Babysitter Bear

by Zoe Chant

  It was a startling interruption when her phone buzzed. She sat up and checked it, and was astonished to see what time it was. Hours had passed as if they were nothing.

  "Important?" Dan asked.

  "It's Mrs. Hogan—Austin's friend's mom. She just texted to let me know that she dropped him off at my house." She took a deep breath and mustered a smile as she typed out a quick reply, then looked up. "I guess that this is my signal to head out for the evening. I'd be more comfortable if I don't leave him there alone too long."

  Dan nodded. "I get it. Believe me. I could put the kids in the car and come along, if you want me to do a sweep of the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure Ben's on patrol out there later tonight."

  "I don't think it'll be necessary. We'll be okay."

  "Well, call then," he said. "To let me know you got home okay."

  "I will," she said, deeply touched.

  They kissed again, slow and lingering, until she knew she had to get on the road or she was never going to leave. She was going to be drawn down into his narrow bed, and she'd undo his jeans and he'd undo her bra and ... yeah. Right. On task, brain.

  "I'd better get going," she murmured against his lips.

  "Yeah," he said.

  Neither of them moved. Then Paula grinned against his mouth, kissed him one more time, and rolled off the bed. She took a minute to make sure her sweater was straight and her hair was pulled back.

  "What do I look like?" she asked.

  "Amazing."

  "I mean, do I look like I just spent hours necking with a guy?"

  Dan laughed. He got up and carefully tweaked a curl behind her ear. "There. Perfectly respectable." He kissed the tip of her nose.

  She looked up at him, at his laughing eyes and the quick flash of teeth as he grinned, and it hit her all at once with a force that made her knees wobble: I am falling in love with this man.

  "You okay?" he asked, catching her elbow.

  "Yes," she said faintly, and then a little more strongly, "Yeah, just ... a head rush." Though not from standing up. "Come on, let's go roll my rugrat into her winter gear."

  Prying Lissy off the couch and away from the video game was difficult. Paula managed to get her up and moving by bribing her with a cookie, and the promise of another one once they were in the car. As soon as she was bundled into her winter gear, Lissy started yawning, so Paula suspected that they had timed it well.

  "I'm glad they get along," she said, wrapped up in Dan's arms for a lingering goodbye while the car warmed up and Lissy sprawled on the floor in her unzipped coat and complained about being too hot. "They're acting almost like siblings, aren't they?"

  "We had a little awkwardness in the beginning about sharing his horse with a girl, but he seemed to get over it as soon as they actually got on the same page."

  "Oh no," Paula said, between kisses. "Not a girl. How awful."

  "Mommmm," Lissy moaned from the floor.

  "I guess we need to get on the road," she said reluctantly, and hauled up her tragic, drooping bundle of videogame-deprived daughter.

  "Call me," Dan said. He pecked her cheek and then, to her surprise and delight, kissed the top of Lissy's head.

  "Say thank you to Dan for a nice evening," Paula told Lissy. "And for the cookies."

  "Thank you," Lissy mumbled, dangling out of Paula's arms as if all her bones had turned to Jello.

  "Do you really want to be carried to the car?"

  "Yes," Lissy said, and spoiled the effect by giggling. She had oozed down until her knees were on the floor.

  "You're much too heavy. Come on, honey, this isn't funny. You need to walk."

  "I'll carry her," Dan said, and Lissy squealed in delight as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

  "Put me down, no, I'm too big!"

  "Not for me," Dan said cheerfully. He winked at Paula. "Open the door, would you?"

  Paula laughed and opened it.

  It wasn't exactly the romantic walk to the car that she might have liked, not with a giggling, shrieking little girl slung across Dan's shoulder. But somehow it seemed appropriate to end the evening like this. Her life couldn't be separated from her children's lives, and one of the things she loved in Dan was that he didn't want to try. He accepted the complete package, kids and divorce and all.

  Lissy shrieked louder and clung as Dan threatened to drop her in the snow, but when he set her down, she buckled herself into the backseat with a surprising amount of agreeableness.

  Dan leaned over to give Paula one last goodnight kiss. It felt like they were banking kisses to be saved for the next few hours.

  "See you," she whispered against his cheek as he hugged her.

  "See you too," he whispered into her hair.

  And then she was pulling out of the driveway in the snow, looking back to see him standing in the cold, bare-armed with just his T-shirt on, waving. She rolled down the window to wave back, ignoring Lissy's squawk from the backseat.

  "Okay, okay, don't be a fragile flower. I'm rolling it up now."

  "Can I have my cookie now?" Lissy asked, and Paula passed it into the back.

  "So did you have fun playing with Sandy?"

  "He has so many games," Lissy said rapturously. "He has Ponymaker 12 with all the special patches and things. We made a pony with sixteen legs. And he has Truck Racer Evolution and we made a giant centipede truck that was actually a lot of little trucks all jammed together and it turns out that you can actually run them up the side of a building if they're long enough—"

  Paula went on making listening noises as she was regaled with the greatest hits of the night's gaming session all the way back to town. The house was mostly dark, with a light in the living room and another in the window of Austin's room.

  We're back, she texted Austin from the garage as she rousted Lissy out of the car, along with the Tupperware container of cookies that Dan had given her for the road. She was pleased to see that Austin had remembered to make sure all the doors were locked, and let herself into the house quietly.

  "Austin?" she called.

  No answer. He was probably upstairs. Still, while Lissy fussily peeled out of her outside gear in the entryway, Paula took a quick walk through the downstairs, turning on lights. Everything was fine, of course, and she turned them all off again and texted Dan to let him know she was home. Call you after Lissy's in bed, she texted. It was ridiculous, they'd just talked for hours, but already she couldn't wait to hear his voice again.

  Mina just woke up, so I'll be distracted for a while anyway, he texted back. Call anytime.

  Lissy had reached the cranky stage of tiredness and adrenaline crash after the games. Paula herded her upstairs and deposited her in the bathroom for teeth-brushing.

  "You go change into your pajamas when you're done, and I'll tuck you in soon, okay? I'm going to check on your brother."

  The door of Austin's room was firmly closed, with a stripe of light showing underneath. So he was still up. Paula tapped on the door, at first quietly, then more firmly.

  "Austin?" she called through the door. "Honey, it's Mom. I just want to say good night."

  There was no answer. He must have his headphones in, or maybe he'd fallen asleep with the light on. She knocked again.

  She really didn't like invading his privacy. And Austin, of course, being a teenager, had become increasingly defensive of his mother entering his personal space. She totally got it.

  But this was important.

  "Austin? Hon? I'm coming in."

  She cracked the door open and took a quick peek. There was no yell of "Mom, please!" In fact, there was no visible sign of Austin at all. Relieved that she wasn't about to walk in on him doing anything that would cause a teenager terminal embarrassment, she opened the door the rest of the way.

  Austin wasn't in the room.

  "Austin?" she said, startled.

  The room was bathed in warm light from the bedside lamp. There were some clothes scattered on the bed and the typical
explosion of books and papers on his desk. And not a single sign of Austin at all.

  She had a moment's startled thought that he was hiding in the closet for some reason, and even knowing it was stupid, she crossed the room in two quick steps to yank it open. No Austin. Not that she had actually thought he'd be there.

  "Austin?" she said again, foolishly, turning in place. There was nowhere else he could be.

  Maybe she'd missed seeing him downstairs?

  Maybe she had misunderstood the text from Mrs. Hogan, and he was staying with his friend overnight?

  She scrambled for plausible explanations, even as she felt panic clawing its way through her chest.

  Stumbling to the bed, she sank down while taking out her phone to send a text. Something in the mess crinkled under her.

  Paula twisted around and pulled it out. It was a sheet of paper from one of his school notebooks.

  Dear Mom,

  I'm sorry. I have to find Dad. It's important.

  Please don't worry about me.

  Love, Austin.

  Dan

  Dan was halfway down the stairs from giving Mina a late-night drink of water when the urgency of Paula's fear hit him like a hammer blow. He staggered and clutched at the railing.

  It was the second time he had felt this; the other time, of course, was when she had found the destroyed kitchen, waking him out of a sound sleep.

  Mate needs us!

  Mate needed them, but he couldn't leave the kids alone. His phone was downstairs on the table. He made it in a series of giant strides, taking three steps at a time, and was picking it up to call her when the phone vibrated and Paula's name came up on the screen.

  She was already talking when he answered.

  "Dan." Her voice was breathless. "Austin's gone."

  "Gone how?" He kept his voice steady. He needed to be a wall of strength for her now. "What happened?"

  "He's run away," she said, with a hitch in the middle of the sentence.

  Dan felt a little inward rush of relief. It wasn't good, but it wasn't a kidnapping or a home invasion or any of the other dire scenarios that had run through his head when her emotional turmoil had hit him through the mate bond.

  "When did he leave? How long has he been gone?"

  "I don't know." She swallowed. "No, wait. It can't be that long, because he was at his friend's house most of the evening. It's got to be sometime after Mrs. Hogan dropped him off. But I don't know where he went from there. I found a note on his bed saying he'd left to find his father. I've tried his phone a hundred times, but either he's not answering or it's turned off or—"

  "Okay, this is actually good," Dan told her. Dimly he was aware of the door opening, of quiet talk and giggling as Derek and Gaby trooped in, trying to be stealthy to avoid waking the kids. "We might not know where he is now, but we know where he's going, and we know he hasn't had time to get far."

  "Except we don't," she burst out miserably. "Because I don't know where his father is either!"

  "So where does he think his father is? Where would he go?"

  Paula swallowed. "The bus station," she said. "He might go there first. Oh my gosh, he might still be there. It's up on the highway—"

  "I know where it is." It seemed like a hundred years ago when he had stepped off the bus there, not knowing what the town held for him, knowing only that there was no future in what he left behind. "Derek and Gaby just got home. I can drive up and look."

  "Would you?" She sounded near tears. "I could get Lissy into the car, but she's in bed and I don't want to wake her up and panic her."

  "Don't worry about it," Dan told her. "I've got this. If he's not there, I'll get Derek and Ben on it. We'll find him." Between the three of them, following the boy's scent trail should be pretty easy if he hadn't hitchhiked.

  He hung up and bounded the rest of the way downstairs. Derek and Gaby were just taking off their coats as Dan snatched his off the hook.

  "You going out?" Derek asked in surprise. "You don't need to get anything out of the car. Gaby and I took care of it."

  Dan shook his head. "It's Paula. Her son is missing."

  Instantly Derek switched to business mode. "Damn it. We didn't have anyone on her house this evening. Ben is monitoring with his gadgets, but—"

  "No, it's not what you're thinking. Paula says he ran away." Dan zipped his coat one-handed, shoved a hand in his pocket to check for his wallet. "I'm going to check the bus station. If he's not there, though ..."

  "All hands on deck for a search," Derek agreed. "Man, it's not a good night to be a runaway out there. It's cold."

  "I'm hoping it won't come to that. If all goes well, in twenty minutes I'll fish him out of a nice, heated bus station lobby and take him back to his mom."

  As he reached for the door, Derek stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Tell me something," he said quietly, regarding Dan with his dark brown eyes. "About this woman. Paula. You're serious about her, aren't you?"

  "Very," Dan agreed, just as softly.

  "Is she your mate?"

  He didn't want to say it out loud, even to his best friend. He closed his eyes briefly instead.

  "Damn it," Derek muttered under his breath. "We were starting to suspect, Gaby and me. Does she know?"

  "No," Dan said shortly. "She doesn't know about shifters either. And that's something she has to hear from me."

  "I know. Trust me, I went through the whole 'by the way I turn into a bear' thing with Gaby." Derek smiled lopsidedly. "I'd offer pointers, but in our case Gaby was being stalked by another shifter, and she'd already seen him turn into a bear, so it wasn't a huge shock when I did it."

  "Okay, yeah, that's not gonna work here, unless it turns out that Terry's loan sharks are shifters, and I think Paula would have mentioned it."

  "Loan sharks who actually turn into sharks?"

  "Best case scenario. Sharks on dry land aren't much of a threat." Dan lifted his chin in a sharp nod. "And now I'm going to go get her kid back. I hope."

  "Take the Subaru," Derek said. "It's already warmed up."

  Derek was right, it was fiercely cold out in the country night, but his bear appreciated the bracing chill. Hot air blasted out of the Subaru's vents as he drove toward town.

  There was no sign of a teenager on the quiet streets of Autumn Grove. Dan drove through town slowly, keeping an eye out, and parked in the bus station's small parking lot. It had a big glass window facing the lot, with two short rows of plastic seats; it wasn't a big place.

  And Austin was clearly visible through the window, stretched out on one of the seats with his backpack tucked under his head.

  Dan huffed out a breath of tremendous relief. He killed the headlights so Austin didn't notice him, and called Paula.

  She picked up on the first ring. "Dan!"

  "Found him," Dan said. "We were right. He's at the bus station."

  Paula gave a shuddering exhalation that was close to a sob. "Are you with him? Can I talk to him?"

  "I'm still out in the parking lot. I haven't gone in. Don't want to spook him."

  "I don't think he'd run away from you."

  Dan wasn't so sure. Paula didn't know what it was like to be a teenage boy, mad at the world. But he did.

  "Do you want me to come?" Paula asked. "I can get a neighbor to stay with Lissy, or bring her along."

  "Not yet," Dan said. He was trying to think through what he would have wanted at that age. What would have convinced him to stay. "We don't want to make him feel crowded."

  "I'm just so worried about him. He's going through things, Dan. He won't talk to me."

  "He might talk to me. One guy to another. I can try. If it doesn't work, I'll call you."

  There was a pause and then she said softly, fervently, "I trust you."

  His heart clutched. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I won't let you down."

  "I know," she said. "You're not my ex." She managed to laugh a little. "But keep me informed. And let me know if you need me ther
e. It's not like I'm going to bed until all of this is resolved."

  "I promise."

  He teetered on the edge of adding "I love you" at the end. It was true. But humans didn't fall in love as fast as shifters did. It might only spook her, especially since she'd had so many reminders lately of how the last man in her life had broken her heart and disappointed her.

  Instead, they said their goodbyes, and he shot off a quick text to Derek, then put away the phone and went into the bus station.

  The place hadn't changed at all—but of course it wouldn't have. He still couldn't get over how much his life had changed in that short time. He hesitated at the door, inhaling the smell of cleaning chemicals and mildew, and then Austin noticed him and sat up abruptly. Dan hadn't been sure if he was asleep or not.

  "Hey, kid." Dan held out his hand, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible.

  "What are you doing here?" Austin demanded, clutching his backpack.

  "Your mom sent me to look for you."

  Austin let out a shuddering sigh and drooped over the backpack. He stiffened a little when Dan sat down beside him, but didn't try to get up or run. He seemed to realize that the jig was up.

  "Is Mom really mad?" he whispered.

  "Of course not. No one's mad. She's just really worried about you. Everyone's worried."

  "I know," Austin said faintly. He rubbed at his eyes, and Dan was reminded that even though Austin had shot up to almost his adult height, he was still a kid. "I never wanted to worry or scare anyone. I just needed to find my dad. I have to talk to him about something."

  Dan still had to squash a surge of protective anger at the thought of Paula's ex. "Look, just because your mom's upset with your dad doesn't mean she'd hate the idea of you getting in touch with him. She wants you and Lissy to get to know him if you can."

  "I know!" Austin sounded desperate now. He sniffled, on the verge of tears.

  "It's not your responsibility to try to resolve your mom's problems with your dad, you know that, right? The adults can handle it."