Page 31 of Renaissance Bear

"Well, go tell her! She's probably still waiting for the taxi!" Laurie jumped up to go check, and Jon was tempted to trip his brother. But that would end up with a bear wrestling match in the living room—he knew this from experience—and their mother would somehowteleportup from Arizona to yell at them. Jon was sure of it. So instead of tripping Laurie, he just sighed and put his face in his hands.

"You heard her, though, Laur. She's got a life somewhere else."

"And she's willing to give it all up for these cinnamon rolls!"

"Oh, come on. That's just something people say. They don't mean it."

Laurie returned from the window looking sullen. "She walked down the street or something. Or the taxi was really fast.She's not there, anyway. Dude, you can't let her go, she's your mate!"

"Yeah, unless the Black Knight is!"

"Haven't you talked tohimyet either?" Laurie sat back down at the table with his cinnamon roll, but also threw his hands in the air. "What are you wasting time for? And why does it have to be one or the other?"

"Becauseeverytime I see Lord Edward I get that feeling of it being right, but it only happens sometimes with Alis. Maybe I'm supposed to choose."

Laurie's expression turned sympathetic. "That sounds lousy, dude. But, I don't know, Alis stayed here last night. Doesn't that mean you chose her?"

"But she must have a choice, too, right?" Jon asked dully. "And she just said none of this was her business."

"I swear to God, I'm gonna drown you in a cinnamon roll," Laurie said. "You're gonna have to use your words, Jon. You're going to have to explain everything, and ifthenshe chooses to leave, well, at least you tried. But you can't just sit here hoping it'll all work out and moping when it doesn't if you haven't actually talked to the woman about it."

"Yeah, well, since when do you know anything about women?" Jon backed that up hastily, raising his hands against Laurie's smirk. "About relationships."

"Okay, fine, relationships aren't my strong suit. But you know I'm right. You've got to talk to her and the Black Knight."

"I know. But rightnowI have to go find out why Mayor Whitfield is trying to sell off the fairgrounds!"

"Half the family is on that, Jon. Uncle Dave is looking into secret real estate agent databases about what's been listed for sale and?—"

Jon eyed him. "'Secret real estate databases?'"

"You know, whatever. They've gotta have something like that, don't they? And Mac is filing an injunction against the sale, however that works. What do you thinkyou'regonna accomplish that they can't?"

"Talking to the mayor," Jon said patiently. "Because Dave and Mac arebusy, see."

"I could talk to the mayor. You should go throw yourself at Alis's feet and beg her to stay with you forever."

Yes,Jon's bear said enthusiastically.Let's do that.

Jon set his jaw, feeling a counterproductive stubbornness setting in. "I don't need everybody nagging me."

"Hah! Your bear said I was right, didn't it? See? You should listen to your little brother for once!"

"Enough, Laurie!" Jon stood abruptly and, grabbing his wallet and keys, left the house without saying anything else. He had a week left with Alis. It had to be enough time to work things out. Enough time to find the Black Knight and talk to him, too, to try to figure out what that electric connection between them meant.

But if all of that was fate, then it meant itwouldwork out, somehow. The sale of the fairgrounds wasn't fate at all, which meant it could go really badly. Not just for Jon personally, but for the whole town. For all the vendors across the whole western United States who came to sell their work at the faire. It could take years to get into another one, the wait lists were so long. Losing this one would be devastating to every single community Jon was part of.

And he could think of no earthly reason that Mayor Whitfield would threaten that. He wasn't a shifter, so he couldn't be facing pressure from that front. Jon obviously knew nothing about the man's finances, but being a mayor probably paid pretty well. Maybe not all the money in the world, but enough, surely. He swung up into his truck and looked up the salary, then stared athis phone a minute. It was about a third of what he'd expected, not really even enough to live on, and Whitfield had a family. Maybe Jon could understand an attempt to get rich quick after all, even if it was at the town's expense.

Although the land wasn't Whitworth's to sell, so any profit he'd make would be through a kickback or an outright bribe. If it was Jon in that position, it would have to be a hell of a lot of money to see him through the sleepless nights that would follow. He pulled out of the driveway and guided the truck down the street, only to pass Alis resolutely stalking down the sidewalk toward the middle of town. Jon pulled over and rolled the window down, leaning out to peer at her as she approached. "Everything okay?"

"I don't know, is it? You guys got weird back there and I thought I should dip. But it turns out this town has two taxis and no rideshare services. How do you even live like that? Barbarians!" She didn't sound serious at the end of it.

Jon tilted his head toward the passenger seat. "Well, you can share my ride if you'd like. There are no rideshares here because of our traffic laws. A bunch of local persnicketiness that makes trying to run one more work than it's worth."

Alis stopped outside the driver's door and looked up at him, arms folded beneath her breasts. "Persnicketiness, huh? That's a word that doesn't get a lot of air time."

"Just don't ask me to spell it." Jon smiled hopefully. "I'll drive you to your RV, if you want. Or to the mayor's office, if you want to come with me. I know you said it isn't your business, but…I guess I hope you'll change your mind about that."

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