Page 71 of The Grizzly Situation

“Got you,” I replied, thoughts of Brent now filling my head. “And I think I know what to do.”

Benjy gave a wicked grin. “I believe you do.”

Someone was going to be in for a surprise tonight.

BRENT

The driveway.Finally. It had been a long, grueling day. Having Cait back had turned out to be a blessing after all. The phonenever stopped ringing and people kept popping by to update me, instead of waiting for our meetings, though there were a few of those too. It was like something was in the air, and I was the last one to know. The highlight of the day was the letter in my pocket. Sandy had written and said she and Tom were having the time of their lives, but that they still missed the boys and me. After reading it, I stuffed it into my pants, then called her.

“Mr. Lockhart?” she said, sounding shocked.

“Hey, how are you?”

“We’re good. How about you?” She gasped. “Is something wrong with the boys? Tom, turn around. We need to get?—”

“No, stop that! Everything is fine, I promise. I got your letter and felt a little homesick, so wanted to give you a call.”

A slow sigh slid out of her. “We miss you all too. Right now we’re camped in Denali National Park. We got here a couple days ago and met the nicest brown bear shifter and his family. We’ve been hanging out with them, eating some of the local food, tromping around in their forests, and the like. It’s nice, but it isn’t the same as our place.”

“Ask him!” Tom whispered.

“Are you sure?” she replied, hand apparently over the phone.

“You won’t know until we ask.”

Then she came back. “Mr. Lockhart? We were wondering….”

“Yes, of course you can bring your brown bear friends here to see the town and run through the mountains.”

“Really? Oh, thank you.”

“I can’t wait to meet them.”

We chatted a few more minutes, but then she asked something that had me questioning everything.

“What’s going on there? Everything all right?”

And my first thought was Uly. About how my bear—and now me—couldn’t live without him. About how I remembered sexwith Jenna, and how it sometimes got loud and physical. Uly wasn’t a bear. He didn’t have the stamina or the strength.

“You’re hedging. What’s up?”

“I…. Can you put me on speaker so Tom can hear this too?”

The first time she disconnected the call, then when my phone rang I chuckled.

“I am so sorry!” she practically shouted. “I never get that button right. I have you on speaker now. What’s going on?”

“Well, I… met someone.”

“Really? Great! It was Ms. Lopez, wasn’t it?” She sighed. “We knew you two would hit it off.”

“It wasn’t Ms. Lopez,” I cut in. “In fact, you don’t know the person. I met them in Milwaukee.”

“Well, tell us about her!” Tom said, a smile in his voice.

“See, that’s the thing. It’s not a her, and he’s human.”

Twin gasps came through the phone, then there was silence.