Page 5 of A Very Beary Christmas
“So, how’s school?” I asked.
“It’s good,” he replied, “but it’s not here.”
I knew exactly what he meant. After high school, I had joined the Army. I had received a good education and had traveled around the world. Nevertheless, something always called me back home, and after my commitment was fulfilled, I had returned. I hadn’t regretted a minute since.
Bear shifters could live in cities among the humans, but most of us preferred the mountains and open skies.
Besides, I wanted to be here, just in case Chloe ever returned. I wanted to believe that whatever divine force had paired us as mates would give us another chance.
Kayden and I checked out a couple of trees, finally selecting a twelve-foot spruce with a nice, symmetrical fullness. Then we made quick work of cutting it down, lifting it onto the sled, and securing it. Once back at the lodge, we got it inside and left it to the others to decorate while we grabbed some well-earned mugs of hot cocoa in the kitchen.
“Oh, I almost forget,” Kayden said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. “I wanted to show you this.”
I looked at the screen, certain he was going to show me a picture of a pretty girl he had met at college or something. I hadn’t expected to see a photo-quality painting that looked eerily similar to the lodge in which we sat. Nor had I expected to see a bear in the picture, poised in a protective stance, looking at something off in the woods.
“Look familiar?” he asked on a chuckle.
Yeah, it did. The bear in the picture looked exactly like me in my animal form.
“Where did you see this?”
“It was hanging in a diner in a small town we passed through on the way. Freaky, huh?”
Yeah, it was freaky all right.
I zoomed in and looked at the screen, trying to make out the artist’s name. My heart stopped when I saw the tiny signature scribbled in the bottom right corner.Chloe.
My mind raced back to twenty years earlier. To Chloe, sitting off in the corner by herself, drawing. I remembered how she never wanted to share her pictures, but I used to sneak back into the room during lunch to look. She was always drawing bears.
“Where is this diner?”
“Just south of Kelper’s Pass.”
I put my mug down. Kelper’s Pass was only a couple hours south by car.
“What’s the name of the town?”
“I don’t know,” Kayden said, frowning. “It was a small place. Didn’t even show up on GPS. Why?”
“I think I might know the artist.”
“No kidding?”
“No kidding.” I took out my own phone and pulled up a map. “Show me.”
He pointed to an area on the screen. “Around here, I think, but if you’re thinking of heading down that way anytime soon, don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because they were already closing the roads when we came through.”
As if a couple of closed roads were going to stop me! This was the closest thing I’d had to a real clue to Chloe’s whereabouts in nearly two decades.
“Sam, the tree is lovely!” my mother said, coming into the kitchen. “You boys really outdid yourselves this year.” She took one look at my face and asked, “Sam, what is it?”
“Show her,” I told Kayden.
He did.
