Page 35 of The Bear's Second Chance Mate
She didn’t know what that meant.
She just knew it meantsomething.
The rest of her morning, as she ran her errands, passed in a blur of motion without meaning—picking up Oli’s prescription, returning library books, buying groceries. Every time her thoughts wandered back to that charged moment outside the café, her pulse skipped a beat.
When she arrived home, Barb’s car was parked outside. She hadn’t expected her aunt home so early. June had hoped to have an hour or two alone before she collected Oli from the occupational therapist he saw on Wednesday afternoons, after school.
“I’m home, Aunt Barb,” June called out as she set the grocery bags on the kitchen counter.
“In here,” Barb called from the living room. “Tea is still hot in the pot if you want one.”
“Thanks.” June put the groceries away and then filled a mug with the steaming tea from the pot, inhaling the familiar scent of chamomile that Barb always preferred in the afternoons.
She carried her tea into the living room, where Barb sat in her usual armchair by the window, reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, a newspaper folded to the crossword puzzle in her lap. A pencil tapped against her chin as she contemplated a clue.
“Bridge club was canceled. Tina’s got the flu.” Barb raised an eyebrow. “I hear you had coffee with Stanley Thornberg this morning.”
June sat down on the sofa and took a sip of her tea. “Word travels fast.”
Barb chuckled. “In Bear Creek, it travels faster than reason. Mrs. Peterson saw you two, said you looked very cozy.”
“It was just coffee,” June said quickly. “He wanted advice about making the pet store more comfortable for kids like Oli.”
“Uh-huh.” Barb’s gaze didn’t waver. “And how’d that go?”
June hesitated. “I don’t know what to make of him,” she admitted, even though she knew she might regret it. “One minute he’s warm and attentive, the next he’s pulling back. It’s like he wants to say something but stops himself every time. And then today… There was a moment. Outside the café. I felt like something passed between us.”
Barb’s smile faded. She folded her arms, voice turning firm. “June, I told you before. If he were your mate, he would’ve said so by now.”
June looked down at her hands. “Maybe it’s not that simple.”
“With shifters?” Barb shook her head. “It is. That’s the one thing that’s never complicated. They know. They act.”
June’s throat tightened. “So you think I’m imagining it?”
“I think…” Barb trailed off, her expression shifting. Something passed through her eyes, regret, maybe. Memory. “I think you want this. And I don’t blame you. He’s gentle, good with Oli. You’d be lucky to find a man like that.”
“That sounds like a ‘but.’”
“But,” Barb sighed, rising to fill the kettle. “Wanting something doesn’t make it true. And I’d hate to see you get hurt chasing a feeling that isn’t mutual.”
June cupped her hands around the tea, letting the warmth seep into her fingers. “Or maybe he’s just scared.”
Barb huffed a breath through her nose. “He’s a bear shifter, not a field mouse.”
They sat in silence for a long moment, sipping their tea.
Then Barb added, almost begrudgingly, “Still…if there’s something real between you, I suppose time will tell.”
June looked at her aunt, surprised by the shift in tone. “That almost sounded like encouragement.”
Barb snorted. “It’s your life, June.”
June smiled into her mug. Stanley wasn’t the only confusing one in her life. She glanced at her aunt, now absorbed in her crossword again, pencil tapping rhythmically against the newspaper.
Neither of them was candid with their words. In so many ways, they were opposites, Stanley, quiet and watchful; Barb, blunt and brash. And yet, beneath it all, they were more alikethan different. Both loved deeply, just not always in ways that were easy to name.
She saw it every time Barb referred to Oli asyour boy, as if his place in June’s life was sacred.
