Bearly In Love

by Terri Reid

  “Hey, Sam,” she called cheerfully, hurrying over to him. “How’s your day been?”

  Clearing his throat a couple of times, Henry finally managed a likeness of Sam’s deeper voice. “Good, thanks Stacy,” he replied. “How about yours?”

  She smiled up at him. “It’s been so great,” she said. “The best day ever.”

  “Wow,” Henry replied. “Why is it so good?”

  She shook her head. “Not good, great,” she said. “I got a letter this morning from the owner of Adventureland. The owner! And he wants me to put together some ideas and help market the concessionary.”

  “So your ideas about windows and carved bears?” he asked.

  Shaking her head, she was nearly bouncing with excitement. “No, more than that,” she said. “Although that would be good, too. But they are interested in me advertising the store itself. It’s going to be great.”

  “Well, that’s great,” he said, grinning behind the mask. She was really adorable when she got excited, he thought. “So, where are you headed now?”

  “To Human Resources,” she replied. “I guess they want to talk to me about it now.”

  That’s strange, Henry thought. They weren’t supposed to meet with her about that until the end of the day. I haven’t even approved the final salary increase.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, I got a call from Dora Fitzenbottom to hurry over right away,” she explained, and then she quickly turned towards the office building and shrugged apologetically. “I guess I ought to go.”

  “Yeah,” Henry said, patting her shoulder with his big, bear paw. “Go over and wow them with your ideas.”

  Grinning again, she nodded. “Look out world, here I come.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m what?” Stacy stuttered, her head slowly moving back and forth.

  “Fired, Miss Gage,” Dora said firmly. “And we will expect a full reimbursement of your bonus check.”

  “But I already spent it,” she whispered, thinking about the pile of envelopes she’d mailed out that very morning.

  “Well you should have thought about that before you decided to use drugs,” Dora snapped.

  “I didn’t use drugs,” Stacy insisted. “I’ve never used drugs. There has to be some mistake.”

  Dora rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard that line more than once, Miss Gage,” she said. “You signed a statement agreeing to the outcome of the drug testing. And you failed the drug testing, so you no longer have a job.”

  “But, truly, something is wrong,” Stacy pleaded, tears filling her eyes and splashing onto her cheeks. “I really need this job. Please, just let me take another test.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Gage, that’s impossible,” she said. “We will deduct the hours you’ve worked from the money you owe us. We expect you to repay your bonus within thirty days, or we will be forced to pursue legal action.”

  Dora stood up, but Stacy remained seated, her face in her hands. “Miss Gage, you may leave now,” she said, pulling a tissue from her desktop box and handing it to Stacy. “I am truly sorry this has happened. I had such hopes for you.”

  Nodding, Stacy wiped her eyes, blew her nose and took a deep breath. “Thank you, Mrs. Fitzenbottom,” she said.

  Stacy walked slowly from the room, automatically closing the door behind her. She moved forward, her mind numb with shock. How could this happen to her? Everything was going to be perfect just a few, short minutes ago. How could her life turn from almost perfect to disaster in such a short period of time?

  “Hey, so did you wow them?”

  Shaking her head, surprised to find herself outside near the employee lockers, she looked up to see Sam’s bear character standing near her. “Oh, Sam,” she sobbed, burying her face in the brown hair of the costume.

  Henry was stunned for a moment and finally put his arms around Stacy and held her. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Did they hate your ideas?”

  “No,” she cried. “They fired me.”

  “Fired you?” Henry exclaimed. “How the hell…”

  “They said I didn’t pass the drug test,” she said, sniffing softly.

  “Failed the drug test?” he repeated.

  “I’ve never even tried an illegal substance, I promise,” she said, lifting her tear-stained face up towards his. “I don’t know how this could happen.”

  He looked down at her face, her brown eyes sparkling with moisture and the sadness. All he wanted to do was make things better for her. Then he felt his heart beat a little faster when his gaze dropped to her moist, full lips, and the thought of protecting her took second place to the desire to brush his lips against hers and comfort her in a far different way than Sam ever would.

  He shook his head. No, this was Stacy. His job was to protect her, watch over her, make up for the death of her parents. He couldn’t let romantic thoughts enter in.

  “Sam, you do believe me, don’t you?” she asked after he’d been silent for too long. She would just die if Sam lost his faith in her.

  Henry groaned softly and pulled her into a hug. “Of course I believe you,” he said. “There has to be a mistake.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think that matters,” she said. “And she told me I have to return the bonus check, but I’ve already spent it paying Grandma’s bills.”

  “Your grandmother’s bills?” Henry asked, surprised.

  “Yeah, you remember when I told you all of Grandma’s money is gone,” she replied, concerned he’d forgotten. “You were going to ask a friend of yours at the bank.”

  He nodded slowly. “That’s right, of course,” he said, trying to cover himself. “I’m sorry. This whole drug test thing has me a little scattered.”

  She took a deep, shuddering breath. “You and me both,” she said. “But you do believe me, don’t you, Sam?”

  “Of course I do,” he replied softly. “And I promise I’m going to look into this.”

  She shook her head. “No, Sam, I don’t want you to risk losing your job over this,” she said. “It’ll be fine. Whenever a door closes, a window opens.”

  Stepping out of his embrace she sent him a half-hearted smile. “Well, at least we got our celebration at Pop’s,” she said with a shrug. “It was great to see Henry again. Tell him I said hi when you see him.”

  Henry nodded. “I will,” he said. “Are you going to be okay?”

  She took another deep breath. “Yeah,” she assured him. “I might cry all of the way home, just to get it out of my system, but then I’ll be fine.”

  Marveling at her courage, Henry wanted to say something else, something more encouraging, but he wanted to be sure it would sound like something Sam would say. “Um, it’s always darkest before the dawn,” he blurted out.

  Cocking her head slightly, a little smile appeared on her lips. “That’s a really bad cliché, Sam. I thought you could do better than that.”

  “The sun will come out tomorrow?” he offered and was gratified to see her actually chuckle.

  “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” she replied with a smile.

  “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home,” he said.

  “The best laid plans of mice and men,” she said.

  “And bears,” he added.

  She laughed. “Thanks, Sam,” she said softly. “I needed that.”

  She reached up and kissed him on the cheek of the bear costume. “I’ll see you later.”

  She turned and walked towards the employee locker room.

  “All’s fair in love and war,” he whispered as he watched her go. Then he shook his head again. “No. Don’t go there. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Henry marched through the office building and rapped sharply on Dora’s door before walking in. “Excuse me,” Dora began, but once Henry pulled the top off his costume, she took a deep breath and smiled. “Why good afternoon, Mr. Guthrie.
”

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Fitzenbottom,” Henry said. “I think we might have a little problem here.”

  “Oh, do we?” she asked. “Is this about your fiancée? I promise you that I have told all of the staff to ignore her little foibles. After all, she is just here to be closer to you.”

  Henry felt like he had just had the rug pulled out from underneath him. “I’m sorry, my fiancée?” he asked.

  “Why, yes, Lorraine Mills,” Dora said. “She let it slip while she was being interviewed that the only reason your mother referred her to us is because of your forthcoming nuptials. And may I add my best wishes?”

  “No, you may not,” Henry said.

  Dora looked aghast. “I’m so sorry—”

  “There is nothing to apologize for,” he interrupted. “There has just been some mistake. I am not engaged. At all. And certainly not to Lorraine Mills. I’m so sorry there was confusion in the matter.”

  “But she told me…”

  “Unfortunately, either Miss Mills is operating under a false assumption, or my mother is encouraging the young woman’s imagination,” he replied.

  The door opened and closed behind him. “I’m afraid I might have encouraged her imagination, and I do apologize, Henry,” his mother said.

  Henry turned and nodded to his mother. “Good morning, Mother,” he said. “To what do we owe this pleasure? Usually you stay up in the corporate suites and don’t come down here.”

  His mother sighed and shook her head. “I should have come sooner,” she said. “But I was made privy to some information this morning, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to share it with you. However, I have determined that there are rules and conventions that must not be crossed in ethical business practices, and if I had remained silent, I would have crossed the line.”

  Henry crossed his arms across his chest. “Does this have anything to do with Stacy Gage?” he asked.

  His mother nodded slowly. “Yes, I’m afraid it does,” she acknowledged. “I learned this morning that Miss Gage’s drug test had been tampered with in order for it to appear that she had used drugs when, in fact, the opposite is true.”

  “Who tampered with it?” Dora asked. “That is not only grounds for dismissal, but it could be considered criminal fraud if they were trying to implicate another employee.”

  “Which obviously they were,” Henry said to his mother.

  “Yes, it looks as if they were,” Charlene admitted. “But due to the sensitivity of the situation, I will ask you both to allow me to deal with this in my own way.”

  “Mother—” Henry began.

  “Please, Henry, I’ve learned my lesson,” she interrupted. “And I want to deal with this.”

  He shook his head. “Very well,” he said and then turned to Dora. “Mrs. Fitzenbottom do you have any problems with my mother taking care of it?”

  “Well, actually, I do,” Dora replied. “What this employee did is a felony, but not only that, this employee obviously used drugs. We cannot have someone who used drugs work for us.”

  She paused, ready to say something, but met Henry’s eyes and shook her head. “But, I can let you take the lead in dismissing her,” she said. “And what would you like to do about Miss Gage?”

  “Reinstate her immediately,” Henry said. “And let me initial those papers for her increase in pay for doing the marketing work on the concessionary.”

  Charlene smiled. “You are finally going to do some marketing on the concessionary?” she asked. “I’ve always said that was a hidden treasure that ought to be marketed. What made you change your mind?”

  Henry shook his head and then smiled at her. “It was Stacy’s idea,” he said.

  Dora picked up the pad of paper Stacy left on her desk. “These are some of her ideas,” she said, handing the pad to Charlene.

  Scanning them, Charlene finally looked up and shook her head. “These are very good ideas,” she admitted. “I feel I might have misjudged your Miss Gage.”

  “Well, I need to run and catch her before she drives home. But there is one other thing you can do for me,” he said to his mother. “Will you clear things up with Mrs. Fitzenbottom about Lorraine Mills? For some reason, Lorraine is under the impression that she and I are engaged.”

  Charlene closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. “Yes, dear,” she said. “I will be sure to clear that misunderstanding up. Now run and find Miss Gage before she and her good ideas drive away.”

  Henry pulled the character head on and hurried through the office building. Once outside, he broke into a run, hoping Stacy didn’t come out and see him running faster than Sam could manage at his age. But, luck was with him, and no one witnessed the large bear sprinting between the two buildings. He pushed open the door and hurried into the locker room, finding Stacy sitting on the bench in front of her locker, just staring straight ahead.

  “Hi,” he said.

  She turned quickly, wiping the traces of tears on her sleeve. “Oh, hi, Sam,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I should already be gone, but I don’t know what I’m going to tell my grandmother when I get home.”

  Henry sat next to her on the bench. “Well, I don’t think you have to tell her anything,” he said.

  “What? I can’t lie to her.”

  “No, you couldn’t,” he said, his respect growing. “But the truth is Dora made a mistake. The sticker from your test got caught on another sample. Dora was on her way to tell you, but I asked if I could do it.”

  “Really?” Stacy asked, hope warring with fear.

  He nodded. “Really.”

  Launching herself at Henry, she hugged him. “Thank you, Sam,” she said. “You are like my fairy godmother.”

  “More like a beary godfather,” he chuckled.

  She laughed, tears of relief and joy flowing down her cheeks. “I’m so glad Henry isn’t here,” she said, wiping away the tears.

  Henry’s breath caught. “Why?” he asked.

  “Because I must look like a red-blotched mess,” she said. “And I would hate to have him see me like this.”

  Henry grinned behind the mask. “I’m sure he would still think you look beautiful,” he said, meaning every word.

  “Men don’t think women crying look beautiful,” Stacy said. “They are both frightened and repelled.”

  “How do you want Henry to see you? Speaking as your beary godfather, of course,” he said.

  “Well, in a beautiful ball gown, of course,” she said with a chuckle. “But forget those glass slippers. I need something a lot more practical than that.”

  “Bear slippers?” he asked.

  She laughed out loud. “Yes, exactly,” she said. “That’s the kind of Cinderella I am— house slippers. And, of course, George should be pulling my carriage.”

  “Well, let me see what I can do,” he said. “In the meantime, you need to get back to Human Resources and talk with Dora. I know she feels terrible about what happened.”

  Stacy stood up and walked over to the little sink in the corner and slapped some cold water on her face. “Well, it certainly wasn’t her fault,” she said. “I’m just relieved she found the mistake.”

  Henry nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Stacy hurried across the packed dirt surface from the employee locker room to the main office building. She patted her cheeks lightly, hoping to return some natural color to them and wished in vain that she had been in the habit of carrying makeup with her. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and walked towards Dora’s office. Before she could knock, the door was opened, and Dora was warmly greeting her.

  “I am so sorry, Miss Gage,” Dora said. “You were entirely innocent in this situation, and due to an error, wrongly accused. I hope you will accept my apology.”

  Stacy nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Mistakes happen.”

  Dora smiled, offered her a chair, and then sat on the other side of the desk. “Yes, they do,” s
he agreed. “But not everyone is as gracious and understanding as you have been.”

  Shrugging, Stacy exhaled softly. “Well, I’m just relieved the mistake was found,” she said. “I was dreading going home and telling my grandmother I’d lost my job.”

  “You live with your grandmother?”

  “Yes, she and my grandfather raised me,” she explained. “My parents died when I was twelve. Now that Grandfather’s gone, it’s just Grandma and me.”

  Dora leaned forward, her elbows on her desk, her fingers templed together, and met Stacy’s eyes. “May I ask you, what did you do with the bonus check?”

  “We had some bills that were a little past due,” Stacy confessed, reddening slightly. “I sent them out this morning on the way to work.”

  “So, you are supporting your grandmother?”

  “Well, I suppose so,” Stacy replied. “I mean, we’re a family, so you just do what you have to do in order to get by.”

  Dora nodded slowly and pulled a piece of paper out of a folder on her desk. “I have had a chance to review some of the ideas you had on marketing the concessionary,” she said. “And I’ve shared them with the owners. They were very impressed and would like you to head up the marketing of the concessionary. And if things turn out well, they’d like you to consider transitioning to a salaried employee in charge of marketing the entire theme park.”

  Stacy slowly sat back in her chair, her head spinning. “A real job?” she asked. “Not just summer help?”

  Dora smiled kindly. “Exactly. The job would include benefits for both you and your grandmother.”

  “So, what do I have to do to prove myself?” Stacy asked, leaning forward in her chair.

  “Just follow the steps you’ve already outlined in your plan,” she said. “If you need extra computer equipment or programs, let me know, and I’ll requisition them for you. Oh, there was one item that the owner requested that you didn’t have on the list.”