Page 67 of The Grizzly Situation

“Good to meet you, Mr. McNamara.”

“Uly, please,” I said. “And the pleasure is mine.”

“What do you think of Ursine?”

“Oh, I love it here. I’m taking on the job of manny for Mr. Lockhart.”

His eyes narrowed and he mouthed, “Brent.”

“Oh, lovely. It’ll be good to have more bears in town.”

Brent cleared his throat. “Cait? Uly is human.”

She gasped. “Oh my God, I am so sorry!”

“It’s fine. He knows about us.”

“He… He does?”

“Yup. He was watching after the boys and while they were all napping, they shifted and curled up behind his legs. He freaked out when he woke to find himself in bed with two cubs. And because he thought the boys were gone.”

“They shifted? I thought they wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, there’s a story there. Let me run through it quick or… Wait. Uly? Why don’t you tell her?”

“Me?” I squeaked.

“Yup. It’s all because of you this started, so it seems fitting that you tell the tale.”

I was so screwed.

BRENT

Honestly,I wanted Uly to become familiar with Cait. As my assistant, she would be talking to him pretty often since I’d be out of the office more once she came back.

“Well… it started in a coffee shop when a group of businessmen walked in.”

“Oh! You work at Espresso Shot! I saw the website and it looked great.”

“Actually, it was Expresso. Uncle Dom liked to play with the alternate spelling, making it seem like everything was express service. It seemed to work for him. The place was usually busy, which is why I don’t work there anymore. After he discovered I had ten thumbs and none of them worked together, he was about to let me go, but I quit first.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. Thanks to Mr. Lockhart I made changes in my life. I went to the doctor, who diagnosed me with ADHD and put me on meds that helped me focus. Getting here was like a beautiful dream. I find I like Bear Mountain a lot better than where I used to live. It’s cleaner, prettier, and….” He looked at me. “Has much better things going for it. It feels like home to me.”

“I’m glad. We could use some new blood around here.”

“So, was there something you needed, Cait? We’re in the helicopter and Uly is too wimpy to fly it himself.”

She snorted. Just hearing her voice let me know how much more relaxed she was. “I was calling to let you know I’m coming back on Monday.”

“Yeah, no. I do believe I gave you off six weeks, not four.”

“But,” she whined. “We’re both ready to come home.”

“Okay, fine. Put me on the phone with Devon so I can see if he agrees.”

“Happy to,” she said, her voice smug. “Devon? I told you he’d want to talk with you.”