Bear turned to see one of those old best friends grinning at him. Shane Foti.
Bear uncrossed his legs and stood up smoothly. “Shane.”
“Good to see you, Bear.” The men hugged, clapping each other on the back. Shane grabbed and yanked a handful of Bear’s hair. “But what the hell is this?” He laughed. “And that beard. You a mountain man now? We need to rename you Grizzly Adams?”
“I was always a mountain man,” Bear said.
“Not so much now. Good to see you, man. Been a while.”
Bear detected a hint of judgment but he let it go since he probably deserved it. It had been a long time since he’d set foot in Colorado. “Yeah. I wanted to come pay my respects to Arden.”
“But you came down to the river first?”
Bear shrugged. “You know. Hawk.”
Shane nodded as his expression turned serious. “Because you missed scattering his ashes along here this summer?”
Bear tried not to flinch at that. He’d had no idea.
But Shane caught him out. “You didn’t know about that, did you?”
He shook his head.
“Arden said she’d tried to get a hold of all Sean’s old friends to tell them. Hard to do that when she doesn’t have an address.”
“That’s becauseIdon’t have an address.”
Now Shane looked surprised. “What, seriously? You doing the van life or something?” His mouth turned down and his brow furrowed. “Is it mon—”
Bear waved him off. It wasn’t money. “I’m solid. I just decided to take a vacation, see the country after getting out.”
“Bear. It’s been years. After a while, that goes from a vacation to a lifestyle, man.”
He only shrugged.
“So you haven’t been up to the ranch yet.” A statement, not a question.
“No.”
“Obviously. Shit’s changed, my brother.”
Fuck. I should have come sooner.
“Changed? Arden all right?”
“Arden’s fine. But if you wanna go up and see her, I’ll have to call you in first.”
Now that was a head-scratcher. “Call her first?” A thought came to him. “You guys…close now or something?”
Shame erupted in laughter. “What, you think I broke the pact we all made not to date Arden? Jesus, Bear, Sean would come back and fucking haunt my ass if I did that.”
Bear grinned, remembering the promise Hawk made them all swear to keep. Not that he’d been the least bit interested in dating his friend’s little sister. He didn’t think any of them had been, not really. As sweet and pretty as she was though, he couldn’t blame Sean for wanting to nip any fights over her in the bud.
“So what’s changed then?”
Shane looked away as he considered his words. “I’ll explain on the way there.”
Puzzled, Bear said, “I have my truck here. You need a ride or something?”
