Although now that Theo had returned, it would no longer be her duty to water the plants, check the house, and take care of the bees that meant so much to Walt. These tasks were now Theo’s responsibility, and Fern could only guess this was why he had asked her to come up to the house today. He most likely wanted to go over everything there was to do. What other reason could there be?
Fern stopped her thoughts in their tracks as they attempted to explore why else Theo might want to see her. He had been all over the world and met lots of interesting people, which meant he would have no interest in a woman like her.
But a girl can dream, her mind insisted. Not this girl, she told it firmly. She knew where dreams ended and it was never in a happy ever after. Not for her.
As if merely thinking of Theo conjured him into existence, she peered out of the car window at the figure walking along the road in front of her. Theo.
Slowly gaining on him, she pulled alongside and then stopped, rolling the window down as he bent and looked inside the car. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she croaked. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “Hi, want a lift?” It hadn’t occurred to her that he had no transport. “I should have thought to give you a ride.”
“I like the exercise,” he said. “But I had forgotten how far the house was from town. It’s been years since I’ve walked here. Not that I’m incapable of making it…”
“I could go on ahead and put a fresh pot of coffee on,” she said. Fern seemed more relaxed now that it was just the two of them.
“You could. Or I could get a ride and put the coffee pot on for us both.” He reached into his pack. “I also stopped by the bakery on the way up here and bought a pie.”
“What kind of pie?”
“Cherry. It smells delicious. It’s still warm,” Theo said, making Fern’s mouth water at the thought of eating a big slice of pie, but not as much as it watered at the thought of a big slice of the man standing next to her car. Ever since he had gotten into her car this morning, a dull ache had begun deep inside her core, which grew in intensity the closer she was to Theo.
“The cherry pie might just persuade me to give you a lift,” Fern stated, her face serious. Was she trying in her own clumsy way to flirt with this man? The smile faltered on her lips; she should just turn the car around and drive away. Far away from the heartache she was setting herself up for.
Before she had a chance to retract her offer, he opened the passenger door, put his pack on the back seat, and then slid in next to her, pie in hand. “I’m still trying to make up for the many long days of living on survival rations.”
“It must be an awesome thing to do… Climb Everest.” She stumbled over her words, his proximity overwhelming.
“It is. I’ve done some amazing things in my life, been to some incredible places,” he informed her, his eyes distant as if reliving them right now.
“Bear Creek must seem a bit boring next to that,” Fern said.
“Not really. It’s where my heart lives. I was only thinking on this last trip, that it might be time to come visit for a spell.” He smiled at her. “The adventurer in me is all done in. Sometimes you have to go away to find out where your heart truly lies. I only wish I’d come home to see my dad more often.”
“He understands… Doesn’t he?” Fern asked.
“I hope so,” Theo said.
“When I couldn’t get hold of you, he kept telling me how proud he was.”
“He did?” Theo asked, sounding surprised.
“Yes. I’m not just saying that,” she told him firmly. “I wouldn’t make it up.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean to imply you were.” His hand covered hers, sending shock waves through her body. She was falling, and falling fast. Taking a deep breath, she felt her throat start to contract; she was on the verge of a panic attack. “Pull over.”
She did as he instructed, and pulled over to the side of the road, not that any other vehicle was likely to come along the narrow road, and if they did they would not be able to pass anyway. Turning off the ignition, she closed her eyes and concentrated on her breath. In and out. In and out.
Theo put his hand on her back and rubbed it in a circular motion, soothing her with his voice. “Breathe. It’s OK. That’s it, good girl.”
He spoke to her as if she were a child, which made her heart fracture and threaten to break. Yet at the same time she didn’t want him to stop, she wanted to feel loved, to feel the warmth and comfort of another human being. Fern’s breath shuddered in her chest. History was repeating itself, and the memory of her first encounter with Carter Eden came rushing at her, the sense of attachment, of relief that someone outside of her home life might want her. She was a stupid child then, was she being a stupid child now?
“Better?” he asked.
She nodded and lifted her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Much, thank you.”
Fern waited for the questions, but they never came. He shifted his weight, and sat back in his seat, and simply asked, “Do you want me to drive?”
“No. I’m good, thanks.”
Fern started the engine and gripped the steering wheel tightly to stop her hands from shaking as she nursed her car, so battered like its owner, up the hill. A wave of relief filled her as she saw the little house appear. She had grown to love it up here. She loved looking down on the town below, close, but just out of reach. Here she had tended Walt’s garden as best she could, and looked after his bees, although they appeared to be pretty much self-sufficient.
And for the first time, she had been able to relax, and let go of the tension she carried around with her. The pent-up pressure of so many unresolved emotions had begun to dissipate, and a sense of belonging had settled on her. Not a belonging to the town, she didn’t think that would ever happen, but to the land, to the mountain.
She was so full of romantic shit it scared her.
“Coffee and pie first,” Theo said, getting out of the car and coming around to her side and opening her door. He offered her his hand and she took it, allowing him to help her.
“That sounds good.” She nodded, and then turned around to take a look at the scene below them.
“Even though I never went far as a child because of my mom, I have to admit it never bothered me as much as it should.”
Fern turned to look at Theo; he was nearly as good to look at as the valley below. “You didn’t long to escape?”
“No.” He turned in a slow circle, taking in his surroundings. “This is home.” He took in a deep breath of air and she found herself doing the same. “I have missed this place, no matter where I went, the air was never as sweet, the mountains never as pretty. The people never as friendly.” He smiled, and a pink tinge crossed his cheeks. “You have to excuse the writer in me. It makes me sound like a sap if I’m not careful.”
“No,” Fern said, her body drawn to him, to the words he spoke, and the way his hands moved when he spoke. “I like it.”
He grinned, looking self-conscious. “I like that you like it.”
It was Fern’s turn to blush. Unable to hold his gaze, she looked away, her arms folded across her chest as if warding him off. Why couldn’t she open herself up to him? Why couldn’t she be more like Teagan? They had been in Bear Creek the same amount of time, but while Teagan had made friends, fitted in, and become accepted, Fern still lived on the fringes, unable to take the first step toward being a part of something outside of herself.
“Come on, this pie is not going to stay warm much longer.” He reached for her hand, and she surprised herself by not pulling away. The sensations he evoked in her body swept over her, and she let them, not fighting them, just allowing them to be.
He led her toward the house, put his hand on the doorknob, and turned it. “It’s locked. Sorry,” she said, and reluctantly pulled her hand from his and fished the keys out of her purse. “I thought it was best, since no one was living here.”
“Good thinking,” he said, and stood back while she in
serted the key in the lock and turned it.
Before they went inside, she handed the keys to him. “These are yours.”
He accepted the keys, looking at them for a long moment before saying, “Thank you for taking care of the house.”
“It was only for a short time,” she said with a frown. Theo looked distant, a melancholy expression on his face as his thumb brushed over the key fob. “I remember giving this to my mom.”
Fern had taken little notice of the keys; she had figured the small bear on a chain was simply something that had caught Walt’s eye in the local store. Which had a lot of bear trinkets, probably for the tourists who visited. “Do you miss her a lot?” Fern cast her eyes up to meet Theo’s. “Of course you do.” She ducked her head: it was a stupid question, normal people missed their parents, because normal people loved their parents.
“I do. Although I was so young, I hardly remember her. Just pictures.” He sighed. They were standing on the threshold of the small house, and he seemed almost reluctant to go inside. “I used to think I’d come home from school and find my mom sitting in her favorite chair by the window watching the mountain.” Theo gave a short laugh. “Stupid, I know.”
“I’m sorry you lost her,” Fern said. Fate was cruel sometimes; Fern understood that better than most people ever would.
“It’s not your fault, it’s no one’s fault. Life just happens, you know.” He stood looking down at her, his eyes warm, his lips close, and she wanted to kiss him more than she had ever wanted anything in her life—even more than she had ever wanted Carter Eden.
She smiled to herself, a small chink of the chain that bound her emotions breaking away.
“I like it when you smile,” Theo said. He lifted his hand and brushed her hair away from her face, a small action, but there was so much that she could read into it. So much she wanted to read into it. And when he moistened his lips and leaned forward, she was ready to take a chance on this not being a lie. Her brain hammered out the words that he didn’t really want her, that he had been starved of more than good food while up on Everest, and she was a convenient body to indulge himself with.
He didn’t know she had never been with a man. He didn’t know she was scared as hell, that inside she was trembling like a leaf on a tree caught in a maelstrom of emotions. He didn’t know how much she wanted this, as if they were fairy-tale characters and one kiss from her true love would solve all her problems.
He didn’t know… And she would never find out. His lips were a breath away, she could feel the heat of him, when a car came up the narrow road and parked up outside the house.
Theo pulled back, and turned his head to see who it was. Fern straightened and took a step away from him, guilt filling her as Teagan got out of her car and called, “I thought I’d bring some supplies.”
Theo touched her hand briefly, his smile apologetic. As he walked away from her, Fern could not work out if Teagan had just saved her from making another mistake, or whether she had ruined the most magical moment of her life.
Chapter Six – Theo
It was hard to be mad with Teagan, who had no idea what she had interrupted, but his disappointment at not sharing his first kiss with Fern made his smile strained as he walked down the steps to help carry in the groceries Teagan had brought. The cherry pie was left to turn cold while he emptied the groceries out onto the counter and began to put them away. Most of them were not needed; Walt seemed to have been storing up enough food to survive an apocalypse.
“Wow, I think Walt must have been buying groceries as though you all still lived at home,” Teagan exclaimed as she tried to cram more beans onto an already overstuffed shelf in the kitchen.
“I’d agree with you there,” Theo said, pulling out a box of what used to be his favorite cookies. They were way out of date. “I think I’ve found my first chore. Clear out the kitchen.”
“Oh no, buster. Your first job has to be the harvesting of honey. I need it for the next batch of beer.” Teagan stood with her hands on her hips. “You do know how to harvest the honey, don’t you?”
“I do,” Theo said, placing the box of cookies down on the counter. “You mean now?”
“No time like the present,” Teagan said chirpily.
“I’ll put the coffee pot on,” Fern said.
“Thanks.” Theo’s eyes caressed her as she moved; he couldn’t pull his gaze from her, something Teagan noticed. When he finally took a step toward the door, Teagan gave him a look that told him she had guessed exactly what was going through his head. And his body.
“Shall we go?” Teagan said, walking backwards out of the door, her expression full of concern as she watched Fern.
“Sure.” He followed her outside, hating to leave Fern behind. The strand of energy that connected them felt stretched, but he knew it would not break. They were bonded together.
“Fern is your mate?” Teagan hissed loudly when they were outside.
“Yes,” he confided, guilt sweeping over him. Fern should be the first to know, not Teagan, and yet Teagan could possibly offer him the answers to the questions Walt had hinted at.
“OK.” Teagan stopped in her tracks, and turned to face him, her expression fierce. “I am going to say this once, and only once, you had better not break her heart.” She put her hands on her hips and thrust her body forward. “I mean it.”
“Hey,” Theo started. “Yes, she is my mate. You should know I have no intention of breaking her heart. It’s the last thing I would ever do.”
Teagan narrowed her eyes, and studied him. “Good.” She let her hands drop to her sides and then turned around to walk to where Walt had positioned the hives. “I’m sorry, I know it’s none of my business, but I have this protective streak a mile wide when it comes to Fern.” She slowed and fell into step within him. “It’s more like a hundred miles wide.”
Teagan cast him an apologetic smile, and he tried to set her at ease. “I like that. I especially like that you are looking out for my mate.”
“Fern and I have a lot in common. We ended up in the system.”
“The system… You mean in foster care?” Theo could not imagine what it must be like not to have a family to depend on.
“Yes.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to say anymore. Not about Fern at least.”
“I agree.” Theo thought back to the panicked look on Fern’s face as she struggled for breath. “She had it bad, though. Can you at least tell me that?”
“She’s never told me the whole story. I didn’t know her back then, we met a few months back when I interviewed her and Carter. And don’t ask me about that either. It’s her story to tell.” Teagan conceded. “But from what I do know, yes, it was bad.”
He didn’t ask Teagan about the scars on Fern’s wrists. When she was ready … if she ever was ready, then she could tell him. Until then, he was going to respect her privacy. All he would do was make sure she knew she could trust him, and that he would be there for her no matter what. Past, present, future, they were a couple now. She just didn’t know it yet.
The soothing sound of the bees reached his ears, and he stood for a moment watching them work. Walt had always kept bees. Long before he had met his mate, and settled down with her here on top of the mountain, he had kept a couple of hives. When they were kids, they would come out here, Theo and Cathy, shift into their bears, and Walt would let them lick the fresh honey off the combs.
“You are drooling,” Teagan said, slapping him playfully across the stomach. “I need this for the beer. So don’t you go and eat it all.”
“I won’t.” He laughed as she watched him go to the small shed where Walt kept all the gear. “You are a hard taskmaster.”
“I feel responsible. Carter and Caroline left me in charge of the house. Walt was in charge of the brewery. With Walt out of action, I’ve taken on all of it.” Teagan’s voice carried into the shed, where he was rummaging around for the suit Walt used and the hat and veil. His dad didn’t usually bother w
ith it all, he used to say the bees knew him. But Theo was a stranger to them, and he did not intend to get stung.
“If you need a hand, just give me a shout.”
“Do you know anything about making beer?” Teagan called.
“Some, I wrote an article about a start-up in Peru. They were working as a community to build a business.”
“Are you OK in there?” Teagan said, coming closer as Theo tipped over a box of fuel for the smoker.
“Got it.” He held the overalls up triumphantly.
“You are never going to fit in those,” Teagan announced.
“Want to bet?”
“Yes.” She laughed as he put he put his foot in the leg of the suit and pulled it up. “Snug.”
He wriggled into the suit, with the help of Teagan—well, as much as she could help since she found the whole thing hysterical. “Maybe I should just go in as a bear.”
“Maybe you should. Although I’m sure they will still sting your snout. And I don’t think they make beekeeper’s hats for bear heads.”
“Does Fern know?”
“About…?” Teagan’s eyes widened. “You mean about us being…” She mouthed the words bears.
“Yes. About us.” Theo was sure he knew the answer, but wanted to be sure. The last thing he wanted to do was earn Fern’s trust and then spring the shifter surprise on her.
“No. Do you want me to tell her?” Teagan asked.
“She’s going to have to know at some point.” The shed was stuffy, and he couldn’t wait to get outside. All he had to do was put the hat on, and his gloves.
“She sure is going to need to know. And she needs to be told gently. It’s going to come as a surprise.”
“To say the least,” Theo agreed. “Whichever one of us gets the opportunity, we tell her, OK?”
“Sounds good,” Teagan said. “There, you look suitably alien-like.”
“Thank you.” He walked stiffly out of the shed, the too-tight clothing making him feel like a turkey trussed up for Thanksgiving.
“Coffee?” Fern asked. He turned to see her standing to the right side of the shed, a tray of coffee set down on a tree stump.
Honey Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 3) Page 4