Page 8 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

A sound erupted from Ashley's chest. Not a sound she would have let herself make if there had been any true humans nearby, but there were three shifters in the room and the door was closed, so she didn't modulate the startlingly deep roar that broke through Laurie's protest. Laurie and Jon both straightened, wide-eyed, and Ashley could see Laurie just about bristling, as if he might go so far as to shift in the middle of the office. "You help outwhen you're asked," she agreed strenuously, before he could object any more. "But you're bothgrown adults who have been working at this pub since you were old enough to serve beer, and at the faires since well before that. You're perfectly willing to pick up slack at the faires. I've seen you do it thousands of times. If something needs doing there, you do it. I expect you to do the same damn thing at the pub!"

Jon, still sounding more guilty than Laurie did, said, "But Bill—" and Ashley interrupted with another of those near-roars.

"Billworked himself to exhaustion because he was the only one doing the job around here! He expected you to pull your own weight and when you didn't, instead of confronting you about it, he just did everything you weren't.Heexpected you to behave like responsible human beings, because he knew youcoulddo it, but neither of you ever bothered. You only do the minimum around here, and that's part of why the pub damn near went under!"

A little to Ashley's surprise, that shut both her cousins up. They exchanged glances before Jon said, "The pub what? But we're doing really well?"

Ashley looked upward like she would gain strength from the ceiling beams, then mashed her lips flat as she stared at her cousins. "Are you serious right now?"

"Areyouserious?" Laurie's voice rose. "The pub nearly wentunder? Why the hell didn't Bill say anything? Why do you know that and we don't? That can't be right!"

"Would you have listened?" Ashley asked softly. "Bill asked for help over and over again, guys."

"Not that kind of help! Not 'the pub is going under' help! He—" Laurie broke off as Jon cast him an uncertain look, and, less confidently, said, "He never said he neededthatkind of help."

"Because every time he asked you for any help at all, you did exactly what you were asked to do and nothing else. Your brother was doing two peoples' jobs, Laurie.Bothyour parentsused to run this place and the brewery. When they retired Bill picked it all up by himself. He hired me?—"

"Because he found his mate and wanted to be able to spend time together!" Laurie said.

Ashley sighed. "Because he needed somebody else to manage the pub. Finding Gwen is probably the best thing that ever happened to him, if for no other reason than it gave him some perspective on that. You two are incredible at running a pub. You do an amazing job of it six months out of the year, all over the country, during the Ren Faire season. But as soon as the season is over, you come home and spend the rest of your time screwing around and doing whatever the hell you feel like instead of helping out around here. And now thatI'mrunning this place, you're either going to shape up or ship out."

Laurie's jaw fell open. "You'refiringus?"

Ashley smiled thinly. "I'm putting you on an employee probation plan. If you don't start taking your jobs here more seriously, then yes, you'll be let go."

"But Mom and Dadownthis place!"

Ashley stared at the youngest Torben cousin. "Then that would be embarrassing and awkward for everybody, wouldn't it?"

"Jon, she can't—" Laurie shot a look at his brother, decided maybe he wasn't going to get as much support there as he thought, and flushed angrily. "Fine. I'll call Miguel over at the leather shop and see if I can squeeze into the Saturday morning class, if that won't interfere with your schedule for me," he snapped at Ashley, then rose and stalked out of the office.

Ashley tried not to flinch as the door slammed shut. Her bear glared after Laurie.You should swat him for real.

If we weren't in a pub surrounded by humans…

"Has it really been that bad?" Jon asked quietly. He'd barely said a word, or maybe hardly gotten one in edgewise, but hisdeep voice was apologetic and worried. "Havewereally been that bad?"

"Yes." There was no sugar-coating it, and even if it had been possible, Ashley was too mad right now to try. "On both counts, yes."

"I didn't know." Jon leaned forward in his chair, studying his hands. "Probably because I didn't want to know, or bother to. I know the brewery is doing well. It didn't occur to me the pub might be in trouble. Bill's so…"

"Responsible," Ashley said shortly.

"Yeah." Jon looked up. "I'm sorry, Ash. I'll do better. And I'll apologize to Bill. I didn't mean to…you're right, though. I take the Faire stuff really seriously because it's how I see myself, me and Laurie both, I guess, as helping out. Advertising, making people aware of Thunder Bear Brewery, getting new contacts, all of that. But I do totally think of the rest of the year as my time off, time to get all the detail work ready for next year's Faire circuits, and that my job here is just helping out, not really work. I didn'tknowI thought about it that way until you just pointed it out, but I totally do. I just—" He hesitated, holding the hiss sound in his teeth. "I wish Bill had said something earlier. I get why you didn't. You were waiting to see if we'd shape up once somebody else was managing the place. And we didn't. You must be really disappointed in us."

"I am. You two are closer to my age than anyone else in this family." In fact, Ashley was sandwiched between the two youngest Torbens, nine months younger than Jon and nine months older than Laurie. "We were the Three Musketeers when we were kids."

Jon laughed, a quick quiet sound. "Literally. I actually found those costumes again earlier this year. We were pretty cute. No wonder we were so popular at the Faires. But you kind of outgrew the whole Faire thing."

"I didn't outgrow it, Jon. I just didn't have a family business to fall back on during the off season, so I couldn't dedicate half my year, or even just my summers, to it anymore. You guys still have that, so, you know, don't screw it up. The pub's doing better after the boost from Gwen's band, but I don't have time to hold your hands, and you're thirty years old. Nobody should have to be holding your hand to walk you through your job."

"Yeah. You're right. And, again, I'm sorry. I'll do better," Jon said again. "Laurie probably will too."

"Don't make promises for him, or pick up his slack," Ashley warned. "Just…yeah. Do better." She sighed. "It really would be embarrassing to have to explain to Aunt Heather and Uncle Pete why I fired their two youngest sons from the pub they own, so don't put me in that position, okay?"

"I won't. Things will change, Ash, I promise. You won't believe how smoothly things are going to go from now on." Jon gave her a hopeful smile that Ashley couldn't help returning, and she sat there at her desk a minute once he'd left. Maybe he was right. Maybe things would turn around. She thought she might let herself believe that, at least for a little while.

"Yeah," she said aloud, mostly to her bear as she readied herself to get back to work. "Yeah, things are gonna go smoothly for a while."

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