Page 64 of Bear's Heart

The line inched forward, and Josie could finally get a peek inside the window.The interior was pink and white with a classic soda fountain on one wall.“How yummy,” she said.“I love it.”

“It’s very pink,” Bear said.

Josie arched an eyebrow.“Does pink scare you?”

“Of course not.”

“Is it a girl color?”

“Josie.”

She smiled mischievously.“Yes, dear?”

His eyes dropped to her mouth and lingered a moment, sending sparks of sensation through Josie’s middle.

Bear cleared his throat.“Never mind.Dear.”

The line did move quicker than Josie had expected and in less than ten minutes they were inside and discovering all the different flavors.Lily’s featured seventeen original flavors, all made in house, with some rotating for the different seasons.Tonight, Lily’s featured ice cream was a huckleberry cheesecake, with ribbons of thick huckleberry syrup, cream cheese and buttery graham cracker crust.

Josie tried the featured ice cream but then opted for a single scoop—which was still very large—of chocolate brownies and fudge ice cream—in one of Lily’s homemade sugar cones.It was delicious.

They slowly made their way back to the gallery, Bear’s ice cream in a cup between his knees, stopping periodically so Bear could take a bite.

They reached the gallery with five minutes to spare and stood outside to finish their ice cream.“This was a great idea,” Josie said.“Thank you.”

“I wanted to call you all day,” he answered.“But I didn’t know what to say.I never want to hurt your feelings and I know I did—”

“I’m to blame.I started it, and I shouldn’t have been so provocative.I put you in a weird position.I’m sorry.”

He used his paper napkin to reach up and swipe the corner of her mouth which turned out to have some extra ice cream.“You can’t take this personally,” he said quietly.“You’re an amazing woman.I respect you and admire you—”

“I’d rather you think I’m hot and impossible to resist.”

Bear grinned.“You are hot, and very hard to resist, but I do respect you, and I want the best for you.”His smile faded.“You mean a lot to me.You’ve made everything better.I don’t want to lose you, or your friendship.”

Josie maintained her smile even as she silently counted to five.“You won’t,” she said when she was certain she could keep her voice steady.“Friends for life.”

Bear waited until she’d unlocked the gallery door and taken down the paper sign to leave.Josie stood at one of the tall sparkling windows and watched him go, telling herself that being friends with him was better than nothing.But being friends with him also felt terrible sometimes.Kind of like now, when all she wanted was a hug, and maybe a kiss.

*

Much of thenext week was spent at the Farrell Building.Framing was happening inside, bathroom and office walls going up, while holes were being cut in the ceiling for the five skylights that were supposed to arrive any day now.

Josie had spent a great deal of time researching flooring options for the huge space.Ceramic tiles were good for heavy electric chairs, but they were hard and bruising if one fell on them, and Bear’s clientele would probably take some falls.Nonslip vinyl was recommended for bathrooms, and Josie ordered samples of that, along with samples of rubber flooring for the facility itself.

She had the various materials laid out for Bear to look at and was just waiting for him to get off the phone.He finally hung up, but he wasn’t happy as he joined her in an area without construction.

“Bad news?”she asked, reading his expression.

“Skylights were supposed to be here tomorrow, but they’re missing.”

“Missing where?Missing how?”

He shrugged, his powerful shoulders rolling.“No one seems to know but everyone says they’re working on it, so we’ll see.”He turned his attention to the materials spread out on the floor.“What is that one?”he asked, pointing to a beige and white diamond pattern.

“It’s a nonslip vinyl.”

“I don’t like it.It looks like something in a hospital.”

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