“No, I’m not going to shoot the bear, Hope. That would be illegal.”
“Okay, just please hurry. I’m scared.”
I didn’t care that he was a dentist right now. All I cared about was not being mauled by a bear and dying a gruesome death in my brother’s survival cabin.
A few long minutes that felt like an eternity passed, and then the lights from Jay’s truck flashed into my window. I could hear him honking his horn. A fewmoments later, there was a knock at my front door, and I had to unfurl my shaking limbs to go open it.
When his figure appeared in the doorway, he didn’t hesitate to reach out and pull me into a hug.
I didn’t even fight it. I let myself hug my dentist neighbor because I was so afraid and trembling from head to foot.
“You’re okay,” he said gently. “Respira.”
“Is it gone?” I said into the soft fabric of his hoodie. He smelled like soap and a little bit like a campfire, but not overwhelming, like maybe he had a wood-burning fireplace in his home. It was mixed with the scent of the forest outside. Earthy and pine-ish. When I pulled away, I had the wild thought that I sort of wished I could go back in for another hug.
“It ran off, but it broke a step and a section of the railing. I can help you fix it sometime soon. Just be careful not to fall into the hole on the steps when you’re going outside. Also, we may need to install better locks on your door and maybe some motion sensor lights.”
He eyed my door frame with scrutiny, then reached up to touch the wood as if testing how flimsy it was.
“I left trash in the bins for a while, not even thinking about bears. I’m so stupid.” I placed a clammy palm on my forehead.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know any better.”
“I’m such an idiot.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks as he stepped further into the cabin, closing the door behind him. “This place is literally called Big Bear. I should’ve known there would be freaking bears in the woods.”
“You’re not an idiot, Hope. You’ve never lived in theforest before.” He reached up to brush a strand of hair away from my face.
“How do you know I’ve never lived in the forest before?” I sniffled, my eyes narrowing.
“Just a rough guess,” he said with a smirk, using the pad of his thumb to wipe a tear from my cheek.
I let out a shaky laugh. “I’m not made for this sort of stuff.”
“Are you alright?” he asked, all teasing gone.
“I’m fine.”
“Have you eaten anything?” He looked over my shoulder at the clock on the oven.
“The bear sorta interrupted my dinner,” I said, gesturing to the door behind him with a droll expression.
“Come over to my house. I’m making a late dinner, and we can talk about why you ran away from me last week after learning I was a dentist.”
I was surprised by the sudden directness, and an awkward laugh escaped me. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. It’s… complicated, and honestly, it’s such a long story, it would take too long to explain.” I averted my eyes, suddenly very interested in the ancient brown carpet.
“If you’d rather stay here, then…”
“No, wait—” My head snapped back up. I really didn’t want to stay in the house in case the bear decided to come back.
“I have a beef stew cooking, and it should be almost done. We can have dinner while you explain.”
My defenses faltered at the wordsbeefandstew.
A cozy, warm stew was my kryptonite.
“Oh no,” I whispered.
“Oh yes,” he said, catching the flicker of weakness in my expression. “Homemade.”
