by Sable Sylvan
Pumpkin Bears
Freshly Baked Furry Tails, Book 3
Sable Sylvan
www.sablesylvan.com
Copyright © 2019 by Heather Davies/Sable Sylvan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Pumpkin Bears
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Sneak Peek: Candles, Bakers, and Bears
About the Author
Pumpkin Bears
Freshly Baked Furry Tails, Book 3
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Oliver and Peter, pumpkin eaters, want a mate, but cannot keep her…
Curvy baker Pepper Reed is the Bear Claw Bakery’s pumpkin specialist, in charge of caring for their pumpkin patch and developing their pumpkin pastry recipes. This Halloween season, two bear shifters want her pumpkin pie — and neither is willing to share. Her October is about to get hotter than pumpkin spice...
When Pepper checks on her pumpkin patch, a wild bear scares her into the arms of Grizzlyfir Crew’s head carpenter, lumberjack werebear Oliver. Pepper’s choice seems simple. Oliver’s handsome, charming, and building her a booth so that her pumpkin patch will be more popular than ever…but there are rumors about a ghost haunting the pumpkin patch! Does Oliver know more about the ghost than he lets on?
When Hemlock Crew sends their new lumberjack Peter to guard Pepper from wild bears and to assist Oliver in constructing stuff for the pumpkin patch, Pepper develops an attraction to both shifters. She can’t resist a tall, dark, and handsome grizzly with a wild side. Which bear will Pepper pick — good guy Oliver, or bad boy Peter? Or, will the two bears’ bickering cause Pepper to boo both bears before she ghosts them?
The only things that could make things worse are the fact that there’s a rumor going around about the pumpkin patch being haunted by a ghost. Oh, and Pepper has to come up with a brand new pumpkin pie recipe for the bakery. This Halloween romance is full of tricks, but in the end, will Pepper get her treats?
Chapter One
Pepper Reed sat on the wrap-around deck of Bear Claw Bakery and looked over their yearly pumpkin patch. The pumpkins had grown in nicely, in shades of orange and white and green. She couldn’t wait until she got to arrange the pumpkins in a cute display in the display case of the Bear Claw Bakery’s main cafe area. She didn’t want to go into the patch until the apiarist came to collect his beehives, but she had to.
She sipped her pumpkin latte. Unlike many other cafes, the Bear Claw Bakery’s cafes made their pumpkin lattes with pumpkin spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and a hint of vanilla, as well as with a special pumpkin syrup made with real pumpkin pie filling. The top of her pumpkin latte had a dollop of whipped cream, sprinkled with pumpkin pie spices. She sat on the porch with her latte, eating a breakfast sandwich, when her boss, Patricia, came out to the porch.
“Hey, Patricia,” said Pepper, looking over her boss, who had a pile of lights in her arms. “Need any help with that?”
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Patricia. “I’ve got help.”
Patricia held the door open and out came two familiar faces — Darius and Terrence, the bosses two of the local lumber crews. Pepper knew the two disliked each other, and that the only person that could bring them together was Patricia. Like everyone else in town, Pepper had a suspicion about why the two werebears would put their differences aside for Patricia…
“Hey, Darius,” said Pepper. “Hey, Terrence. Helping hang the seasonal lights?”
They both nodded and started setting out their equipment on the well-worn tables on the deck.
“This year, we’re doing things differently,” said Patricia. “Every season, I change out the lights — and it’s super annoying. It takes me a whole frikkin’ day!”
“You mean it takes us a whole day,” quipped Terrence.
“I like spending the day with you, Patty,” said Darius.
“You two might be the only ones that can get away with calling me that,” said Patricia, rubbing her temples. “Anyway. It takes them a whole day to hang these lights up for me because we have to take down the old lights, put up new lights, and haul all this junk out of storage. Well…Darius asked why we don’t just use the same lights all year round.”
“That’s a good question — why don’t we just hang up some plain white lights and call it a year?” asked Pepper.
“Well — that’s what I was thinking,” admitted Patricia. “But, I know our customers love the atmosphere we have here at the bakery, and I didn’t want our bakery to become boring. So, Terrence had the great idea of installing some special lights.”
“Special lights?” asked Pepper.
“LED bulbs, that can change color, that you can program on your phone or computer,” explained Terrence. “I set them up for my mom a few years back. It’s a higher up-front cost, but it’ll save all of us time over the years.”
“Heck, it’ll save me time and money immediately,” said Darius. “Taking a day off to do this, well, it ain’t cheap — although of course, I’d do it for you, Patricia.”
“Oh, stop,” said Patricia, blushing. “Anyway — with these special lights, we can have them set up with, say, red and green for Christmas, or Christmas light colors like red, green, blue, yellow, and pink.”
“For the Fourth of July, you could have them in red, blue, and white,” commented Patricia. “What’s the first set of colors you want to try?”
“Well…that’s the thing,” said Patricia. “I’m a little lost on that. Red, orange, and brown is a little too warm and dark for the deck. It’ll make people feel like they’re in a frikkin’ fireplace. I like fireplaces…but being in a fireplace, that’s not appealing.”
“How about pumpkin colors?” asked Pepper.
“I just said orange is too fiery,” replied Patricia.
“No, look,” said Pepper, motioning out at the pumpkin patch. “We’ve got white pumpkins, green pumpkins, and orange pumpkins. How about a warm white light, a nice greenish-yellow white light, and a pale orange-white light? Pepper in a few brighter green and orange bulbs in the mix, if you can do that in the settings.”
“It’d look like a pumpkin patch,” mused Patricia. “That’s a charming idea, Pepper.”
“You know, you can get special covers for these lights,” said Darius. “There are all kinds of shapes — stars, hearts, and I swear I saw some pumpkins, skulls, and Halloween stuff.”
“I thought you thought these lights were too fancy,” said Terrence.
“Well, Patricia was into them, so I checked them out,” grumbled Darius.
“I can program in those colors,” said Terrence. “What’re you planning on doing with the pumpkin patch anyway?”
“What kind of a question is that?” asked Darius, still grumbling.
“Well, whatever we do, we have to wait until the beekeeper comes by to collect his beehives,” said Patricia, waving over toward the pumpkin patch. “He needed to leave th
em here for an extra week because something came up with some of his other hives.”
“And once they’re gone?” asked Terrence.
“We’ve always sold the pumpkins inside the cafe, but…business is booming, and we won’t have room inside the cafe for a display,” said Patricia. “Heck, we already barely have space for all our customers in the afternoon and at night.”
“All those high school kids love the bakery,” commented Pepper. “It’s too bad we can’t just set up a booth out in the patch and use it to sell the pumpkins.”
“A booth?” asked Patricia. “You know…that’s not a bad idea.”
“It isn’t?” asked Pepper.
“Well, Bear Claw Bakery owns that land,” said Patricia. “It just goes unused for a good part of the year. The pumpkin patch is really the only thing we use it for. I…hmm. I’ve got a weird idea…”
“Why does that sound like more work for us?” asked Terrence.
“What ‘us?’” asked Darius, lying, in a way — because he knew why Terrence was using the word ‘us’ even though Darius hated to admit it. They were, by circumstance, a team — at least, when it came to Patricia.
“I think we should build a booth out there, even if it’s just for the season,” explained Patricia. “We could sell pastries and have some overflow seating out there. It’d lessen up the load on the cafe workers. We could sell some simple stuff, like muffins, and bottled beverages. And, we would, of course, have room to show and sell the pumpkins.”
“And let me guess — you want me to work it?” asked Pepper.
“Of course,” said Patricia. “You’re the one that knows the most about that patch. You handled all our pie orders this summer. You worked with our boss Jasper and the farmhands on figuring out what kinds of pumpkins to grow. What do you think we should do?”
“Well…although it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of room out there, we’ve actually got a lot of space to work with,” admitted Pepper. “The big, meaty looking pumpkins — those ones were grown for cooking. We can sell those to local restaurants that want to make their own pumpkin stuff from scratch, and we already have some restaurants interested in that.”
“We do?” asked Patricia.
“It’s all in the documents,” explained Pepper. “That pumpkin colored binder has all the details. We need to put aside a certain number of pumpkins for the restaurants, and maybe ten percent more just in case some restaurant has an issue with a pumpkin having a scuff or some bruising so we can replace any pumpkins as needed. We also need to make sure we save enough for ourselves — for our pumpkin pastries, and especially for our large pumpkin pie orders. We’ve got a bunch of Halloween and Thanksgiving orders put in. If you have me in the field, you’ll need somebody else taking over my position.”
“What exactly do you do again?” asked Darius.
“Pumpkins and pumpkin pies are big business,” said Pepper. “Year-round, I figure out what we’re doing with our pumpkins, handle major accounts with local businesses and families that have been buying from the bakery for years, and work with the farmhands on making sure we’ve got enough pumpkins to meet our quotas. I spend some time in the kitchen, a good amount of time in town, and a lot of time out in that patch.” Pepper took off her cardigan sweater and showed off her tanned arms.
“Explains why we don’t see you ‘round the shop much — but, that reminds me, I gotta get in the Hemlock Crew’s orders,” said Terrence.
“Me too — for Grizzlyfir,” said Darius. “Speaking of which…”
“Whatever comes out of your mouth better not be a last minute order,” said Patricia.
“It is, and it’s for pumpkin pies, for our early Halloween party this Friday,” admitted Darius. “Pumpkin pies, Halloween themed sugar cookies, and — ”
“Fine, fine — put in an order sheet after you hang up the lights, and I’ll find a way to make it work,” said Patricia. “Finding extra bakers to work on that order this close to the date will be hard, but…”
“I can help,” said Pepper.
“You can?” asked Patricia. “Doesn’t a nice gal like you have dates to be going on?”
“Don’t you?” asked Pepper, raising a brow. “I swear, I’m married to the ghost of the pumpkin patch — and I think it’d be fine with me cheating on it for a night.”
“But you’re on salary,” said Patricia. “You won’t even get overtime!”
“Eh, well, will I get an invite to the party?” Pepper asked Patricia before looking at Darius.
“Oh — of course,” said Darius. “Yeah, of course.”
“So you’re telling me I get to bake, and I get to go to a party…where I get to eat what I bake?” asked Pepper. “Sounds great to me.”
“Hon, you really are a lifesaver,” said Patricia.
“What was that about a ghost?” asked Terrence.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” said Patricia.
“There’s just this rumor that the pumpkin patch is haunted,” said Pepper. “Of course, the patch isn’t haunted.”
“What do you mean, ‘of course?’” asked Darius. “Ghosts are real!”
“First of all, no — ghosts are not real,” insisted Pepper. “Secondly — every time somebody’s thought they heard or seen a ghost, there’s been an explanation. Maybe it’s someone working after hours — or someone stealing a pumpkin from the patch. Maybe a bed sheet flew off a laundry line and got caught in the fence — or maybe it was an empty plastic bag. The booing? The wind. The creepiness? A natural fear of the dark. There’s no ghost.”
“You know, you can set these lights to flicker all spooky-like,” said Darius. “That’d make things look ghostly.”
“You guys already finished up this section?” asked Patricia, looking over the deck. “Wow! Well, Pepper — I’ll get back to you with details about what we’re going to do with the patch, once I talk to Jasper and get approval for construction. We’ll probably have to get some building permits too. In the meantime, I’m going to keep Darius and Terrence company while we work on the other side of the deck.”
“I’m gonna take a quick walk through the patch and check on things,” said Pepper. “Here’s hoping I don’t get stung by any frikkin’ bees before the beekeeper comes by. Don’t forget — he owes us forty pounds of honey for the use of the land.”
“There’s no way I’d forget,” said Patricia. “That honey’s amazing! And, it’s the secret ingredient in your —”
“Shh!” said Pepper, holding a finger up to her lips. “It’s called a secret ingredient because it’s a secret!”
Pepper bundled herself up again and put her empty plate in the plate collection area. She took her mug and walked down the stairs of the dock to one of the side entrances to the pumpkin patch. She’d already unlocked the patch earlier that morning. She had done the rounds once, but, it never hurt to double check on things. She wanted to get a lay of the land so she could start to visualize how the bakery could use the property.
Pepper was snug as a bug in a rug. She walked around the small decorative pumpkins and the windy, twisty gourds that they’d grown — all for the window displays of the bakery. The Bear Claw Bakery that Pepper called home was the location on the outskirts of town, at the base of the hills that were worked by the two lumber crews — Grizzlyfir and Hemlock. There was another bakery location in town, but that bakery was much smaller. The larger bakery handled the enterprise contracts from local hotels and restaurants, as well as the catering orders.
Pepper walked around gingerly. She wasn’t avoiding mud puddles. She was avoiding stepping on the vines. The larger pumpkins which would be used to make pumpkin pie filling were looking good. She only spotted a couple of pumpkins that were rotted. She took some neon pink flags out of her bag and staked them near the pumpkins that needed removing. Pepper had worked the pumpkin patch for a few years, so while she was by no means an agricultural expert, she had found a system that worked for her and the farmhands and the bakery. Because Pepp
er’s day was spent running around town and the bakery and the patch, leaving flags to show the farmhands where there were things that needed attention made management of the patch easier for everyone.
Pepper heard a rustling. She looked up. Although Pepper pretended otherwise, she sometimes wondered if the ghost that haunted the patch was really real. She didn’t see anything. Pepper shook her head. It must’ve been the wind.
Pepper continued on her walk, ignoring the rare rustlings. It was just the wind. It had to be.
As she walked past the beehives, she noticed there were dead bees outside the hive. She’d freaked out about it the first year she’d seen it, worried that there was something wrong, but the beekeeper had explained to her that it was natural, part of the cycle of life. Pepper knew that meant that the bees were settling in for the winter, that whatever honey was in there was expected to last them the long, cold season.
Pepper passed by the hives without needing to stop and gently swat any bees out of her line of sight. Although she liked honey and found individual bees to be cute, she didn’t like encountering swarms upon swarms of bees.
Pepper turned the corner, looking over a large patch of eating pumpkins when she heard rustling again. She turned and saw brown — not the light brown of the wood beehives, but the dark brown of a grizzly bear. It was almost dark enough to be a black bear. It looked big, and mean, and while the size made her think it was a shifter, the meanness made her think it was a feral animal.
Pepper paused. There was no way of telling whether the bear was a shifter or a wild bear — or a shifter with mate madness. She would have to exercise caution and act as if it was a wild bear. The only problem was, she forgot what she was supposed to do when confronted by a bear. Should she run, or should she yell? She didn’t have any bear spray on her — and did that even work on grizzlies?