Page 140 of The Cowbears of Curvy Bear Ranch

A quick peek through the window gave him a glimpse of his sleeping mate. Making love to her had given him a sense of connection that he didn’t know he’d been missing. His bear leapt for joy when she rolled onto her hip. The sheet slipped down to reveal her curvy butt. If he could wake up seeing her sexy little body every morning, he’d be one hell of ahappyman.

Hours had passed since sunrise. Since he didn’t have anything left to do other than repair the roof, he’d climbed up the ladder. He was probably going to catch hell for pounding nails while she slept, but so far she hadn’t moved more than a fewinches.

Thethump, thump, thumpof the hammer became an endless rhythm as he replaced or repaired shingles along the top of the roof. He worked on one steeply sloped side before moving to the other. He’d just hammered in the last nail when he heard her callingforhim.

“I’m up here,” heyelled.

“What on earth are you... oh, wow. You fixed the roof. I thought that wouldtakedays.”

“Nope, just a few hours. I checked and most of the damage was cosmetic. You didn’t have any dry rot, but you could stand to get newinsulation.”

He climbed down the ladder and found her waiting. Golden rays of light sparkled through her silky hair. He couldn’t resist dropping the hammer and pulling her intohisarms.

“Imissedyou.”

“You’ve only been up a few hours,”shesaid.

“Stillmissedyou.”

“I don’t know how to thank you for all the work you’ve donearoundhere.”

“Your smile is thanks enough.” He traced her bottom lip with his fingertip before catching her chin between his thumb and forefinger. As he leaned toward her, she sighed. He pulled backslightly. “What?”

“I know what you’redoing.”

“Whichis…”

“You can’t just clean up the surface of a house and change the way I feel about it. I have some terrible memories of this place. That, more than anything, is what’s making me want to sell it,”shesaid.

“Then let’s demolish it and build a newhouse.”

“That’s impossible. It would take too much money and I don’t have any. I can barely afford my apartment as it is,”shesaid.

“I could find a way to make it happen. We could make new memories here,together.”

“Idon’tknow…”

“At least let me help you clear out the old ones. We didn’t finish cleaning out your dad’s bedroom. Let’s do that today and then see where we’re at. Maybe it will have a different vibe if we get rid of all that clutter,”hesaid.

“I guess we couldtryit.”

She reached for his hand. With a slow exhale of relief, he took it and followed herinside.

* * *

Kate siftedthrough box after box of junk. She’d never realized how much of a pack rat her father had been. Three hours later, she opened a small box and discovered a set of leather-bound journals. She flipped open the first one and found it dated the September she’d started firstgrade.

My little girl’s offto school. Her momma’s madder than hell at me for forgetting to buy crackers for her lunch. How the hell am I supposed to remember a thing like that? She always finds something to bitch about. I’ve been dry three days now, trying to do right by my kid. But that bottle of Jack’s looking mighty tasty, mighty sweet. Katie won’t git home for another hour. I can make it one more hour without a drink,dammit.

Kate setthe journal down in her lap, stunned that he’d tried to stop drinking. She’d had no idea. Memories of her father came back from her first-grade year. She couldn’t recall everything, but now that she really thought about it, he hadn’t been as drunk that year. She flipped a few pages and found an entry from a few months later—ChristmasEve.

Damn devil’sgot a hold of my soul. Damn bottle’s been whispering my name, like it knows me. Like it’s yearning to be my lover. At least I’d have something warm in bed with me at night. Jilly’s taken up to sleeping in Katie’s room. Like she’s protecting her or something. She don’t need no protecting. I’m her daddy, not some bum off the street. I tried praying these demons away, even talked to Reverend Tanner ‘bout it. Maybe I lost my soul backin‘Nam.

Kate closedthe book as tears formed in her eyes. Logan gave her a quick glance then dropped the box he’d been digging through and knelt in frontofher.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” heasked.

“I always thought he did it onpurpose.”