Page 41 of Bear's Heart

“I think you like it.”

“Do I?”

She nodded.“You like that I don’t take you too seriously.You like that I can make you laugh.And you like that I’ve put the right toilet in your new house so you won’t fall off it again.”

“I do think you’re good for me.”

She flashed an impish smile.“I do, too.”And then she remembered something she’d been wanting to ask him, and it seemed like a good time now.“I’ve been dying to ask you, but is the story true, about how you earned your nickname Bear?”

He shook his head.“I can’t escape that story, can I?It’s been what… twenty-something years ago?”

“Everyone’s heard it.In school, you learn about Lewis and Clark, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, Daniel Boone and Bear Anderson.”

He laughed, amused.“That is some strange history you were taught.”

“I recognize some of those might have been legends,” she said primly, “and some were real people, but you, Bear Anderson, are both a legendanda real person.”

He gestured to his wheelchair.“As you can see, I am more man than legend.”

She leaned toward him.“But did the bearactuallyattack you?”

Bear pushed up his sleeve showing his bicep and a glimpse of the deep claw marks scarring the skin of his shoulder.“It goes down my back.”

“That’s… wow.”

“It got me pretty good.I wouldn’t have survived if my sister hadn’t run for my dad.Dad came charging with a rifle, and shot at the grizzly, and I lived to tell about it.”

“But you jumped in front of your sister.”

“I don’t know if I jumped in front of her or pushed her behind me.But we were walking and suddenly there was the bear, and she was closer to the bear and Susie froze.Goofy lost his mind, barking and growling and dancing around the bear.I was afraid the grizzly would kill my dog, so I grabbed a branch and charged.”

“Weren’t you scared?”

“Terrified.But nobody messed with my dog.Goofy was my best friend.”

Josie grinned.“So, you really were saving your dog and not your sister.”

His eyes creased at the corners, humor warming the silver-gray irises.“See, you know the truth.It was never about my sister.”

He was teasing her, but it wasn’t his words that made her heart thud, it was his smile.His smile was so warm and intimate that Josie felt a flutter in her middle, a delicate tingly butterfly sensation.“I suppose it does make a better story if it was your sister.”

“One hundred percent.”

Josie couldn’t stop smiling, even as the fizzy sensation inside of her rose, bubbling up in her chest.She felt a little silly, a little giddy, and very happy.“How old were you?”

“Ten.Susie was eight.And Goofy was five.”

“What happened after your dad arrived?”

“He shot at the bear, but the bear took off.”

“And then?”

“Mom called for help.Dad stayed with me while help arrived.I was airlifted to the hospital and got rushed into surgery where they fixed me up, and when I came to there were newspaper reporters, photographers, and congratulations from the governor of Montana.”He gave her a look.“I was a really big deal.For all of one week.”

“And the boy became a legend.”

Chapter Nine

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