Page 123 of Bears Behaving Badly
“And you always have, m’dear. As for you, Caroline Daniels, what have I told you about sleeping in the basement?”
Caro fixed Mama with one of her eloquent expressions.Not to?
“Not to.” Mama softened her tone. “There are plenty of beds, m’dear. Even with Dev coming to stay for a bit.”
Caro shrugged and scribbled. She was lightning fast, like a court stenographer.
Room’s too warm & bright. It’s like trying to sleep on a giant marshmallow under operating room lights.
“That does sound off-putting,” Annette admitted. “Mama, am I seeing things, or did they rent out the Curs house again?”
“Second time this month. The last tenants didn’t even stay ’til the 15th.”
“Unbelievable. They should just raze it and build…I don’t know, a playground or something.”
“I’m finished,” Caro said aloud. “Thank you.”
“Good God,” Annette said, awed. “Did you chew? At all?”
That earned her a look every teenager had mastered by their fourteenth birthday:Are you stupid?
“All right, I get it. Technically, you don’t have to chew oatmeal. You can just slurp it straight down, like a duck. I guess we should be glad it wasn’t granola.”
“I won’t have granola in this house,” Mama Mac declared, slinging the dreaded dish towel over her shoulder.
“Yes, I remember. And speaking of remembering, you’ll all recall that this”—Annette gestured to the kitchen, the table, the fridge, Mama Mac—“isn’t permanent. I’ll push to get you and Dev fostered here long-term, but it’s a process. Bureaucracy is everywhere and swallows everything. Even the paranormal.”
“Nothing’s permanent. Disaster can strike any time,” Caro said. After two years of self-enforced silence, she still preferred to write notes, even when she felt perfectly safe. No one was pressuring her to speak, because recovery took time; actual real-world psychological issues were hardly ever wrapped up in a neat bow. Still, Annette was warmed every time Caro said something aloud to her. “Got it, you glass-is-half-empty bureaucrat.”
Well. Warmed most of the time. “That wasn’t quite what I was trying to put across.”
MM, more milk?
“Of course, m’girl.” Mama Mac handed Caro what looked like a vase full of whole milk. “Andyou—you’re seeing that David? Officially? Going together or whatever the current phrase is?”
“We have begun to mate and will do so again,” Annette said solemnly, then snickered when Caro wrote-screamedGROSS!!!and Mama rolled her eyes. “He had to be talked into it, but yes.”
“If he had to be talked into it, he’s a fool.”
“Well, at first he wasn’t going to go out with me for my own good, if that makes a difference.”
Mama’s voice rose. “Isaid, he’s a fool.”
“I don’t expect you to be objective. His dead mom was entirely against it, but then he figured out that she was against it out of thwarted concern, not any real dislike. Then we boned.”
GROSS!!!
“Wow, you took up the whole piece of paper that time.” Annette pushed back from the table. “Thank you for the oatmeal.”
“You’re welcome, you’re always welcome. Come for supper. We’re having pork roast—”
“Wonderful. What time?”
“—and Oz is coming, too.”
“So sorry, something just came up,” she teased.
“Oh, stop it.”
