Page 6 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)

FIVE

TEDDY

“ H ow was school?” I looked at Bear in the rearview mirror, and he glanced at me before quietly turning to look out the window.

Worry knotted in my stomach, and I took big, deep breaths in an effort to soothe it. How badly could it have gone? Wesley hadn’t said anything, and I hadn’t received any calls while he was at school.

“How was Mr. Crawford?” This time, he didn’t even acknowledge my question. But I wasn’t giving up. “Did you make any friends?”

Bear put his elbow on the window and rested his head on his hand as if he were bored. Or fed up. Couldn’t blame the poor guy. He’d been through so much in such a short life. I couldn’t even imagine what the last few weeks had felt like for him.

“Buddy-Bear? Did something happen? Are you mad at me?”

He turned to me, opened his mouth, and I waited with bated breath for his next string of words, but they never came. He pressed his lips and leaned against his hand again.

“Are you hungry? Want to grab something to eat?”

He looked back at me and gave the smallest, gentlest, barely noticeable nod.

I didn’t care. To me, that counted leaps and bounds, so I changed course, headed back into the town center, and parked.

Then we walked along the Main Street until we came across a burger place named Big Buns, where all the staff were female in hotpants, with their cleavage prominently displayed, and ordered a double cheese and bacon burger meal for me and chicken nuggets with fries for Bear.

It was an odd find on a small island like Mayberry Holm, and I couldn’t help but wonder how viable their business plan was.

His meal came with juice, a salad, and a dinosaur toy. As soon as we sat down, he pushed the salad away, snatched the dinosaur, and made it walk on the table while stuffing his mouth silly with french fries.

“Ew,” he muttered and spilled the fries right out.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, ignoring the mushy mess that spilled over the tray onto the table in front of him.

“Ketchup.” He grimaced.

“Oh. Right. I’m sorry.” I pushed my chair back and went to grab some ketchup and a bunch of napkins to clean up after him.

I really needed to start carrying baby wipes with me.

Bear completely ignored me when I returned to the table and poured a ton of sauce on his fries, but as soon as his food was “flavored,” he grabbed another handful and unceremoniously shoved it in his mouth.

I bit my lip. Dinner time—or lunch time, or breakfast time—might be frustrating, but he was still too damn cute for his own good.

Even when covered in blood-red sauce and acting as if I didn’t exist.

The chicken nuggets were equally drenched in sauce before he ate a couple of them, leaving the rest to go cold. When he was done, I led him to the restrooms so he could wash his hands before we returned to the lodge and retreated into the shared living room. Bear turned on the TV.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

He simply shrugged without turning away from the screen, and I sighed, sinking farther into the sofa.

I was in over my head. Way over my head.

Had he always been this distant and uncooperative, or had the events of the last few weeks changed his demeanor? Was this what Josie had dealt with every day?

I had no idea. If only I’d spent more time at home. If only I’d been there for him.

And her. Maybe she’d still be alive today if I had.

But it was no use trying to unscramble the eggs once they were done. These were the cards I’d been dealt, and I simply needed to play the game.

And boy, did I play the game.

And boy, did I lose the game, over and over and over again.

After five days in Mayberry Holm, Bear was still my biggest challenge.

Bubble tea was easy to learn, as was learning to make the coffees people occasionally asked for.

Learning the ins and outs of the neighborhood, where everything was located, was a piece of cake, but Bear?

Bear was like a wild animal in captivity. I never knew which version I would get.

Sometimes it was the mellow, quiet kid who looked adorable and was easy to be around.

Other times, it was tantrum-central over the simplest things and trying to understand and fix any problems was an impossible task.

The oddest things seemed to set him off. A door closing. A toy being misplaced. Me going to the bathroom.

But I wasn’t giving up. I’d keep playing the game, keep losing until the odds changed in my favor. Bear needed me to keep trying no matter what, whether he knew it or not.

“Morning, Teddy,” Hwan chirped as soon as I walked into work on Friday.

“Morning, boss,” I answered and approached the counter, tying my apron on.

“Aren’t you looking dapper this morning?” he said and nudged me with his elbow.

I laughed.

“It’s the apron,” I tell him. “It’s freshly washed and ironed.”

Hwan blew raspberries and rolled his eyes.

“It’s not just the apron. But it does look good on you.”

I cast a glance at my blurry reflection in the metallic surface of the fridge and bit my lip. I was starting to like the pink. Not that I’d ever had anything against it, but after wearing black and gray all my life, wearing something so…loud took some adjusting.

But Hwan was right. It did look good on me.

“What is this I’m hearing about other men looking good?” Parker, my old teammate and Hwan’s boyfriend, showed up behind me with his own pink apron on. He walked over to Hwan and planted a big smooch on his lips.

“I was just telling Teddy he looks good today!” Hwan said, and Parker’s eyebrows furrowed.

“I thought compliments were reserved just for me,” he grumbled in Hwan’s ear.

Hwan gasped in fake shock and patted Parker’s cheek a couple of times.

“Of course not, darling. It’s a privilege of all employees of Bubble Bubble.”

“Hmm,” Parker huffed. “Me no like.”

Hwan raised an eyebrow.

“What is this? Have we gone caveman again?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Not that I wasn’t, but Parker was a walking juxtaposition.

Officer Grumpy-Pants was all kinds of tall, dark, and broody, and the last place anyone would expect to find him was working at a bubble tea shop while wearing a pink apron, but I’d be damned if it didn’t suit him.

Not just the job and the uniform, but Hwan too.

When they were together, they…made the room sparkle. Sizzle even. I didn’t know what it was. Or more precisely, I knew what it was, but not what it felt like.

I’d never had any kind of relationship that had made me feel as…as alive as Parker looked spinning around Hwan’s orbit. It made me envious watching them, hearing them, being next to them.

Not because I wanted either of them. It was because I didn’t have anyone in my life who gave me that sparkle. That sizzle. No one I could turn to and lean on. Someone to hold me and listen to me and tell me it would all be okay.

I sighed and turned toward the refrigerated unit where we stored all our popping bobas and chocolate toppings and made a list of the ones that needed refilling.

“Okay, okay, Mr. Dorothy. Stop. I think we’re making Teddy uncomfortable,” Hwan said and pushed the doting Parker away from his lips and body.

“You-you’re not,” I mumbled, offering a smile to reassure them.

“There, see?” Parker said and grabbed Hwan by the waist, pulling him into his arms. “Teddy doesn’t mind. It’s not like he’s never been in love.”

Correction: I hadn’t ever been in love, but I wasn’t about to tell them that, so instead, I retreated to the back to grab the bags of boba we needed.

When I returned, they were both busy with orders, thankfully, and I got on with my task undisturbed.

I didn’t mind them being loving in front of me. I really didn’t. I just…I didn’t know what to do with myself when I saw them hugging or kissing. Not that the feeling was exclusive to those two. I didn’t know what to do whenever any couple around me was being all couple-y .

“Oh, Teddy, can you make me a Dirty Biscuit tea with tapioca and extra caramel drizzle, please?” Hwan asked between customers.

I checked the order tickets so I could nab it before it was made twice, but I couldn’t find it.

“Oh, it’s just for…me.”

I stared at him for a moment and then got on with the order.

He’d been asking me to make a Dirty Biscuit tea all week, randomly at all times during the work day.

I’d made it like twenty times by now, and out of all the special blends, it was the one I knew by heart.

But I’d never seen him drink it. Instead, he gave it to a random person each time as a gift.

It was like he was testing me or something, and I had no idea why.

Surely if he wanted to test me, he would ask me to make all kinds of tea, right?

I didn’t care either way. This job was a breeze.

It wasn’t easy by any means. Maybe it wasn’t physically demanding like my last job, but it had its moments too.

It was especially stressful when it got super busy and people got impatient but despite all that it was still an easy-going job, and I was grateful to have it.

And grateful to Hwan for giving it to me.

When I returned to the counter, I found another familiar face staring back at me.

“Reyes?” I said and waved at Azrael, another old teammate.

He smiled at me with his full set of teeth, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

A man next to him was pushing a stroller, and he leaned closer to Azrael and stared me down.

“Who is this hot piece of candy?” he said, and I choked on nothing but air.

“Come on, Duke! You know it’s Teddy. Get with the program.” Hwan snapped his fingers in front of the young blond man named Duke.

“No one warned me he was such a looker,” he replied, and Azrael cried a “hey.”

“Aww, are you jealous, babe? Don’t worry. You know you’re the only one for me!” Duke said, and Azrael narrowed his eyes, pouting with uncertainty.

“Sure. Sure,” he replied.

“Hey, just because you put a ring on it doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to look,” Duke said.

“As long as you don’t touch, you can look all you want,” Azrael said, and I took a step back, not sure how to feel about being the center of everyone’s attention and admiration.

I’d never had that. I’d never had people tell me right to my face that I was handsome or whatever.

The best I’d gotten was “you’re not bad to look at,” but this was a whole other level.

It was strange. Even stranger that it was coming from men.

Not for any other reason than I was so used to being surrounded by guys who didn’t talk about feelings and whose idea of small talk was scoring boobs or lays.

With my arrival in Mayberry Holm, it was as if I’d entered an alternate, alien universe, and it would take some time to learn the language, even if life on the island was as easy as breathing.

“Teddy, are you okay?” Hwan asked me, and I snapped out of whatever mental whirlwind I was going through.

I nodded.

“I’m good. Yeah. Sorry. You two are engaged? That’s brilliant,” I told Azrael and Duke, walking around to properly congratulate them.

Azrael took the chance to officially introduce me to his fiancé and his son, Noah.

“I didn’t know you had a son,” I told him, but the truth was I didn’t know much about any of my teammates, except the ones who constantly bragged about their wives and kids.

“Me neither until a few months ago,” he answered.

He pulled me aside to one of the tables with Parker and caught me up on the goings-on of his life for the last few months since he’d settled on the island.

When he was done, we turned to look back at the counter in unison and found both their boyfriends staring at us with bemused expressions while sharing the Dirty Biscuit tea I’d made.

“That’s quite something,” I told my teammates and turned to look at Azrael again.

His eyes were glowing. Despite the shitshow that had gone down, he couldn’t look happier.

And once again, I couldn’t help but feel envious of what he had.

He had a family of his own and he’d found his calling.

Studying to be a doctor. Helping with Duke’s shelter.

Getting involved with Goodman’s wild mission.

How long would it be before my life looked more manageable? I didn’t even want love and companionship at this point. I just…I just wanted Bear to be okay and our communication to be better. Was that too much to ask for?

Perhaps it was. It had barely been three weeks since Josie died. Things couldn’t change for the better overnight.

And yet, one could still hope.

The door chimes jingled, and we got up from our chairs and turned to look at the man who entered. Goodman walked in, zeroing in on us with a serious expression.

“Glad to find you here,” he said, and we sat back down. Goodman grabbed a free chair from the next table, spun it around, and sat on it backward, leaning his arms over the backrest.

“What’s up? Any news?” Parker asked.

Goodman shook his head.

“Nothing yet, but I need some help with the surveillance of the house on Aster Lane. Things are getting a little busy over at The Outpost, and I don’t want to wear the others out.”

I still didn’t have much of an idea of what they were talking about, but after the catch-up, I could put two and two together. This had something to do with the criminal activities on the island. I wanted to know more, if only so I knew how much danger Bear was in.

“I can help. For sure,” Azrael said and turned to Parker, who agreed.

“Me too,” I added before I could think twice.

“No. It’s okay, Teddy. We promised to keep you out of this,” Azrael said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you’ve got your hands full with Bear. We don’t want to put him or you in any danger,” Goodman said.

“You do it, and you’ve got a baby,” I pointed at Azrael.

“Yeah, I know, but…we’re already in the shit. There’s no need to involve you.”

I huffed and leaned back in the chair.

“The way I see it, I’m already involved whether I like it or not. The moment I set foot on this island, I became part of this. I work with Hawkins for crying out loud.” I pointed at Parker. “It’s a bit late to worry about involving me. Unless…”

Oh crap.

I hadn’t thought of that possibility.

“Unless you don’t think I’m good enough to do this.”

“No. What the hell are you talking about? Of course you are.” Goodman had raised his voice.

“Then I want to do this. I need to understand what I’m dealing with here.”

And maybe feel a little useful around here.

“Fine. It’s just surveillance, all right? Don’t do anything stupid.”

I glared at my old commander and shook my head.

“You don’t need to tell me.”

There was no way I was leaving Bear without a parent again. Which was why I needed to do this, as stupid as it sounded.