Redwood Bend

of relationship.”
“Did Charlie ask you to marry him after the first week?”
“No,” she said. “After the first week he said he couldn’t live without me. It was after the second week he begged me to marry him. But that has nothing to do with us, with now. Now I’m a mother first and I’m feeling a little protective. I’m not a good mother if I’m worrying about how some man feels about me.”
He felt a smile come to his lips. “That’s very reasonable.”
“Thank you. No regrets, but I’m not getting involved with you. Again.”
“I understand. But you don’t hate me?”
“I don’t hate you. I’ll never hate you. After all, I loved you for three years when I was a girl. And that was before I even slept with you.”
He smiled wider. “What if I wanted to be friends? Without benefits?”
“Big talk,” she said. “We have history. We’d probably end up in the sack and I’d just get hurt again.”
He took a thoughtful sip of his coffee. “Katie, I’d never deliberately do anything to hurt you.”
“You know what? I believe you. But I’d end up hurt just the same and you’d be fine—off meeting up with old movie star girlfriends, et cetera, while I sit here alone in the woods wondering what happened. And the boys…”
“What about the boys?” he asked.
“Well, brace yourself,” she said. “They like you. They were so excited to see you sleeping on the couch, it was almost impossible to keep them from waking you up. It’s probably not so good for you to come in and out of their lives.”
“Kind of sounds like I really screwed this up.”
“This?” she asked. She shook her head. “We were attracted to each other, but there’s nothing we can do about the fact that we’re not headed in the same direction, except maybe make a clean break so we can move on. You have to go!” She touched his hand. “It’s okay, Dylan. Let’s just part friends. No hard feelings.”
“I don’t necessarily want to—”
There was a bit of rustling and a small bear cub rolled out of the bushes, followed by a second. Katie jumped to her feet. “Dylan, in the house, hurry up.” She was ahead of him, heading for the kitchen. She went to the small cupboard above the microwave and grabbed the air horn and the bear repellant, a fancy hair-spray-size can of mace. “She is seriously getting on my nerves....” And then she was out on the porch again. “Hey!” she yelled. “Get outta here!” And she blasted the horn a few times, some short annoying pops.
Dylan stepped out on the porch, wide-eyed. “Holy shit, Katie! Get inside!”
Mama stepped into the clearing and puffed up, making her groaning, almost growling noises. That could’ve meant You’ll be my breakfast soon or Come with me, kids.
Katie aimed the mace and the horn just in case, but she blew the horn again. The bear stood on her hind legs and her cubs ran behind her. She dropped back to all fours and disappeared into the shrubs, and a moment later Katie saw the four of them hightailing it up the path and into the forest. And Katie yelled, “I’ve got cubs, too! Bitch!”
He grabbed her arm. “Katie, good Christ, you shouldn’t antagonize her like that. Just get out of the way.”
“She’s really got some attitude, that one. A guy I met at Jack’s, some guy with an orchard, said she’s been bothering them and he was going to call someone—like the game warden or something.” Then she turned her big blue eyes up to his. “But I think maybe I’ll find something a little more urban. Know what I mean?”
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. The boys peeked out the door to see if there were bears. “Go inside, please,” Dylan said. “Get ready for school.” When they were gone he turned to Katie. “All right, listen to me. I’m not leaving right away. I’m going to take the boys to school and drop them off. Then I’m going to run a few errands, make a couple of phone calls and come back here. You—stay in the house and do not confront that bear again!”
“I don’t want you hanging around here,” she said. “I’m not going to sleep with you!”
“Oh, absolutely not,” he said. “But we are going to examine the potential for a relationship, you and me. It might not be easy, but—”
“But Hollywood waits,” she said.
“Yeah, well, I probably won’t be able to work and hang out here all the time, but I also probably won’t be out of town any more often than a soldier. Right now I think you need