“No, man. It’s best you come in with me.” He clapped Bear on the shoulder. “It’s been a rough summer and we’ve got a lot to catch you up on.”
* * *
Bear couldn’t believewhat Shane was telling him as they drove the shiny new SUV up the road leading to the ranch. At first he thought Shane was pulling his leg. Arden was engaged to a man whose company had bought out the entire neighborhood on the mountain—including the ranch she swore never to sell? But Shane was dead serious. So Bear wasn’t sure about this Kyle McGuire guy. Was he engaged to her just for her ranch? Shane wasn’t acting like that was the case, and he would sure as hell be just as protective of Arden as Sean himself. They all would.
“I’m working for Kyle now, as you can see,” Shane told him. “Bodyguard work.” But Shane couldn’t fool him. He heard something else behind those words. Bear was quiet but he was no dummy. Shane was former military so there were probably some off-the-government-books jobs going on there.
Not Bear’s problem.
“Everybody’d love to see you. How long you planning on staying?”
Bear’s guard started to creep up. “Depends.”
“We could all go out for a beer, you know? Be good to get the whole gang back together.”
“Mm.”
Shane drove another minute before speaking. “If you’re planning on staying a while, Kyle’s looking for people he can trust,” he said. “If you need work.”
Bear grunted.
“Or…we could use you, too. Like in the old days.”
Bear cleared his throat and crossed his arms, remembering now why he’d avoided Colorado.
“We’re at it again. But it’s not the same without you. We were a team, Bear.”
“That was a long time ago. We were all kids.”
“And we did some good, man. Sometimes, I think we did more good as a group of teenagers than—”
“I didn’t come back here to be recruited,” Bear said, his voice louder than he’d planned, but maybe it would get the point across.
Shane pulled the SUV over and looked at Bear. “You turnin’ yellow? Should I call you Pooh Bear?”
“Fuck you.” Bear refused to look at his friend. He stared out the window instead, where a circling hawk suddenly dove for a mouse or some other small creature in the tall grass ringed with trees.
“Same old Bear.” Shane pulled back onto the road.
Up ahead, Bear spotted a gate and gatehouse. “That it?”
“Yep. No getting past the gate without an engraved invite.”
Bear side-eyed him.
“Told you, rough summer.”
“In Lyons?”
“Times change, brother.” Shane’s voice sounded regretful.
Times may have changed, but Arden hadn’t. She was waiting on the porch of the ranch house, bouncing on her toes with the biggest, warmest smile on her face. A tall man stood next to her, wariness obvious on his face. He had a dog on a leash—what looked like a gold and black mottled Lab.
“Bear!” Arden shouted as she ran toward him, barely giving him a chance to get out of the SUV. His fears that she’d hate him for missing Sean’s memorial evaporated. Big smile on his face, he opened his arms, picked her up, and swung her around.
“It’s so good to see you, Bear!” He put her down and she gave his beard a tug. “At least I think that’s you under all that hair. What’s that all about?”
“Can’t find a barber I like,” Bear joked.
