Page 87 of Flare
She leaned forward, touching her forehead gently to his.“Rest now,” she whispered.“I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“And you’ll keep living at my place?” he asked.“Make it our place?”
She kissed his temple.“Only if you promise me blueberry pancakes every weekend.”
“Deal.” His last thought before he drifted off to sleep was that he’d finish his kitchen renovation before Labor Day, even if it killed him.
Chapter 24
Celebration
Grizzly Creek Ranch
Monday, September 1 (Three and a half months later)
The Swansons had gathered on the ranch to enjoy the perfect Labor Day weather with a barbecue party. The meadow next to the river was dotted with picnic tables, and colorful lawn chairs were set up along the riverbank, shaded by the enormous old cottonwood trees.
Emily sat with her feet in the water, taking a break from playing softball to cool off while Ward took his turn at the huge propane grills set up under a large catering tent nearby.
All around her, Swansons of every age gathered in laughing clusters—cooking, eating, playing horseshoes, or simply lounging like her in the warm September sunshine.
Four months ago, she could never have imagined feeling so completely at home among these bear shifters, yet now she couldn’t picture herself anywhere else.
“More iced tea, dear?” Elle Swanson appeared at Emily’s side, pitcher in hand, her bobbed hair held back with a colorful elastic hairband.
The Swanson matriarch’s eyes crinkled warmly as she topped off Emily’s glass without waiting for an answer.
“Thank you,” Emily said, smiling up at the woman who had welcomed her into the family fold with such immediate and unconditional affection.“Everything is wonderful.”
“Well, you just keep relaxing,” Elle instructed, patting Emily’s shoulder.“You work too much. I’m glad to see you enjoying the last of the summer weather.”
As Elle moved on to refill other glasses, Emily settled back in her chair, marveling at how drastically her life had changed since that terrifying night she fled Spokane with nothing but a set of hastily packed suitcases and some purloined files.
The woman who’d arrived in Bearpaw Ridge four months ago would hardly recognize the Emily Clarke who sat here today.
She no longer second-guessed her every word and action, or worried that she wasn’t good enough for the people in her life. Her nightmares about Andrew had stopped after she had seen him bloodied and on the verge of death after she’d fought him off.
The set of long, parallel scars on her arm had now faded to thin pink lines. They reminded her how much she owed Ward and his insistence on training her in self-defense.
Across the lawn, she spotted him at the grill, laughing at something his cousin Mitya had said while flipping burgers with practiced ease. His plain gray t-shirt stretched across his chest, and she admired his bare, muscled arms.
Watching him move with such ease and confidence, no one would guess how close he’d come to death last spring. Onlysheknew, reminded by the scars she saw every night when he was naked and in bed with her.
Emily’s gaze drifted to the cluster of volunteer firefighters gathered near the horseshoe pit.
Maggie waved enthusiastically when she caught Emily’s eye, and several others raised their beer bottles in friendly greeting.
Over the summer, she’d started training as a part-time volunteer dispatcher through the county. Her certification would be wrapped up by early December, just in time to take panicked holiday calls about turkey fires and burning Christmas trees.
To her own surprise, she was pretty good at handling 911 calls. Apparently, her years of soothing temperamental executives—not to mention a scary bear shifter in a business suit—had trained her for a second career in emergency management.
Who knew that handling Andrew’s mood swings would prepare me for triaging wildfires and accidents?
“There’s my partner in crime,” Ward said, appearing suddenly beside her chair. He handed her a paper plate with a cheeseburger, fixed just the way she liked it, on a brioche bun with lettuce and tomato but no raw onions. He bent to kiss her temple.“Having fun?”
“I’m having a great time,” Emily replied, reaching up to stroke his bearded cheek.“Your grandmother seems determined to fatten me up, though.”
Ward laughed, dropping into the empty chair beside her.“Grandma Elle believes no problem exists that can’t be solved with food. It’s the bear shifter way.”
