Page 5 of Bear

I chuckled then stifled a yawn.

“Teenagers sleep more though,” I pointed out.

“Can’t argue with that.”

I rubbed at my eyes, gritty from lack of sleep.

“I should get back to the apartment and grab a nap before Maisie wakes up.”

Bear stepped aside, making room for me on the sidewalk as I turned the stroller around.

“Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?” he asked. “It’s a family tradition that my brothers and I make a meal together every Sunday night. There will be more than enough food to go around, since I’m living with two teenage boys who eat like starving wolves. You’re welcome to join us.”

“That’s very generous of you, Bear, thank you,” I said.

“Would seven o’clock work for you?”

I glanced at Maisie. She was still asleep, her tiny fists curled loosely on her pillow.

“Maisie might be fussy,” I replied. “She’s been teething and I think the stress of moving is getting to her and -”

Bear stopped my rambling by placing his hands on my shoulders. The weight of his touch made me swallow hard around a lump in my throat. Ever since Justin had left, there had been no one around to comfort me, to hug me, to hold me.

“That won’t be a problem,” Bear said. “Whether she’s fussy or not, you are both invited.”

My throat few tight with gratitude. Justin always hated it when the baby cried. He couldn’t stand that Maisie needed comforting, even as an infant. He never wanted to hold her, never wanted to touch her. And yet Bear stood in front of me - a man I’d only met less than twenty-four hours ago - and he didn’t care that Maisie cried.

“I’d like that,” I said, my voice small and trembling. “I really would.”

A small, comforting smile touched Bear’s lips that made my heart stutter.

“I’ll let my brothers know we’re having company.”

I nodded and tore myself away, gripping the stroller’s handle to steady myself. As much as I enjoyed Bear’s company, I couldn’t let myself develop feelings for him. It would be so easy to fall in love with Bear - he’d been friendly and helpful, he knew his way around children, and underneath the bruises, I caught glimpses of a ruggedly handsome man with loyalty to his family that ran bone-deep.

Meanwhile, I was a lonely, single mother who’d been abandoned with her baby. I was tired. I was stressed. It wouldn’t take much to become enamored with a man like this who paid me attention despite my unwashed hair and stained clothes.

But I couldn’t do that. I’d loved a man once before and it had been wrong - all wrong - which had landed me in my current situation.

So I simply threw a neighborly wave back at Bear as I made my way to my apartment.

“I’ll see you boys tonight at seven o’clock!”

***

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been invited to have dinner with someone else. Justin had never been the romantic type and even before Maisie came along, our relationship had been on the rocks. So our dating life had fallen by the wayside. These days, I was always juggling Maisie, too busy to cook anything beyond a microwave TV dinner.

After scouring the boxes I’d hauled up from the van, I realized there were painfully few options for a decent outfit to wear to dinner with Bear. I settled on a cute rose-pink skirt that ended just below the knees and a breezy white camisole. With a touch of blush to my cheeks and some tinted lip balm, I actually looked like the Shelby I used to know, before my shitty relationship fell apart, before my baby came along, before my life went to pieces and I was barely holding onto my sanity by an increasingly precarious thread.

With Maisie in my arms and her diaper bag hooked over my shoulder, I set off for Bear’s apartment. A tussle of butterflies bloomed in my stomach at the prospect of seeing him again but I tamped them down. It didn’t matter if the thought of Bear brought a smile to my lips. We were strictly neighbors. I couldn’t afford anything more than that.

I’d barely knocked at 13A before the door flew open and a young, skinny boy greeted me with a big smile.

“You must be Shelby! Come in, come in. I’m Pedro. Bear is in the kitchen.”

A whirlwind of delicious smells hit me like a tidal wave - peppers and tomatoes, cilantro and sharp cheese. Pedro ushered me inside.

“Let me get your bag for you,” he said, sliding the strap off my shoulder. He hung it on a set of pegs by the door. “Bear!” he yelled. “She’s here!”

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