excited!” Dina became marginally more awake.
“What is it?” she asked.
“So, I heard back from Tamika already. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know who the guy is. She says he sounds like half the bear shifters on the app. I told her he was way hotter and cooler, but it didn’t help. BUT! – this is the exciting part – it turns out she’s been thinking about organizing a summer garden party to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the app, and my message was the motivation she needed to go ahead with it. She’s going to invite everybody who has a profile on the app. So, with a little luck, your man will be there, and you can meet each other in the flesh!”
“That will be amazing!” Dina said. “So when’s the party?”
“Next Saturday night.”
“Wow, that’s not a lot of time to find a new dress. But I guess I can go shopping this weekend. You’ll come to the party too, right?”
“Of course, hun. You know I’m always there for you. I’ll help you sniff him out. And you know I love a good party!” Lauren said. Dina broke into a grin.
“Thanks, Lauren. I’d be so nervous going by myself!” she said.
On Saturday, Dina and Lauren went shopping with their two other best friends, Melissa and Kristin. Luckily, the Hope Valley annual summer ball was being held the week after the Shiftr ball, so they all needed to get dresses anyway. Dina was bursting to tell Melissa and Kristin about the dating app and the guy she’d found, but she understood that she was sworn to secrecy. They were both single girls, and she thought they’d be perfect for the site too. She hoped that she’d find herself a shifter, not only for her own happiness, but so she could let one of them into the secret as well.
“I can’t tell you how hard it was keeping my secret from you all that time,” Lauren told Dina, when they were walking a distance behind the other two. “Every time you told me that you were lonely, or that you thought you’d never find a man, I was bursting to show you the app. So when I got together with Connor, it was like a double celebration!” Dina grinned at her friend’s soft heart.
“I don’t want to jinx it by saying anything,” she whispered. “But I’m really hoping the same for Melissa and Kristin.”
The girls enjoyed a long day of shopping together, breaking often for coffee, then lunch, then more coffee, then happy-hour drinks. None of them enjoyed shopping for clothes, hating the discomfort of fitting rooms, and the way that dresses hardly ever fit them perfectly. But they managed to find a compromise by layering the shopping with lots of fun activities in between.
They’d collectively banned each other from wearing black, since it was a summer party, and had all picked out beautiful, flattering floral designs. Dina chose a chiffon dress in the palest mint green, with huge, cobalt-blue flowers on it. It had a tight waist, which showed off her hour-glass curves, a flowing ankle-length skirt, and a low, v-neckline that made the most of her bust. Lauren picked out a fuchsia-pink dress in raw silk, embossed with a lighter pink orchid design, cap sleeves and a raised, belted waist. Melissa chose a sleeveless, cotton knee-length-dress, which was white all over, except for a deep pink and yellow floral and butterfly pattern around the hem, while Kristin bought a sky-blue silk dress, cut high on the thigh to show off her height and great legs. Dina had watched the girls trying on one dress after another, all day long, and she thought they all looked amazing. At 5’1, Melissa was the shortest of the four of them, and the cut of the dress made the most of her curves, without swamping her. She had dark blonde hair, and cornflower blue eyes, and a slightly vacant expression that belied her fierce intelligence. Kristin was only an inch shorter than Dina, and she carried herself proudly. She used to play basketball at college, and she had an athlete’s elegance, but she struggled with her weight due to PCOS. Out of the four of them, she probably had the hardest time accepting her curves, but only her closest friends knew it. To everyone else, she looked like a fearless, sexy woman.