Page 14 of Her Former Bear Mate

"I'm so sorry!I missed my bus.I'll be there in twenty minutes.Maybe thirty."Alix thought for a moment."Definitely thirty, traffic is a bitch and this bus driver keeps slowing down for bikers and to let other people on."

Lena pinched the bridge of her nose.Great.

"Have you heard from Maria?"Aditi asked.

"No?Isn't she there yet?"

"No.It's just me and Lena."

There was a beat of silence on Alix' side of the line."Yikes.Is it awkward?I bet it's awkward."

"You're also on speaker," Aditi said, looking horrified.

"Hey, Alix," Lena said, not sure if she should be amused or embarrassed.

The phone stayed silent for a few seconds before Alix replied sheepishly, "Hi, Lena.Sorry, didn't know this was on speaker.Thanks, Adi.You should really let people know that at the start of the call."

The phone call ended, leaving them in an even more awkward atmosphere than before.Lena drank some of her wine just to have something to do.

"I didn't know she was going to be so blunt," Aditi said with an uneasy chuckle.

"It's fine, I'm used to Alix' bluntness by now."Lena twirled her glass around, drawing circular indents in the tablecloth with the foot.This was torture.

"Yeah, but---"

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the front door open and both turned to look at it, only for their hopes to be dashed when two unknown women walked in.They looked to be arguing even while they settled at the bar.

"I wonder if Maria is okay," Aditi said."It's not like her to be late."

"Pregnancy-brain does funny things to people.Maybe she went into early labour," Lena wondered.

"Unlikely, but you never know."Aditi drummed her fingers on the table."I suppose I could call into work, see if she's been admitted.That's probably overkill though, right?I'm not my mother."

Lena couldn't help but chuckle."Yeah, it's a bit premature to start calling all the morgues."

With a mortified look, Aditi sank her head into her hands."I still can't believe my mother did that.What was she thinking?"

"She just loves her little precious baby girl," Lena teased.There were many things she missed about Aditi but her overbearing mother wasn't one of them.She never got the impression that Rheka approved of their relationship either so it wasn't like there was any love lost there.

The harsh sound of shattering glass interrupted their first positive conversation since they sat down and both looked at the bar.The two women who came in earlier seemed to be fighting still and it was unclear whether the glass on the floor had been an accident or on purpose.

It was followed by one of the women throwing her glass of water in the other's face which promptly earned her a slap.Before the bartenders or staff could even jump in to intervene, one of them stormed off with a surprising amount of poise for someone who was dripping.

Lena and Aditi exchanged a silent look with each other.

"Wow...wonder what that was about," Aditi murmured."What do you think?Friends or couple fight?"

"That has to be a couple.Maybe one of them confessed to cheating," Lena guessed."Or they're best friends and one of them is sleeping with the other's husband or wife."

"Maybe they're sisters and one of them stole the other's inheritance."

"Or business partners and one of them embezzled money.We have overactive imaginations."

Aditi chuckled."Not at all, you wouldn't believe the stories I heard from my colleagues in A&E.Yesterday, there was a man who came in with a knife in his shoulder.He had a habit of critiquing his wife's food and she got fed up with his complaints."

"Ouch."

"And there was an elderly lady who got into a fistfight with her sister at a will reading.They had to be checked for concussions."Aditi leaned on her hand."And two teenage boys got into a fight in the lobby over some trading cards or something?I don't fully understand what that was about but one of them stabbed a pen into the other's eye."

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