“I like you, Cal,” Walt said with a big smile.
“Dad, you should not be down on your hands and knees.” Theo put his hands on his hips and stood over his dad, until the old man got up and went to polish a pipe out of his son’s sight.
“Are you OK?” Fern asked Teagan.
“Yes. Preoccupied, that’s all.” Teagan glanced at the clock. “I have to get going. I have an interview to do and I have to meet Nev so he can get some photos.”
“Is that all?” Fern asked, and Cal stopped scrubbing for a moment as he listened to Teagan’s reply.
“I’m going with Fiona later to possibly meet my mom.”
“That is great, Teagan. I know it’s what you wanted.” Fern hugged her. “Do it.”
“I’m going to. And then one way or the other, I can move on.”
Fern turned to look at Cal, who started scrubbing again, pretending not to be listening. “You have so much to move on for.”
“I’m beginning to see that.”
“Then go. We’ll finish up here.”
“I hate leaving you all.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Walt said. “Theo might not want me to work my arms, but I can work my mouth.”
“I knew I could count on you,” Teagan said.
“You can. Whatever happens, we will be here waiting for you,” Cal said.
“Thanks.” Teagan kissed him, holding on to him as if this was the last time they would be together.
“Hey. Glass half full.” He tilted her chin up. “This is what you want. It will allow you to stop thinking of what-ifs.” He knew all about what-ifs. What if was the reason he had left Bear Creek. What if was the reason he had returned.
“Yeah, Teagan. You are always the optimistic one.” Theo came to stand with her too. “Every single time we had a glitch setting up the newspaper, you were the first to say we could do it. Now I’m telling you, you can do it.”
“You guys break my heart,” Teagan said, trying to put her arms around them all, and hugging them. “In a good way.” She fought back tears, and then pulled away from them. “I will see you all later.”
Teagan picked up her purse and walked out of the building, taking a piece of Cal with her. “I should go with her.”
“Don’t worry, Fiona has her back,” Theo said. “And I think it’s something Teagan needs to do alone.”
“You are probably right,” Cal said. He turned back to the big vats. “Shall we get this finished? My shift starts in an hour.”
“Yep,” Theo said. “I have to get to the office and do some work. I must start getting this week’s issue ready. It’s not all about interviews and having fun.”
“You could teach me,” Fern said, collecting the cups. “I might be pregnant, but it’s not a physical job.”
“You know, that is a good idea,” Theo said. “You could learn to be our editor.”
“I could learn to be in charge?” Fern asked, giving Cal a wink. “I like the sound of that.”
“You know I’d do anything you say.” Theo came over to her and kissed her lips.
“It is the one advantage of not being a shifter. More free will.” Fern wrapped her arms around his neck. “But I do wish I could feel what you feel.”
Cal went back to cleaning, thinking over Fern’s words. He was sure that was why Teagan’s dad had not stayed. He hadn’t had time to fall in love with her mom. Something must have happened to pull him away. But what? Fate never got these things wrong. That was what he grew up believing, and he wasn’t ready to give up those beliefs yet.
“Tell me about Carter?” Cal asked. They were close to finishing, Fern and Walt were washing the cups they had used. It was just Cal and Theo.
“Carter?” Theo stood up, and fixed Cal with a stare.
“Yes.” Cal stopped working too. He’d hit a nerve, if he wasn’t mistaken. “We’re all here working for a man who is off somewhere living the high life.”
Theo let out a short burst of laughter. “I suspect it does look like that.” Theo began wiping the outside of one of the vats. “He’s a good man. Fern has some history with him, from way back. When I moved here, I resented the guy, it has to be said. But then when I learned the truth… Carter is just like you and me. He just has more money. He pays my dad well. We provide the honey for the beer. He provides jobs for people in Bear Creek.”
“And yet we’re the ones cleaning?” Cal asked.
“Yeah.” Theo frowned. “What’s with that?” Then he grinned. “The jobs are for those who tend the hops. This side of it is run by my dad. Carter and Caroline, me and Fern, and Teagan are the only ones who know the secret recipe.”
“There’s a secret recipe?” Cal asked. Theo had skirted around the original question, and taken them in a different direction. He was OK with that. From what he could make out, Carter was OK. And whatever history he had with Fern, if her mate was OK with it, then Cal was not going to go prodding around and opening up any old wounds.
“I think we are done.” Theo stood back and admired their work. “Shiny and new.”
“Good job, fellas,” Walt said, coming back to them. “I’ll come in later and start a new batch.” He sighed and folded his arms. “There is something that makes my soul sing, seeing the work done.”
“Good. Let’s get home. I need to get cleaned up and go to the office.”
“And I have a shift,” Cal said.
They left together, Cal getting in his truck and heading out of the gates with them. A quick wave good bye and then he was driving back to his house. Going inside, he breathed in, and caught the subtle scent of Teagan on the air. He longed for her scent to fill every corner of the house. To walk in the door and be hit by the delicious scent of his mate’s skin would be bliss.
Yet something was holding her back. Perhaps this meeting with her mom would resolve things in her head.
He pushed those thoughts aside and went upstairs, showered and changed, and then made a pot of coffee. Needing something to occupy him, he settled down in his chair and picked up a book, reading until it was time to leave for his shift.
As he gathered his keys and headed out the door, he sent a quick text to Teagan. Hope it all works out for you, Cal xoxo. He wasn’t a kisses kind of a guy usually, but for Teagan, he wanted to send all the hugs and kisses her way.
A short drive and he arrived at the firehouse. He was early, as were most of the crew. Tardiness costs lives. That was the first thing his chief drummed into him when he started work here after college. Chief Turner, he was the best and still ran the station with a firm but forgiving hand. Although since Cal’s return, their relationship seemed strained.
“Hey, Chief,” Cal called as he walked into the firehouse. The chief might have something against Cal, but Cal was not going to go tit for tat, that wasn’t his style.
“Cal. How’s it going?” Chief Turner asked.
“Good.” He hadn’t told anyone here he’d met his mate. He was still a little on the outside, despite the majority of the crew being the same as before he left. “We got anything going on?”
“Nope. All quiet. Any floods left by the rain seem to have gone.” The chief gave a tense smile, and then went into his office and shut the door.
Yep, definitely strained. However, he wasn’t going to dwell on it, not when he had more important things to think about, such as Teagan. He checked his phone. It was a reply from Teagan.
Thank you, miss you, see you later xoxo
Cal could not wait.
Chapter Thirteen – Teagan
Cal’s text meant a lot to Teagan. Knowing someone was thinking about her made a huge difference. After sending her reply, Teagan put her phone back in her purse, which she placed in a drawer in her desk. The same drawer that had her personal photographs in it. Including one of her foster parents.
She pulled the photo out and looked at it, pushing aside the feeling that she was betraying them. There was room in her heart to love everyone. Teagan closed the drawer, maki
ng a mental note to give her foster parents a call today or tomorrow. She didn’t call them enough; maybe that was because they had a new foster child now. Was she jealous? That would be selfish. She should wish any shifter child alone in the world the chances she had, the chances her parents had given her.
“You want to go out onto the mountain and take photographs?” Theo’s voice drifted in through the door, followed by Nev’s voice in reply.
“Yes.” Nev sounded tired. “I need some alone time.”
“Alone time? What is that supposed to mean?” Theo asked.
“It means my father is giving me a hard time and if I go to the top of a mountain, he can’t reach me.”
“You could always switch your phone off and just tell him you’ve gone to the top of a mountain,” Theo suggested. “Hi, Teagan. I thought you would have left already.”
“Fiona is running late. And for what it’s worth, I think Nev’s idea is a good one. There are plenty of people who have never been to the top of the mountain. As bears we forget that.”
“See,” Nev said, slapping Theo across the chest with the back of his hand.
Theo pressed his lips together and looked at Nev for several seconds before he spoke. “Is it that bad?”
“My dad wants to groom me to take over his company. It’s not what I want. But it’s my duty.” Nev shook his head. “It’s not me. I don’t want to spend my life indoors, bossing other people around.”
“What you need is a wife who could do it for you,” Teagan said, thinking back to Cal’s parents, and how his mom had been the strong personality, molding Joe into shape.
“I would settle for just a mate,” Nev replied. “It’s tough when you all have a significant other.”
“We need to get you on a dating website. There’s one in Bear Creek, isn’t there?” Theo asked.
“There is, they’ve booked an ad with us,” Teagan replied.
A look of horror spread across Nev’s face. “No, no way. If anyone I know saw me, I’d never live it down.”
“Who cares if you find a mate that way?” Theo asked.
“Let’s drop it,” Nev said.
“Sure,” Theo said, grabbing a coffee for himself. “Anyone else?” He held up the coffee pot.
“No thanks.” Teagan retrieved her purse from her desk. “I’m heading out.”
“Yes, please,” Nev replied. “I have to get these photos off my camera, and send them to you. Then I have some to upload to my site. I’m hoping to get some commissions.”
The two men settled down to work, while Teagan waited nervously for Fiona to arrive.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Teagan,” Fiona’s voice came from the doorway.
“Don’t worry. I know how busy you are Fiona. All those kids depending on you.” Teagan added, “See you two later.”
“Good luck,” Theo called as they left.
“You look nervous.” Fiona carefully assessed Teagan. “You can stay here. You don’t have to come.”
“Yes, I do. If I stay here, I’m not going to get any work done. All I can think about is meeting her.”
“And if she says no?”
“Cal reminded me of something you taught me a long time ago, about looking on the positive side. Glass half full.” Teagan slipped into the passenger seat of Fiona’s car, and buckled up her seatbelt.
“He’s a good man. He deserves you, and I do not say that about every man who finds his mate. Or every woman, for that matter.” Fiona looked at her GPS and drove out through Bear Creek, taking the back roads toward Bear Bluff.
“I can’t believe she’s living so close to Bear Creek.” Teagan had not explored this part of the mountain; the roads wound along the fringes of the mountains, before Fiona took a sharp turn toward Cougar Ridge.
“I hope this means she is getting her life together. Moving on, moving away from where she was. I suspect she dwelled in darkness, waiting for your father to return.”
“And he never did.” Teagan looked out of the window. “If he left, knowing my mom was pregnant, what kind of man does that make him?”
“A bastard in my book,” Fiona said, always forthright with her assessment of people. “But there is nothing unique in that. A lot of men father children and then walk away. One night of fun and then they leave the woman to hold the baby for years.”
Teagan sighed. Did she want to meet her father if that were the case? “What about fate? As shifters, we expect fate to get things right. My parents should have met and then lived happily ever after.”
Fiona snorted. “Happy ever afters don’t always work out as you expect.”
“One day, you are going to have to tell me more about your life.” Teagan watched Fiona’s face as she answered.
“One day I might tell you. But today is about you.” Fiona parked the car outside a small timber house, set back from the others. Teagan got out of the car and looked around. The town was old; some of the buildings looked in need of repair. As she turned full circle, a cougar walked up the main street, and no one paid any attention.
“Cougar Ridge is not what I expected,” Teagan stated.
“No, it’s not. That’s because the shifters here are open about what they are. So they don’t encourage tourists. At all. Which makes money tight.” Fiona turned to survey the town. “I do like it here.”
“Wait, is this where you live?” Teagan asked. There was some speculation as to whether Fiona had moved to be near Bear Creek, but she was a private person. Not even Teagan, who had known her longer than anyone in Bear Creek, knew her address.
“No, not here. But I do admire them. It’s been a long time since shifters have been open about who they are. Or what we are.” Fiona sighed, a sigh filled with nostalgia. Then she straightened up, becoming brusque and businesslike again. “You could go and wait in the café. It’s down the street, you can’t miss it.”
“Sure. Text me if you need me.” Translated, that meant text me if my mom wants to meet me, they both knew it, but neither of them put it into words.
“I will,” Fiona’s voice softened. “I will do what I can, Teagan. I promise you that.”
“I know,” Teagan nodded.
“I wouldn’t have brought you all this way if I wasn’t going to do my best to encourage your mom to see you.”
Teagan frowned. “I know you will always do the right thing by me, Fiona. You always have.”
Fiona fixed a smile on her face. “It’s my job.”
“It’s OK to let people see you have a heart.” That was Teagan’s parting shot as she turned and walked away. Fiona had a granite-hard exterior, but once in a while, she let it slip, and then you got to see her softer, maternal side. “Coffee.” Teagan looked in the window of the café. “And cake.”
Opening the door, she went inside, to be met by stares. “Hi,” Teagan said, a smile on her face. “Could I have a cappuccino and one of those amazing cream donuts?”
The woman behind the counter hesitated, before she said, “Sure. Take a seat and I’ll bring it over.”
“Thanks.” Teagan sat down facing the door. If she had to make a quick getaway, she wanted to make sure the way was clear.
Talk about overreacting, her bear told her curtly. These people live free to be who they want to be, human or animal. And they want to protect that.
And I’m a stranger.
Yes.
“Here we go.” Her cappuccino and donut was placed before her.
“Thanks. I’m Teagan, by the way.” She smiled, holding the woman’s gaze.
“Hello, Teagan, we don’t get many new people in town. It’s an out of the way place.”
“I know. I understand.” Teagan emphasized the word, but the woman stared back at her, same expression on her face, making Teagan feel foolish. “I’ve come with a friend. Fiona, she has a meeting with someone.” Now she was plain babbling, her usual default mode.
“Fiona. Social services Fiona?” one of the other patrons asked from across the room.
> “Yes.” Teagan couldn’t tell if this was a good or bad thing. Had Fiona come here and removed a child from its parents, or had she placed a child here for fostering? “She’s a dragon.” Damn, she needed to keep her mouth shut or they might be run out of town and she would never get to meet her mom.
“Why didn’t you say?” The woman in front of her broke into a smile. “She’s been coming up here for years.”
“She’s been going everywhere for years, it seems,” Teagan said, glad the mood of the room had lifted.
“We often get fosters here. A few of the families take in shifter children. Especially troubled ones. We don’t live in the closet like other towns.” The woman stuck out her hand. “I’m Charlene. I own the café. And this is on the house.”
“No, I can pay,” Teagan said, grabbing her purse.
“I know you can. But you won’t.” Charlene sat down quickly in front of Teagan and leaned across the table to look at her. “If you are in town with Fiona, and she sent you here, my guess is you are waiting.” Charlene reached out and took her hand. “I hope the wait is worth it.”
“Thank you.” Teagan swallowed the lump in her throat as Charlene got up and walked back to the counter. Forcing herself, she picked up her coffee cup and took a gulp, before turning her attention to the donut, which tasted as good as it looked.
She had just finished when her phone burst into song. Everyone turned to look as “Puff the Magic Dragon” erupted into the room. “Fiona.” Teagan answered it quickly.
“Do you remember which house it was?” Fiona asked.
“Yes.”
“Then come on over.”
“She wants to meet me?” Teagan asked, wishing she had not eaten the donut when her stomach began to gurgle with nerves.
“She does. She would like to meet you very much.” Fiona’s voice was hushed. “She’s fragile.”
“I understand.”
“Don’t ask about your dad. Not unless she mentions him first. Not this time.”
“OK.” A wave of disappointment swept over Teagan. But she let it go. One step at a time. Her father could wait. Getting up on her feet, her legs stiff as she forced herself to walk from the café, Teagan called, “Goodbye, Charlene.”
Forvever Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 4) Page 8