Page 17 of Have a Bear-y Little Christmas

Although, Nessie was real.

“Hmm, the sun’s not fully set yet, so I don’t think any will be out for a long while. Besides, you’ve got your daddy with you, right? I don’t think any vamps would try him.”

She shot a wink my way, and I was surprised when my cheeks heated a bit.

Huh. That was interesting.

“So, what do you say? Piggyback or skate?”

“I… I can skate. Can you help my daddy get there? He’s hopeless.”

Now why amIcatching strays?

Nevertheless, it was a relief to hear my daughter sound like herself. I didn’t know when she’d developed a phobia of blood, but at least we found out this way rather than in a more dire situation. Granted, I didn’t want either of my children to be in any dire situation at all!

“Ah, you don’t have to help us,” I said, like a lying liar who was definitely lying. And not well, I might add, because my feet were slowly sliding apart from each other. “Now that you’ve got me on my feet, we’re good to go.”

“Eh, it’s time for our mandatory break anyway,” the woman said with a bit of a shrug. “It really is no trouble.”

“Well, if you were going to stop anyway...”

She offered her hand again, having dropped mine after I’d gotten to my feet, and I grasped it once more. While Ihadn’t even really thought about the contact the first time—the situation had been rather stressful and abrupt—now I couldn’t help but notice how my hand completely enveloped hers even with her mittens, and how she was so much cooler to the touch than I was.

“Right this way,” she said, grinning in a way that I could see even through her mask, and although I was sure that she had more teeth than her son, I could tell that his smile was a copy-paste of her own. “You can slide forward one foot and then the other if you want, but it can be hard to keep your balance that way, so if you want, you can try walking like a penguin.”

“A penguin?”

As much as I liked to think of myself as a fairly mature guy without that whole toxic masculinity hang-up, my pride was smarting a bit at how completely useless I was at something my own kids seemed to pick up so easily. My inner bear didn’t care, readily settling down into slumber, but man, my ego sure did. It made me want to prove myself in some other way, which was pretty foolish.

“Yeah, feet out at an angle, very short steps. You know, like a penguin.”

Oh, now that she’d said it like that, it made a certain sort of sense.

It certainly wasn’t graceful, but it wasn’t like the alternative was, so I waddled along with her steadying me until all five of us were safely off the ice. Although Addy was doing better, I could still smell stress and embarrassment wafting from her.

“I really appreciate you helping out,” I said once my feet were on solid ground and I felt like my normal, capable self again.

“Not a problem at all. I know what it’s like when you see one of your kids is hurting. It’s a red alert of the highest magnitude.”

“You’re not kidding,” I agreed with a laugh. And I supposed I could have left it there, but it wasn’t in my nature to let a gooddeed go unrewarded, especially when it was a good deed that meant so much to me. “Here, let me buy you guys something from the snack booths as a thank you. Something warm?”

“Oh no, you don’t have to do anything like that. Max was just being a regular Good Samaritan.”

“That may be the case, but please, I insist. Nothing like a tummy full of warm food after saving the day.” I would drop it if she declined again, but I figured that social norms were what made her refuse rather than actually not wanting some free food.

“I’d love one of those giant pretzels!” the boy chimed in, and that’s when his mother gave me a bashful sort of grin.

“Well then, thank you, we would love a nice warm treat.”

“The pleasure is all mine...”

“Jeannie, and this is Max,” she answered quickly. “And you?”

“You can call me Remy, and these are my daughters, Addy and Eva. Say hello, you two.”

“Hello, Max! Hello, Miss Jeannie! Thank you for helping my sister and my daddy. I didn’t need any help, though.” Eva said.

I winced because even though my daughters got along just fine, those were fighting words. Thankfully, Addy didn’t even seem to register it. She tilted her head toward the two strangers.