Page 103 of Maizy the Bear Charmer

“He wouldn’t tell me how he knew, but he knows about Spencer and demanded to know if I was involved with the three of you.”

Standing in front of her, Heath reached out and stroked her chin. Spencer sat on the table on her other side and she slid a hand over his thigh. Cody’s heart thumped as he waited for her to continue, wondering how she’d answered. Had she hid the fact that she was in a relationship with them? Or would she risk all and admit to it?

“I told him that it was none of his business what his grown daughter did in her private life and then I told him, yes, I am involved with the three of you…that I’m in love with the three of you. He wasn’t pleased at all.”

Cody lifted his hand from her shoulder and caressed the side of her head as she looked up at him. He kissed her temple and said, “I love you, too, angel.”

“I wanted to tell you that in a private moment, like I did with Heath and Spencer but I wanted you to know exactly what I told him, Cody. I do love you.”

He sighed and squeezed her gently. “I’m sensing a ‘but’ in that statement.”

She shook her head. “No buts about that. I love you. I do. But I also know something will have to give. Mrs. Dumphrey was very clear in her opinion. She may respect me as a teacher but she won’t hesitate to do what she feels is best for the school. This is going to come down to me making a choice.”

“Damn,” Spencer growled.

She rested her forehead in her hands and braced her elbows on her thighs. “I knew it would come down to this. I just hoped for more time before I was forced to make a choice.”

A hot pain entered Cody’s heart when he saw her brush the heel of her hand against her cheek and a soft sob escaped her. The three of them glanced at each other and his agony was reflected in Spencer and Heath’s eyes when they looked at him.

Heath shook his head and looked away across the lake with suddenly bloodshot eyes. Spencer slid his fingers through his closely cropped hair, and Cody had the impression that if it was longer he’d be yanking on it. The hurt was obvious in their eyes as they looked back at him. After a long hesitation they both nodded.

Cody slid off the table and tugged at her hand. “Come on, baby. Let us show you the lake view road. It’s pretty at sunset.” While he held her hand, he pressed his lips to the top of it. Instead of smiling, she looked ready to burst into tears.

She swallowed audibly as she climbed down from the table and let them draw her back to the bikes. After fixing her hair herself, she got on the bike behind Spencer and gave him a thumbs-up once her helmet was on. The ride was beautiful, the glorious colors of sunset reflected on the water in rays of pink, orange, and red.

They stopped in a little hole-in-the-wall town and ate at a lakeside restaurant that had a Friday night fish fry during the summer months. They sat off to the side at a secluded table and she fed them bites of catfish from her fingers and giggled when they kissed her fingertips.

Despite the sweetness of the moment, the pain was awful. He couldn’t see any way around it and saw no way to make it easier on her.

They’d just reached the bikes in a corner of the parking lot when she said, “Tell me what’s going through your mind, Cody.” She put her hands on his cheeks and gazed at him. He could see the anxiety in her eyes and feel it in her trembling hands. “Tell me.”

Heath and Spencer drew near, closing her in with their bodies, and Cody said, “We won’t make you choose between the career that you were born to have, and us. It’s not fair to you.”

She sat up and looked up at him pleadingly. Shock was clear in her eyes as it dawned on her what he was saying. He knew then she’d been ready to sacrifice the job she loved in order to be with them. “No. No, no, no. Please, Cody. Don’t—” Tears overflowed her eyes and his heart felt like it was pumping battery acid. “We don’t know what will happen. This could all work out.”

Cody shook his head. “No, baby. If we continue, we’d be sneaking around, trying to protect you, worrying all the time, and probably wind up getting caught anyway. It’s better that we end it before we’re in too deep.”

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