“I guess if that makes you happy, then I’m glad for it.”
“Oh, trust me, it makes him very happy,” Grant said.
“Keep it up,” I warned. “You know what happened last time.” I grinned thinking about the cherry bomb I’d left in the toilet just before he had to take a massive dump. It might have been my best timed explosion ever.
Grant’s jaw set in a hard line.
“Well, I think I’ve had enough time down memory lane, how about you, Grant?”
He was still stewing over my reminder of that cherry bomb.
“Let’s go.”
“Not so fast. You heard what Tarron said. We have to take shelter,” Silas said.
“Who’s Tarron?” Kano asked.
“Tarron and Ben make up the rest of my team.”
“So seven, not five?”
“Correct.”
“And what do they do?”
“Tarron’s surveillance and let’s just say he’s really good with electronics. Ben’s our sniper.”
“Okay,” Kano said like he was struggling to believe it all.
“Apparently there’s a storm incoming. Pilot’s grounded us until it passes.”
“Well, there’s a small inn in town. Let’s go see if there’s room.”
“Room in the Inn. Great,” I mumbled.
Kano personally escorted us there. Taylor, Ben, and Tarron caught up to us en route and introductions were made.
We walked through town drawing the attention of everyone. I tried to keep my eyes averted to the ground, but I could still hear the whispers as people began to recognize me.
Almost stumbling into Painter, the gorilla shifter huffed and I looked up deciding I needed to pay better attention. I didn’t particularly enjoy pissing off my team no matter what they sometimes thought.
I looked around. The place was the same, but different. The sandwich shop was now Chinese takeout. The bookstore was a hardware store. The barber shop was still the same, but right next door was a new high-end looking salon. I looked into the window as we passed and then came to a screeching halt. My mouth went dry and my heart raced.
Olivia.
As if she’d heard me think her name, she slowly turned. Our eyes locked and she let out a little gasp. Her face drained of all color as I quickly turned and ran to catch up to the group.
She was the last person I wanted to see.
She was the only person I wanted to see.
Olivia
Chapter 4
I knew my mind must be playing tricks on me. It wouldn’t be the first time.
I still dreamed of a day when Baine Landry would walk back into my life. Eight years had passed and I still didn’t fully understand why he had left. I naively thought everything was great. We were talking about a future together. I was nervous about telling him I was pregnant, but there had been no doubt in my mind that he would be happy about it and take me as a mate as soon as my bear surfaced. Sure, we hadn’t planned it, but I knew everything was going to be okay.
He hadn’t left a note. No one would even talk about it. It was like he had never existed, but Macie was my constant reminder that he had.
I had hidden my pregnancy for nearly eight months. Layers or baggie clothes in the winter had helped tremendously with that, but my father had feared there was something wrong with me when I had finally turned eighteen and my bear still hadn’t shown herself.
It hadn’t been easy, but we’d gotten through it. I’d never confessed who the father was, but I suspected they all somehow knew. We’d been careful to conceal our relationship, but Killian had been his best friend and to this day my brothers still wouldn’t mention Baine’s name. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
I always assumed Baine had somehow found out about the baby and freaked out. I assumed that’s why he had left. I still held onto the hope that someday he’d return and at least claim his daughter even if he didn’t want me.
Eight years and that still hadn’t happened.
The front door jingled, and I turned to see who it was. When I looked back, the ghost of my past was gone. I sighed.
“Hello Mrs. Young. What can I do for you today?” I asked.
It hadn’t been easy making it through beauty school with a baby, but by the time Macie was four I’d saved up enough money to open my own business and it had flourished. I was proud of everything I had accomplished. Being a single mother wasn’t easy, though my brothers went above and beyond to help out with her.
“Oh, I’m just fine. I just wanted to come and check on you.”
“Well, thanks. I’m doing well.”
It seemed like an odd thing for Mrs. Young. She was the head of all the local gossips in the Clan and I made it a strict point to never do anything that would land me on that woman’s target.
“You’re certain? I just assumed you may be a little out of sorts, what with a certain handsome bear strolling into town after all this time.”
“I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but Phyllis is about to come off the dryer and I need to get to her perm before bad things happen.” I smiled and prayed she’d go away. I didn’t wait to find out. Instead, I moved on to Phyllis who was due to pull the curlers out.
Mrs. Young didn’t leave. Instead, she followed me around the salon just watching and waiting.
“You’re certain you’re okay?” she asked again.
“Of course, I’m fine.”
She looked a little frustrated.
I was working quickly to remove the curlers from Phyllis’s hair when the bomb was dropped.
“So you’re perfectly fine that the Landry boy is home after all these years?”
My hands stilled. What did she just say?
“That’s what I thought. You poor dear. You didn’t know.” Mrs. Young looked entirely too pleased with herself as she continued. “I didn’t believe it at first either, but Joan called Cathy to tell her first and then Cathy told me. Why I didn’t believe a word of it, but then just now, I saw him with my own eyes right here strolling down the street with Kano and a group of absolute strangers like they were on full parade. He’s changed that’s for sure. Dark and a little scary looking with all those tattoos. What is becoming of these young people today?”
She continued on with her rant, but it was all I could do to keep the comb from falling out of my hand.
It hadn’t been a ghost this time. I wasn’t going crazy. Baine was back.
I didn’t know how I managed to walk through the motions of the rest of my day. Mrs. Young had given up and left disappointed when I assured her I didn’t know anything or care.
At closing time, I couldn’t lock the door fast enough. I walked to my office in the back and collapsed. There were a dozen things I should have been doing, but I just couldn’t. It was real. Baine was back. Why? Why now? Life was just finally settled for me and things were good. At my brothers’ persistence I’d even considered giving dating a try, something I had never done because stupid me was still pining for him.
I didn’t know how to process the idea that he was here. By all accounts, and there had been plenty throughout the afternoon, he was even hotter than he had been the last time I saw him.