Page 23 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

"You're kind of ruthless, aren't you, Ash?"

Ashley grinned at her cousin. "Are you seriously only just now figuring that out?"

Jon drew, "Nooo" out, but his expression was curious. "I've just never seen it in action in the adult world, maybe. You used to run us ragged when we were kids, but somehow I didn't—" He broke off, laughing. "I didn't think of it as 'leadership skills' until just now, I guess. I just thought you were?—"

Ashley held up a warning finger. "I'm sure you're not about to end that sentence with 'bossy.'"

Jon, who had obviously been about to end that sentence with 'bossy,' said, "—uh, pushy? Please don't hurt me." He mimed cringing away fearfully from a blow, and Ashley obligingly threatened him with one before he said, "It's good, though. You're good at this. Sorry again that Laurie and I have been making it harder. Speaking of which." He nodded back at the floor, and returned to work.

Ashley made sure there were no other crises going on, and made it out to the charity tents before the Sixty Pix quite finished up, so she was there to clap and cheer as the performers came off stage. Penny bounced toward her, shining both with enthusiasm and, as she'd warned earlier, sweat, and shied back from the hug that Ashley offered. "I'm much too disgusting right now. I'd stain your dress. As it is I'm going to have to pay for dry cleaning on this before I return it. I didn't think of that," she admitted as she gestured at the autumn-gold gown she'd rented. "But at least I looked pretty."

"You looked gorgeous," Ashley murmured. "Youlookgorgeous. Sweaty and all. You really come to life up there, don't you?"

"It's the best thing in the world," Penny said. "I love performing. I love drumming. I love my life, and," she said with a sudden violent shiver, "I love really big warm fluffy coats or going indoors because oh my god, the sweat drying on my skin is going to turn me into an icicle in about ninety seconds here. I didn't think it was that cold out until just now!"

"It's been that cold all along," Ashley promised. "You just weren't as, um, perspire-y."

"Sweaty," Penny said firmly. "There is no delicate word for the amount of sweat I work up on stage. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with sweat. There is something wrong with freezing to death!"

"Right!" Ashley put her arm around Penny's shoulders and swept her toward the pub. "Do Gwen and Ripley need to be returned to warmth, too?"

Penny cast a look over her shoulder. "Bill's got Gwen taken care of, and Ripley wears much more sensible clothes than what I've got on right now. I think they'll be fine. I just need to dry off and put a coat on and I'll be okay too. Or I can stay inside and watch you rule the roost." She smiled up at Ashley as they went inside. "Which sounds pretty appealing, really. If I stay in here, nobody will recruit me to help clean up out there now that the party is over."

Ashley laughed. "I see how it is! I'm being used to avoid work!"

"Yeah," Penny said cheerfully. "I'll just pull up a bar stool, eat some cheese fries, and let everybody else do the heavy lifting. I couldn't risk this dress anyway."

"Cheese fries will be on the house," Ashley promised, and a few minutes later, Penny was indeed perched on a bar stool, nursing a beer and eating cheese fries while Sixty Pix fans stopped by to ask for pictures and autographs.

Our mate is popular,Ashley's bear said with great satisfaction.She'll be good for you.

Ashley blinked at the bear, vaguely offended.Am I not popular?

You take working very seriously. You should spend more time sunning and eating. Our mate will make sure you do that, because many people want to sun and eat with her and she'll want you to join her when they do.

"Oh," Ashley said out loud, glancing toward Penny again, and then, silently,Oh, no. That whole life is way beyond me. I'm just a bar manager. I don't want to be famous.

Are you going to let your mate eat all her meals with other people?the bear asked archly.

What? No!

Satisfaction radiated from the bear again.Then you will spend more time relaxing, and that will be good.

Ashley, with the sense that she had absolutely lost this argument, went back to work like that wasn't proving the bear's point.

CHAPTER 14

Penny was used to staying up late. It came with the job. On the other hand, she was also used to playing music until nearly midnight, and not coming down off that high until two or three in the morning. When the band got done at ten p.m., the performance rush ran out about midnight.

Unfortunately, the Thunder Bear Brewpub didn't stop serving alcohol until midnight on a Sunday, and it was another hour before the pub fully closed. By that time, Penny was nearly asleep on the bar counter, having long since finished her fries and having made the in-retrospect-terrible decision to have a second beer. She propped her chin on her hand, watching sleepily as the bar got cleaned up around her. Ashley managed to look elegant and not get dirt on that gorgeous green elfin dress even as she mopped the floor and cleaned up spilled beer here and there.

It was kind of fun to watch the clean-up crew. They worked together with the efficiency of long-familiar, well-rehearsed efforts, with tired but light-hearted banter bouncing around the otherwise-quiet pub. It was such a comfortable, friendly space: log-cabin style walls, deep booths with leather seat covers and polished brass knobs, gleaming wooden tables bothin the booths and standing free around the floor. There were American and state flags hanging high on the walls and in the rafters, and various Pride flags had joined them since the first time Penny had been in the pub. There were small snowdrifts built up against the winter-dark windows, which reflected warm yellow light back into the pub. It was a homey space, warm and comforting and welcoming.

"Pen?" A hand touched Penny's shoulder and she jolted awake, startled and checking to see if she needed to wipe drool off her face, or worse, off the bar.

Ashley was grinning at her, if a grin could be soft and gentle as well as brightly wicked. "You lost it in the last ten minutes," she told her. "I watched your head slide down your arm and hit the bar in slow motion. Can I drive you home?"

Penny dragged in a breath to protest, then thought about getting in her cold, cold van and driving back to the hotel, and nodded. "I think so, yeah, please. But you wanted to talk!"

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