Bear of Interest Read online

  “Cole is going to be our new tenant and he’s moving in at the weekend,” said Lucy.

  “I like the sound of having another bear around. And honey, no offense meant.” He winked at her. “We can go running together. Sam comes along with me on Sunday mornings.”

  “As long as I don’t run into any more dead bodies.”

  “Yeah, we heard about that,” said Liam.

  “I had to go sign my statement this morning. The detective was asking about bear prints around the body and lack of human ones.”

  “Shit,” said Liam.

  “You think he’s going to pursue it?” asked Lucy.

  “Detective is a she,” said Cole.

  “Did I detect a little twinkle in your eye when you told us that?” asked Lucy.

  “No, I mean. Yes, she’s cute but…”

  “I think you should ask her out and come along with me and Liam to the restaurant.”

  “I think my wife needs to open a dating agency and forget about interior design,” said Liam. “She won’t even let her own brother have five minutes peace without trying to find him a new wife.”

  Cole smiled. “There’s no way I could. I mean not going to the restaurant bit, but the asking her out part.”

  “Okay, but let us know if we need a table for four instead of three,” said Lucy.

  ****

  Sam balanced her two bags of groceries on her knee when she heard her cellphone ringing in her purse. Damn, why did people always call at the most inconvenient times? She placed both bags up on the ledge by her front door before digging her hand inside her purse. She pulled out the phone and saw that it was a private number.

  “Hello Detective Samantha Hardy.”

  “Hi Detective Hardy. It’s Cole. Cole MacDonald.”

  Just the sound of his voice, the mere mention of his name, made every nerve ending in her body tingle and do the happy dance.

  “Yes, what can I do for you?”

  “I… I…don’t know how to do this.”

  Was he about to make a confession, turn himself in for Margo’s murder?

  “I mean I do, but it’s been a while since I have, and I don’t know you that well. Damn, I’m rambling on like an idiot.”

  He really was but she didn’t care because she loved listening to that deep voice of his. Women were supposed to react to a deep voice right? It made a female’s ovaries sit up and take notice. By pure instinct, women knew a deep voice meant the man would produce top notch offspring.

  “I was wondering if you’re not doing anything Saturday night—if you’d like to have dinner with me.”

  If she’d still been holding the grocery bags she would have dropped both of them.

  Where had this come from? Not that she wasn’t ready to do the happy dance all the way down the path leading up to her townhouse.

  “Please forgive me if you’re already seeing someone or even have a date that evening, but some friends of mine are trying out a new restaurant and asked me along. I don’t want to seem like a third wheel and thought of you….I mean not that I think you’re someone’s third wheel.”

  Yeah, she knew how that was. Going along with some of her girlfriends and their husbands and feeling so alone and left out. She smiled as he continued to ramble on. She liked the fact there was a touch of insecurity about the way he was asking her for a date.

  “Sure, I’d love to go with you.”

  She was somewhat of a foodie but couldn’t cook to save her own life. The two grocery bags were full of frozen dinners and goodies from the deli.

  “Great. They’ve booked the table for seven so I could come by and pick you up around 6:45.”

  “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s the cop in me, and I always meet a date at the restaurant when it’s our first one,” said Sam.

  She’d checked him out. He seemed legit and respectable but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “I’ve no problem with that at all. It’s the TreeTop Restaurant on highway 93, just west of the entrance to Glacier.”

  Things were getting even better because she’d heard great things about the place. In fact, the Death by Chocolate dessert was named best in Montana.

  “I will be there.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you on Saturday.”

  “Yeah, see you then.”

  She ended the call and picked up her shopping again. Her two lonely bags of food for one. Guess she wouldn’t need the Salisbury steak in gravy with the side of mashed potatoes she’d bought for her Saturday evening meal after all.

  ****

  Cole paced up and down outside the TreeTop. Liam and Lucy had offered to wait with him, but he’d sent them inside. He didn’t want anyone to see just how nervous he was. He also didn’t want them to see if he got stood up which was looking more likely with every passing minute. He looked at his watch again. Fifteen minutes past seven and no sign of her. First time he’d not had a date show up, and hopefully it would be the last.

  He had to face the humiliation of going back inside and breaking the news to Liam and Lucy. Cole gave one last look around, but there was no sign of her. He opened the glass door and headed inside and down to the restaurant where Liam and Lucy were studying the menu. Even from this distance he could see them playfully sliding their feet up one another’s legs.

  They were basically newlyweds, in love and they’d never have to go through all this dating shit again. He felt jealous, sick to his stomach, and wondered if being a bachelor bear wasn’t the easiest way out.

  Lucy looked up when she saw him approaching.

  “I’ve been stood up.” There it was out in the open. The shame and humiliation. He sat down and resigned himself to being the third wheel tonight.

  “Maybe she got lost,” said Lucy. “You can easily get turned around once you head off the main road.”

  “Lucy’s right. And you know women, they take forever to get their make up right and get dressed. She’s probably trying on yet another dress and hasn’t realized the time,” said Liam.

  Cole checked his watch again. “Yeah, like forty minutes late. Let’s just order some drinks and help me forget this evening ever happened.”

  He saw Liam and Lucy glance at one another. Liam called the waiter over. “Two beers and a white wine,” he said.

  “Coming right up sir. And should I take away this fourth place setting or will someone else be joining you?”

  Cole was tempted to pick up the salt shaker and hand it to the guy and say yeah, rub this in some more.

  “Could you leave it because we do have someone else dining with us, but she’s running late,” said Lucy.

  Cole squeezed Lucy’s hand. He could see why Liam had gone from anti-human to marrying one. Lucy was a sweetheart.

  “So, does anything catch your eye on this menu?” asked Liam.

  “I’m leaning toward the lobster gnocchi,” said Lucy.

  “Steaks all look pretty good,” said Liam.

  Cole had been looking forward to this meal all day but now he didn’t think he could eat one morsel.

  The waiter returned with their drinks. “Would you like some more time to look over the menu?”

  “Yeah, if you could give us maybe five more minutes,” said Liam.

  Cole took a drink of his beer. Maybe he’d have a salad or appetizer, something so he didn’t look suddenly like a party pooper.

  “You know the grilled chicken with the huckleberry salsa sounds good too,” said Liam.

  Since moving back to Kalispell, Cole had forgotten how great huckleberries were. Lots of the shifters grew them in their backyards and had to actually fight off real bears for them.

  “Yeah, I think that’s what I’m going to have,” said Liam, closing his menu.

  Cole didn’t want to look at it any more. “I think I’ll have the same.” And he’d force that chicken down his throat rather then look like a miserable bear.

  The waiter returned. “Are we already to order?”

&nb
sp; “We definitely are. I’ll have the lobster gnocchi,” said Lucy.

  “And the grilled chicken with the huckleberry salsa for both of us,” said Liam.

  “Excellent choices. I’ll bring out a basket of bread to get you started. Do you still want me to leave the fourth place setting?”

  “Yes, because she should be here any minute,” said Lucy. She winked at Cole.

  The waiter left.

  “Did I tell you that Sam’s little league team are in the playoffs?” asked Liam.

  Cole smiled. Liam loved his nephew so much. He was making up for Danny not being in his life.

  “That’s great,” said Cole.

  “He’s going to be like Danny, great at all sorts of sports.”

  The waiter returned with the basket of bread and all three of them broke off a piece. Cole was buttering his piece when he heard a woman’s voice.

  “I am so sorry for being this late.”

  He looked up to see Detective Hardy standing there. Her hair looked like she’d been in a windstorm, and if he wasn’t mistaken, black grease was smeared on her face.

  Cole stood.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  “I got a flat tire as I turned off the main road. I couldn’t get a signal on my phone to call you or the curbside assistance club I belong to, so I finally had to do it myself.”

  “Detective Hardy, this is Liam and Lucy Ahern.”

  “Do we have to call you Detective Hardy all evening?” asked Liam, offering her his hand. He glared at Cole.

  “No, it’s Samantha, or Sam as I prefer, please call me that, and you too Cole.”

  “So happy you finally made it here,” said Lucy. She moved her chair over a tad so Sam could squeeze in next to Cole.

  “If you would have been able to call, Liam could have taken care of the tire. He’s an expert on all things cars,” said Lucy.

  “Really. Well maybe you could take a quick look at it before I head home just to make sure I’ve done it correctly.”

  “I’d be happy to.”

  The waiter walked to the table. “Miss, can I get you something to drink and here’s a menu.”

  “A soda would be great and I’ve heard great things about your planked salmon so I know I want that because I love salmon.”

  Liam kicked Cole’s foot under the table and nodded.

  “If you like salmon you should get Cole to take you along to salmon night at the Starlight Café, which is owned by one a mutual friend of ours,” said Lucy.

  “Really, Starlight Café, I think I’ve seen that. In fact, there’s a new craft store opened in that slip mall.”

  “Owned by yet another two of our friends,” said Liam.

  “Hannah who owns Starlight, her husband Bear works with me,” said Cole.

  “Bear. His real name is Bear?” asked Sam.

  “Of course,” said Liam.

  Lucy gave him one of her ‘you better behave’ looks.

  Bear was a common name given to the first born male bear shifter in a family. It was an honorable thing to go by that name.

  “Hannah’s mother to our nephew who is also Sam but his is short for Samuel,” said Liam.

  “So you and Bear are brothers?”

  Liam shook his head. “No, Sam’s the son of my late brother Danny.”

  A woman brought Sam’s soda to the table. She took a sip. Cole smiled and she must have seen him.

  “Do you mind if I do something?” he asked.

  “Have I got something on my face? I had a feeling I did,” said Sam.

  Cold dipped his napkin in the glass of water on the table and dabbed at the grease marks.

  “What must you think? Me strolling in here looking like I’ve been working on a car all day.”

  “That’s fine because Liam looks like that every day,” said Lucy. Liam leaned over and kissed her, and suddenly Cole envied his fellow bear.

  ****

  Sam was glad they’d all shared the Death by Chocolate dessert. It was an aptly named monster of a treat with six luscious layers of chocolate ganache, mousse, sponge cake, and now she was feeling full as they walked outside the TreeTop restaurant.

  “So you met Liam when he literally became your knight in shining armor?” Sam asked Lucy.

  “If he hadn’t driven along when he did, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”

  “It is sort of scary for women on the open road. You wouldn’t believe some of the cases we deal with,” said Sam.

  She had to admit she’d enjoyed everything about the evening, well apart from the flat tire. She’d been worried that Cole would think she’d stood him up. She’d never be that callous. She knew was rejection was like and she’d never inflict that on another human being. She’d enjoyed both the food and company. Liam seemed to be checking her out, asking her lots of questions, obviously to see if she was okay for Cole. Lucy was down to earth, and Cole, well, he was a dream come true.

  “This is my car,” said Sam.

  “Let’s take a look at the tire,” said Liam.

  “It’s the back one here,” she said, pointing.

  “Don’t go too fast because it’s just supposed to be temporary until you get the old one fixed or even buy a new one,” said Liam.

  “Guess I’ll have to do that tomorrow,” said Sam. “I’m in the market for a new car, or should I say a nice used one.”

  “I might be able to help you out there. I have a couple for sale. As you’re a buddy of Cole’s I can give you a good deal,” said Liam.

  “Really?” asked Sam.

  “Sure, you want to swing by our place tomorrow? I have my own business I run from our home,” said Liam.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “And don’t feel pressured into buying one of them. I can probably fix that flat tire or sell you a new one. I have those too.”

  “I lucked out,” said Sam. She looked at Cole. “Well I suppose I should be getting home as I have to drive slowly. It was great meeting you, Lucy, Liam.”

  “I’ll probably see you tomorrow,” said Cole.

  “You will.”

  “Sure, I’m renting the cottage at Liam and Lucy’s place.”

  This was getting better by the minute.

  “Knowing that, will you let me bring something for us all to eat? To thank you for helping me out with the car and to say sorry for being so late for our date, Cole.”

  “That would be great. I hear it’s going to be nice weather so I’ll set up the picnic table outside,” said Lucy.

  “Does 1 p.m. work for you?” asked Sam.

  “That’s perfect,” said Liam.

  Cole opened her door for her and she slid into the driver’s seat.

  Sam waved, sounded the horn and carefully exited the parking lot, hoping she wasn’t going over anything rough. She glanced in her rearview mirror. As first dates went, and excluding the flat tire and grease covered face, it had been a pretty good one.

  ****

  “I think she’s very nice,” said Lucy, on the drive home. It had made sense for Cole to ride with them. “I knew there had to be a reason for her being late.”

  Liam reached over and squeezed her knee. “Yeah, humans are never impolite.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that, and someone’s walking a fine line right now and might be sleeping on the couch tonight.”

  “Did you hear that Cole? Let this be a lesson to you if you’re thinking of taking one of these human girls as your mate. They are lots of trouble.”

  Lucy leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Sam couldn’t do better than to nab herself a bear.”

  “How do you guys make it work?” asked Cole, edging forward on his seat and resting his arms on both the back of the passenger and driver’s seats.

  “Does this mean there’s an interest in getting to know Sam on a whole different level?” asked Liam.

  “Maybe.”

  “I’ve heard that maybe before,” said Liam. “First trick is to set down the rules
and show them who’s the boss,” said Liam.

  “Really, and that’s the way you won me over?” asked Lucy.

  Cole smiled. Boy, he was sure he’d just ignited a flame that would result in a martial spat.

  “No, I’m not saying that. But human guys are wimpy compared to us bears and I think that’s what attracts you females to us.”

  Lucy turned around to look at Cole. “He’s right, my darling husband is right. We love that take charge approach. However equal we think we want to be, we also want to be protected.”

  “And what was your overall impression of Sam?” asked Cole.

  “Does it matter what we think?” asked Liam.

  “I’d like another opinion.”

  “I think she’s perfect for you. Did you see the little sideway glances she gave you. Definitely interested in you, Cole,” said Lucy.

  “And yes, for a human, she was okay,” said Liam.

  “I think you should have kissed her goodnight,” said Lucy.

  “It was their first date,” said Liam.

  “I know but a peck on the cheek would have been nice. I think you should make up for it tomorrow when you see her.”

  Yeah, maybe he would.

  ****

  Maybe when first dates started on a bad note, it was a sign that things would be smooth sailing from here on out. Well, maybe not. The deli was out of the grilled salmon she wanted to take along as her thank you gift. She’d finally settled on the quiche and potato salad. She only wished she knew how to cook.

  She checked the address and the directions Liam had given her. Always helpful having friends who knew about cars because hers always seemed to go wrong. She saw a house on a piece of land with a garage up ahead and guessed this was the place. She pulled into the driveway and saw Liam working under the hood of a car.

  Sam turned off the ignition and got out of the car.

  “Good morning,” she shouted over to Liam.

  He waved.

  “I have the food, anywhere I can put it until we’re ready to eat?”

  “Sure, Lucy’s in the house, she can show you.”

  Sam walked up the driveway and saw the front door was open. She knocked on the wood at the side.

  “Hello.”

  Lucy appeared wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

  “Hi Sam.”