Reforming the Bear (6 page)

“I
am?”

“Sure
you are.”

He,
like a proud father, wanted the best for Sam. An education, a future, and a way
to earn a good living. He knew his future stepdad would see to that and for that
reason he’d been happy to hear Bear was going to marry Hannah. Of course, it
was perfect for Sam to have a family, but in truth Bear and Hannah were both
head over heels in love.

“What
did you think of Lucy?” asked Liam.

He
wasn’t quite sure why he asked that right after he’d thought about Hannah and
Bear being in love.

“She’s
pretty,” said Sam.

He
obviously wasn’t too young to see what made a person attractive. Liam wondered
if, like his father, Sam would grow up to be a ladies’ man. Yeah, he probably
would. But, education first and women second.

Boy,
he was starting to sound like a strict father rather than the fun uncle he
hoped to be for Sam.

“Okay,
that’s about done. You want to come inside and watch TV while I shower and then
we’ll head out for pizza?”

****

Lucy
smiled when Sam laughed while watching SpongeBob SquarePants. Her niece and
nephew loved the show too. For that matter, so did she. She finally gave in and
laughed along with Sam. He turned and smiled at her.

Sam
was a nice kid. No wonder his uncle thought so much of him. How sad that his
father was dead and wouldn’t be around to watch him grow up into a young man.

She
thought of Mike and his kids as she glanced over at the bag. Lucy was tempted
to call him from a pay phone, but he’d made her promise she wouldn’t. Not only
for his welfare –– for hers too. She’d never break her promise to him, ever.

Sam
laughed again and she suddenly felt guilty for leading all these wonderful
people on about why she was actually in Montana and what she did for a living.
The bit about doing interior design work in the apartment had rolled off her
tongue without a second thought. Besides painting the walls in her own
townhouse, she didn’t know the first thing about design, but now she’d have to
keep her promise.

She
stood up, thinking she should put on some make-up, as they’d be leaving to eat
soon
 
… and boy, was she hungry. She
stood and leaned over for the crutches, leaving Sam to watch TV on his own. She
got to the hallway and ran straight into Liam, who was exiting the bathroom
with just a towel wrapped around his waist. His dark brown hair was wet and
pushed back from his face, showing his strong bone structure including those high
cheekbones to the best of their advantage. The hair on his chest was flattened
against his skin and glistening with some remnants of water.

His
biceps stood out like beacons calling her,
luring
her, to walk over to him and make him wrap his arms around her.
Insist that he kiss her with those full lips of his. A slight bulge suddenly appeared
where the two sides of the towel joined together. She tried to focus anywhere
but his crotch, but once again it was like that beacon and she felt her face turning
hot. She guessed she was blushing … her cheeks were probably scarlet.

An
uncomfortable silence hung between them until he spoke.

“Did
you need to use the bathroom?” he asked.

“Yes,”
she said quickly, thinking that might diffuse the tension.

“Sorry
I took so long, but sometimes ridding my body of grease from the old cars is a
nightmare,” he said, stepping aside.

“No
problem.” Lucy grabbed her bag, flung her purse over her shoulder and hobbled
into the bathroom.

She
took in the lingering scent of what was clearly a combination of soap, shampoo
and aftershave. Woodsy, and sexy ...

Yes,
Liam was a very sexy man who under any other circumstances she’d like to pursue
for a possible relationship, but it wasn’t fair to start something with him
that she knew she couldn’t continue from miles away.

Lucy
had a life somewhere else and once Mike gave her the all clear, she and the bag
would head home and time spent at Liam’s would just be a very pleasant memory.

She
looked at herself in the mirror. She had dark circles under her eyes due to not
getting much sleep the night before. She hoped she’d sleep like a baby tonight,
because she’d been on edge and had suffered from insomnia since she’d left
Philly.

Running
the tap, she leaned over, splashed her face and then pulled out some blusher
and lipstick from her bag. Next she fluffed up her bangs and pinched her lips
together. Lucy headed back out to see Liam now dressed in a clean pair of
jeans, a white shirt with its two buttons opened and its hem hanging out of the
pants.

The bag.

It
wasn’t there. Her heart skipped a beat and she went both hot and cold at the
very same time.

“I
moved your bag to over there on the chair,” said Liam.

Had
he seen the panic on her face and her blank stare at the chair where it had
previously sat?

“Oh,
that’s fine,” she said relieved and thinking how stupid she was to imagine that
someone had taken it while she’d left it unattended for not more than ten
minutes. And while it had been inside a house, to boot.

“Sam,
you want to turn the TV off and we can go get something to eat?” asked Liam.

Would
it seem stupid if she insisted on taking the bag with her? Sure it would and
she didn’t want to draw any attention to it. Not that she didn’t trust Liam
completely or the part of town where he lived, but she didn’t want him thinking
she had some type of obsessive-compulsive disorder and couldn’t leave the house
without having it in her possession. Maybe she could take it without him noticing.
Nope, that was stupid. It wasn’t like a small purse that she could hide.

It
would be fine. She’d been fine.

“Okay,
buddy, let’s go,” said Liam putting his hand on Sam’s back as they left the
house.

“I
want sausage on my pizza,” said Sam getting into the back of the truck. Liam
helped Lucy up into the front seat and then handed her the crutches.

“How
about lots of anchovies?” asked Liam getting into the driver’s seat. He winked
at Lucy.

“Yuck,
no way,” said Sam.

“What
if that’s all they have?” asked Liam glancing in the rear view mirror as they
backed out of his place and headed down the road.

Lucy
could tell he loved teasing Sam.

“Then
we’ll need to go back to the burger place.”

“Did
I tell you that Hannah owns a restaurant?” asked Liam.

“No,
you didn’t,” said Lucy.

“The
Starlight Café,” said Liam.

“We
don’t live there anymore. We live in a new house with Bear,” said Sam.

“Do
you help out at the café?” Lucy asked Sam.

“Sometimes,
but most of the time I just play outside in the new backyard,” said Sam.

Liam
pulled the truck up outside a row of stores with one called The Pizza Shack
situated right smack in the middle of them.

“Let’s
go eat before they run of pizza,” said Liam. He got out and ran around to the
passenger side of the truck and held the door while Lucy slid down and reached
for the crutches. Sam rushed ahead and went inside and Liam held the door for
her.

“Sam,
a polite thing to do would have been to hold the door for Lucy. Can you
remember that next time?” asked Liam.

Sam
shrugged his shoulders and ran toward the counter.

“Sorry
about that,” said Liam, putting his hand on the small of her back.

“He’s
still young and we can’t always remember everything we need to do. My niece and
nephew are the same way,” said Lucy as they joined Sam.

“Let’s
get the extra-large,” said Sam, pointing at the chalkboard at the back of the
store.

“Maybe
Lucy doesn’t want sausage pizza,” said Liam, getting out his wallet.

“No,
that’s fine with me,” said Lucy. She was starving and right now a gooey pizza
with any topping sounded like heaven.

“Extra-large
sausage pizza,” Sam shouted to the girl behind the counter.

“Sam,
it’s not your turn to be served,” said Liam, putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Someone needs to remember their manners tonight.”

“I’m
hungry,” said Sam.

“I
know … but you have to wait until these people ahead of us have ordered,” said
Liam.

The
girl smiled. “So that’s one extra-large sausage pizza. Is that to eat here?”

“Yes,”
said Sam gathering up a bunch of plastic forks and napkins.

“Anything
to drink?” asked the girl.

“Sam,
what do you want to drink?” Liam called over to him.

He
rushed back and looked at the menu. “Cherry soda, large,” he said before
running over to a table by the window and sitting down. He set out the
flatware, tucking a napkin under each fork.

“How
about you?” Liam asked Lucy.

“Lemonade,
small,” said Lucy, hoping Liam didn’t think she was making fun of Sam.

“Me
too, also small,” Liam told the girl.

“The
total comes to $21.42.”

Liam
handed her his credit card, which she swiped and handed back to him.

“That
should be about ten minutes and we’ll bring it to your table. Help yourself to
drinks,” she said, handing him three Styrofoam cups.

“Why
don’t you go and sit with Sam and I’ll get our drinks,” said Liam.

“You
sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Lucy
walked over to the table and sat down, putting the crutches against the wall.
Liam followed behind and put the drinks down.

“You
haven’t done it right and you moved the napkin,” said Sam, straightening
everything up again.

“You
need to go for a run later?” Liam asked him as he slid in beside him.

“I
think so.”

“You’re
a jogger?”

Liam
looked up at her. “Yes…yes, I am. Well, Sam runs with Bear.”

“He’s
too fast and I can’t keep up,” said Sam, folding the napkin.

“I
used to belong to the running team when I was at school.”

“You
still run?” Liam asked her.

“Sometimes.
When I get time.”

“So
do you have your own interior design business or you work for someone else?” he
asked her.

Boy,
she never thought lying and playing someone else could be this hard. Maybe it
was because this was Liam, a super sweet guy, and she hated to spin a web of
deceit at his expense.

“I
have my own business,” she said, thinking the more she thought about the
response the guiltier she’d feel. So best to just let the words spill out over
her tongue.

“And
that’s what you’re going to do here?”

“Yes,
hopefully.”

Lucky
for her the pizza arrived and closed down that topic.

Sam
quickly picked up a slice and started to eat it making exaggerated noises as he
did so.

“Sam,
right now you’re walking a fine line,” said Liam.
 
“I think as soon as we drop Lucy back at the
house you and I should go for that run.”

“I
can come with you. I mean obviously I can’t run … but I can watch.”

“No,
where we go is pretty far out there and I’d hate you to be by yourself in the
woods.”

She
guessed that made sense. She thought about last night and the animals she thought
roamed these parts. “Okay, but when my leg’s better, you think I could join
you?”

That
might just be what she needed. The wind ripping through her hair. Her body
relaxing. And her mind forgetting she was miles from home.

“Sure,
I’d like that,” said Liam.

Lucy
took her first bite of the pizza. She wasn’t sure if it was just downright
great or if it was because she was so hungry, but it tasted like the best one
she’d ever eaten. Some grease from the sausage slid onto her chin. “Wow, this
is good,” she said, swiping it with the back of her hand.

“What
do you think of it, Sam?” asked Liam.

Sam
ignored his uncle and instead continued eating and pulling some cheese “bubble gum”
from his lips. He finally nodded.

“I
guess he likes it too,” said Liam, reaching over and dabbing some grease that
she’d missed.

They
looked at one another and then Liam finally smiled. This guy made her heart
beat at what she assumed was an unhealthy pace. And, yes, truth be told. He
made her panties damp, too.

****

It
had been a close call, Lucy asking to tag along so she could watch him and Sam
run. Not having spent much time around humans, and yes, that had been an
intentional act on his part … he wasn’t well versed in dodging issues. One
thing he’d already learned about being around Lucy was you needed to be on your
guard the whole time. One foolish slip and she’d catch on to something being
different about them.