Page 15 of Bear's Heart

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Bear did callJosie that evening.“I wanted to apologize for being rude when you arrived at my house.I was an ass, and I’m sorry.I hope you can forgive me.”

“I already have.”

He cleared his throat.“You can’t make it that easy.”

“Of course I can.I appreciate the apology but we’re all human and we all make mistakes.”

“I wasn’t angry with you—”

“I know.”

“Or the design firm.I was angry with myself.”

“Why angry with yourself?”

“The house isn’t mine.”

“I don’t understand.I thought you built it.”

Bear didn’t know how to explain, and with anyone else, wouldn’t.

But he wanted to try telling her.“I did, but I built the house for my fiancé, Savannah.We were planning our wedding, and I was building our future family home.There is a lot of her here—every place I look, I see her—and it’s not comfortable.It’s not where I want to be.Even if it was accessible, it’s not my home, not anymore.”

“That makes sense.”

“You’d think I would have known that when I made plans to return to Montana, but I didn’t.It took me some time to get to this realization.I’d thought being trapped downstairs was the issue, but as time went on, I realized there was more to it.This house wasn’t good for me.I wasn’t good.I wasn’t coping well.”

“But now you know.So you can do something about it.”

“Are you always so positive?”

“I like to be,” she said.“If I’ve learned anything in life is that while we can’t control what’s happened, we can hopefully control how we respond to what’s going on now.”

“Your family has had more than its fair share of challenges.”

“I think that’s a fair assessment, but it’s also brought us closer.Hannah, Rye, and I make a formidable team.”

“Your brother said the same thing.”

“See?We’re pretty tight.”

“I’m going to be hiring Rye’s crew to fix my bathroom, but I’ve also let him know that if I find a place for my business, I’d like him to do any work needed.He suggested I talk to you about my business plans and see if what I’m doing could work for your design project required for graduation.”

“I’m interested.”

He laughed.“Wait.I’m supposed to sell you on the idea.”

“You can still do that.”

“Good, as I’m going to see commercial properties in Bozeman Saturday morning, and I wondered if I could meet you for lunch after?I’ll fill you in then, if that would work for you.”

“That’s great.I have no plans for Saturday.Just tell me when and where.”

“I don’t know Bozeman well,” he said.“Can you recommend a place?”

“I’ll send you some names.Look at the menus, and we can do whatever sounds best to you.”

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