Bearly In Love

by Terri Reid

  He slid his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him for a quick hug. “Let’s just say that this was an enlightening experience for me,” he said as he guided her back to the pickup.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  The rest of the stock was packed away and safely stored in the backroom in a few hours. Stacy stood just outside the storeroom door, her hands on her hips, and looked around the empty space.

  “What are you thinking?” Henry asked, standing just behind her.

  “I was just picturing how great this place is going to look,” she replied.

  He moved alongside her and looked around the room. “Yeah, it’s sure going to be different,” he said. “A real showplace.”

  She nodded and then frowned slightly, studying the room again.

  “What?” Henry asked.

  “Well,” she started slowly and then hesitated.

  “Well, what?” he asked. “It’s too late to back down now.”

  She smiled up at him. “Okay, I was thinking about this yesterday. So, here’s my next crazy idea,” she said. “This is a nature preserve, and from the booklets we offer here, it’s an educational experience, too. Well, everything we’ve done has certainly improved the shopping and marketing experience, but we really haven’t enhanced the educational side of things. And if we’re thinking of keeping this area open year-round, wouldn’t it be great to have something that schools would want to use in their curriculum?”

  He slowly grinned, catching her vision. “So, tell me exactly what you’re thinking,” he said. “Because I know you have it all figured out in that pretty head of yours.”

  She blushed slightly at the word pretty but took a deep breath and continued. “Okay, I’m thinking about the whole fieldtrip idea. First, the children take the tram in, but the tram stops over the nature preserve so they can see the bison herd and any others animals that might be active. Then they come here, and they watch a short movie about the prairie. The history, the animals, the plants, and why they are all important to the state of Oklahoma. Then…” She paused for only a moment. “Then we bring them out to the interactive museum and petting zoo.”

  “Petting zoo?” Henry asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, we’d need a facility, like a barn, so we could have tours in all kinds of weather,” she said. “And then we’d need an area with artifacts that children could actually pick up and examine.”

  “Real hands-on kinds of things,” Henry added.

  “Yes,” she said. “Exactly. I think children learn better when they’re allowed to touch and see things up close.”

  “So, where would you add the museum and zoo?” he asked.

  She slowly turned and looked at the room. “Well, since the new patio and gazebo are going to be out in this direction,” she said, pointing to the east side of the building. “We could add the museum to the other side of the building.” She pointed to the west side of the building and walked over to the window that now opened out to that side. “We could take advantage of the bluff next to the building that overlooks the prairie down below. Maybe even build a viewing window with a bench underneath so people could watch for the animals.”

  He nodded and smiled. “You are going to cost me…I mean my boss, a lot of money,” he replied.

  “Well, actually, I have an idea for that, too,” she said.

  Smiling, he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, do you?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she bubbled enthusiastically. “I thought that we could name the museum after the owner of Adventureland, because he saved this prairieland from being turned into a parking lot, and invite donors to contribute to the children’s museum. There could be a wall of donor names, and we could even start a scholarship fund for schools who couldn’t afford the entire cost of the fieldtrip.”

  “So the gala isn’t a grand opening,” Henry mused. “It’s a fundraising party. That could work.”

  Stacy worried her lip for a moment. “So, will you pitch the idea?” she asked.

  He met her eyes for a long moment and then smiled. “Yeah, I certainly will,” he said. “As a matter of fact, why don’t we both run down to the main buildings? You get your things from your locker while I run over and pitch the idea. Then we can go grab some lunch and hit the galleries.”

  “Really? Right away?” she asked. “Don’t you want to think about it for a while?”

  He shook his head. “No, I think it’s a great idea and just what this area needs,” he said. “You really are a marketing genius.”

  Warmth spread through her heart, and she smiled at him. “Thanks, Henry,” she said. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

  He gazed down at her, entranced by her smile and the joy in her eyes. “Well, I don’t think this will be the last time it’s said.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Stacy took her time in the locker room adding a little more gloss to her lips and tidying her hair. She looked down at her watch. Fifteen minutes had passed since Henry had walked over to the main building, and she wondered if he’d had enough time to speak with the owner. She didn’t want to rush him, but she only had forty-five minutes for lunch.

  Walking out the door, she was pleasantly surprised to see Henry jogging back towards the employee area. His athletic stride and sure movements caused her heart to flutter a little and she took a quick, deep breath to calm herself. “How did it go?” she asked.

  “They loved the idea,” he said. “And I’ve been asked to take you out to lunch to further explore the idea.”

  “Wow,” she said with a grin. “That sounds wonderful. I have about thirty minutes left for my lunch break, so we could grab some hotdogs from one of the vendors.”

  Is she really so unaware of her value? he wondered. Other people would have been asking about an increase in salary or a cut of the donations, and she was worried about punching back in on time. “Stacy,” he said, his voice thoughtful. “I need to see your timecard.”

  “Oh?” she asked, surprised. “Okay, just give me a moment.”

  While she ran back to the locker room, Henry pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. “Hello, Dora,” he said. “Let’s change Stacy Gage’s employment status immediately,” he said. “Actually, let’s make it retroactive to the day she started. She’s on salary now.”

  He paused and smiled. “Yeah, I agree,” he said. “She’s worth every penny. I’m going to be taking our new marketing manager out to lunch in town, and then we’ll be stopping in on some galleries. I don’t know if we’ll be back here before the end of the day or not, but if you need me, just call.”

  He hung up the phone just as Stacy hurried towards him, her timecard in hand. She was nearly out of breath when she reached him and happily handed it to him. “Here,” she said, catching her breath. “I tried to hurry so we could go to lunch.”

  Henry took the card in both hands and ripped it in half.

  “Henry, no!” she cried out, her heart sinking. “That has all my hours. I need those hours.”

  “Wait, Stacy, don’t get upset,” he said, trying to calm her. “The other thing I was supposed to tell you is that you are now on salary. Full-time salary. It’s retroactive to the day you started.”

  She stumbled back, and Henry caught hold of her shoulders. “What did you say?” she murmured.

  Grinning, he brought his face close to hers. “I said, you are now a salaried, full-time employee of Adventureland,” he replied. “You don’t have to punch in or out anymore. Dora wants to meet with you tomorrow and set up the rest of your benefits.”

  Shaking her head in incredulity, a smile slowly blossomed on her face. “Really?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Really,” he said. “And now, we are driving into town for lunch, to celebrate your new position.”

  “But Henry, I can’t take time off,” she said. “Not now. Especially when they’ve given me a promotion.”

  Henry slipped his arm ar
ound her shoulders and shook his head. “Sorry, this was the boss’s suggestion,” he said. “And since I don’t want to lose my job, you are just going to have to go.”

  Grinning up at him, she shrugged happily. “Well, when you put it that way,” she said, her face beaming, “I guess I don’t have any other choice.”

  “Exactly,” he replied, leading her back to the parking lot.

  Twenty minutes later they were pulling into the parking lot of The Red Door, Prairie Grove’s upscale café. “It’s not Pop’s,” Henry apologized as he opened the truck door for her. “But I thought it would be quieter in here and we could talk about your ideas.”

  “It’s a perfect place for a celebration,” she said, grabbing her purse and stepping out. “I’ve always wanted to eat here.”

  “You’ve never eaten here?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No, I’m on more of a Pop’s budget,” she said with an easy smile. “But I’m excited to try it.”

  He extended his arm for her to take. “Well, then, epicurean delights await us,” he said with a smile.

  She slipped her arm through his, grinned and looked around.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Well, with all that’s happening to me today,” she whispered a smile still on her face. “I really expected my beary godfather to be around.”

  “A beary godfather?” he asked, pretending he hadn’t heard that phrase before.

  She laughed. “You’ll have to ask Sam about that,” she replied. “Although, you’ve been just as helpful as he has.”

  “So, perhaps I’m a beary godfather in training,” he chuckled.

  “Are you going to let the rest of us in on the joke?”

  Henry and Stacy looked up to find Lorraine and two of her close girlfriends coming out of the door of the café.

  “Hello, Lorraine,” Henry said politely, but Stacy could hear a definite chill in his voice.

  “Hi, Lorraine,” Stacy added, but Lorraine didn’t even glance in her direction.

  “Henry,” Lorraine simpered, pouting her lips seductively. “You’re not still mad at me, are you?”

  “Excuse us, ladies,” Henry replied, guiding Stacy around them into the door. “Have a nice day.”

  Stacy glanced over her shoulder and saw the rage in Lorraine’s face. “She’s not going to be happy about that,” she said.

  Henry shrugged. “She’ll get over it,” he replied. “Besides, this afternoon is not about Lorraine. It’s about you.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  The hostess seated them in a quiet, corner table and handed them both menus. Stacy buried her head behind the glossy, plastic-coated paper and pretended total focus on the offerings. She knew that in a few minutes, the waitress would come over and take their orders. She was more than a little hesitant to give away her menu because then she’d have to actually carry on a coherent conversation with Henry, and she wasn’t sure she could. Seated so close to him, she could already feel her body reacting. She prayed the heat was just internal and she wouldn’t end up looking like she’d just been to the gym by the end of lunch.

  She sighed softly. There was just something about him. Glancing to the side, she realized she could see his reflection in the mirror next to the table. Suddenly, the menu was not nearly as fascinating as the man across from her.

  His jawline was strong, but it wasn’t stubborn. The little bit of stubble appearing along it made him seem even more masculine, and she felt a shot of heat as she wondered how the roughness would feel against her skin. Shaking her head slightly to get out of the fantasy-induced fog, she continued her silent inventory. Strong, powerful neck. Wide, muscled shoulders. Firm, well-developed chest. And she would bet a week of her new salary there was a six-pack underneath his ribs.

  “Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked, her voice barely rousing Stacy from her thoughts.

  “Ribs,” Stacy murmured, her eyes still focused on the reflection.

  “I’m sorry,” the waitress replied. “We don’t offer ribs on our lunch menu.”

  Let me just die right now, she thought as her cheeks turned red with embarrassment. She glanced desperately at the menu. “Oh, I meant spinach salad,” she replied. “Sorry, my mind was wandering.”

  The waitress nodded and took Stacy’s menu. “And what would you like, Henry?”

  A shot of jealousy, pure and strong, ran through Stacy when she heard the low purr of the waitress’s voice as she took Henry’s order. Unaware of the tension around him, Henry put the menu down and shrugged. “Yeah, the spinach salad sounds good to me, too,” he said, sending Stacy a quick smile. “I’ll have what she’s having.”

  He handed the waitress his menu, without giving her a second glance, and turned his attention to Stacy. “Now, even though we’re celebrating, we’ve got some work to do,” he said.

  Picking up her glass of ice water, Stacy took a sip, hoping to clear her mind and focus on her job. “Great,” she replied. “What’s first?”

  “The party,” he said with a wide grin. “Formal or casual?”

  “Formal,” she said, her mind finally switching back to business. “People love an excuse to dress up.”

  He shook his head. “Women love an excuse to dress up,” he corrected with a wry smile. “Men would just as soon go naked.”

  A sudden mental image of Henry sitting naked across from her flashed through her mind. Thank goodness there was a table in the way. But the parts she could imagine above the table line still brought her temperature up several notches. “Well, naked would be interesting,” she replied, trying for a light tone. “But considering most of the donors will be over sixty, it could get ugly.”

  He shrugged in agreement. “Yeah, we don’t want to scare the animals,” he teased. “Okay, formal dress. And do we want it to just be mingling and eating, or should there be music?”

  “I’ve never been to anything like this,” Stacy confessed. “But it seems to me that music and dancing would make it more enjoyable. And we could open up the new French doors so people could dance out on the patio in the moonlight.”

  “We’d have to make sure it doesn’t rain,” he added.

  She nodded. “You’re in charge of weather,” she said with a sassy smile.

  His heart flipped over in his chest. What was it about that smile? It never ceased to affect him. Was it her smile or her lips? He studied her lips, their fullness, their shape and the little bit of shine from the gloss she hadn’t licked away with nervousness. He nearly groaned when she nervously scraped her bottom lip with her teeth. He desperately wanted to do that for her.

  “Um, Henry?” Stacy asked, her breathing becoming a little shallow.

  “Yeah?” he asked absently, still focused on her mouth.

  Did she have something in her teeth, she wondered. She wanted to run her tongue over them, but she didn’t want to be too obvious. Besides, it didn’t seem to be a food in your teeth kind of stare. It was more…she paused, not even wanting to think it…it was more a look of…

  “Hungry?” the waitress asked, placing the platters of salad in front of them with a clatter.

  Both diners jumped and then nodded to the waitress. “Starving,” Henry replied, his voice a little hoarse.

  “Yeah,” Stacy stammered softly, exhaling quietly. “Me, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Stacy was surprised to see Sam standing in her driveway when she and Henry pulled in later that afternoon. She quickly opened the door and jumped out of the pickup. “Is everything okay with Grandma?” she asked, the concern evident in her tone.

  Sam paused for a moment before he answered. “Well, physically she’s fine,” he explained. “But this morning I found her outside sitting in the driver’s seat of the car. Her purse was on the roof, and she was seat-belted inside shaking her head.”

  “Shaking her head?” Stacy repeated.

  Nodding, he pulled Stacy’s car keys from his pocket. Looking around quickly, he handed the
m to her. “She said she couldn’t understand why the car wasn’t working,” he continued. “The keys were attached to her purse, but she couldn’t remember that she needed them in order to drive the car.”

  Stacy’s heart dropped. “Oh, no.”

  “I figured if she couldn’t remember that, she had no business driving the car in the first place,” he said. “So I pulled the keys off her purse and hid them in my pocket before I handed it back to her and helped her inside the house. I told her I’d call the mechanic to see what the problem was with the car.”

  Stacy shoved the keys into purse and nodded. “Thank you, Sam,” she said. “You probably saved her life. I’m going to have to get some all-day care immediately.”

  She felt her stomach tighten. Where in the world was she going to find someone to stay with her grandmother at such short notice? And how would she find someone she could trust?

  As if reading her mind, Sam cleared his throat and said, “Well, I called Melba, and she said she’d be here tomorrow to stay with her,” Sam said. “Melba’s a good lady, and she could use a job. So, you might want to consider hiring her.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” she replied, a wave of relief washing over her. “Sam, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Sam grinned, “Well, that’s what a beary godfather is for, isn’t it?” he asked, sending a quick glance at Henry.

  Henry responded with a grateful smile. “Seems like your beary godfather came through for you again,” he said. “Why don’t we take the temptation out of the way? You can drive over to my place tomorrow morning and leave your car there. Then we can still drive in together, but your grandmother won’t be tempted to go cruising.”

  “I don’t want to be a bother—” Stacy began.

  “It’s not a bother,” Henry interrupted. “I really enjoy your company.”

  Sam’s eyes widened slightly, and he bit back a smile. “Makes sense to me,” he added.