Hard (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek #2) Read Free Page A

foster home?”
    She looks at me; the pain in her eyes is easy to see, even though she’s attempting to hide it from me. “I did. My foster parents were not the best of people. For them, it was always about the checks the state sent them. Still, they were nice enough to let Liza and I store some of Mom and Dad’s things in their barn. We’re gonna stop and get them when we’re there picking up Liza.”
    Knowing how it hurts to lose a parent, I feel myself softening to this human. “I guess I can help,” I grumble. “I don’t mind at all.”
    Ethan lifts his chin to me and says, “Thanks, cousin,”
    “Even though there wasn’t much left after the fire, it will be nice to have a few things that belonged to my parents in our home. It means a lot to me that you’re willing to take the time to stop and grab them,” Amelia says, leaning against Ethan. 
    My mother’s peach and brown afghan flashes through my mind. It was her favorite. Dad and I both have houses full of Mom’s things, but that ugly ass afghan is my most treasured possession. She would cover up with it while she sat on the back porch reading. Every time I look at it, I can see her smile again. I wouldn’t trade it for a damn thing. 
    I grab another roll and take a moment to think. I can help Amelia this once. She deserves to have her parents’ things, even if she is a human. Yeah, I can do this.
     

Chapter Four
    July 16th, 2015
    Liza
     
    I SHOVE the last of my clothes in my suitcase and zip it closed, still not quite believing I’m finally leaving my foster home. It’s even harder to believe that I will have a new home in Willow Creek with my sister and her husband. It’s been so long since Amelia and I have had a real home, it’s just too much to wrap my head around. She’s sent me dozens of pictures of the man she married and their house, and each one I see has me even more excited.
    Lifting my suitcase, I place it on the floor and sit down at the foot of my bed. My eyes search the room, looking for anything I missed. Not that I have much, but what is mine I want to keep. When my eyes zero in on the purple comforter on Natalie’s bed, I have to force myself not to jump up and grab it. Amelia gave it to me for my birthday when I turned twelve. It has colorful butterflies covering it and a matching pillow that now adorns my foster sister’s bed. 
    Twelve-year-old Nat moved in the week Amelia left, taking my sister’s bed. I’m ashamed to say, it pissed me off seeing another girl in her bed. I ignored the young girl for the first few weeks after she arrived, taking my anger out on her instead of calling my sister and letting her have it like I wanted to. After a while, though, I couldn’t help but take a liking to the kid. She’s a total sweetheart, and for some reason, she looks up to me, just like I look up to Amelia. 
    When I realized that our foster parents gave her only a ratty ass blanket to sleep with, I put my comforter on her bed. I planned on just lending it to her until I could earn enough money to get her one, but she cried when she saw it on her bed. She told me it was the nicest thing she had ever been given, so there was no way I was gonna tell her that I had only planned on loaning it to her for a little while. It’s a little girl’s blanket anyway, and I haven’t used it in years. Still, it’s special to me because it’s the first gift Amelia gave me after getting her first job. It doesn’t matter now, though; I would never take the gift back from Natalie. 
    As if she knows I’m thinking about her, Nat walks into the room and plops down on the bed beside me. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”
    Wrapping my arm around her, I pull her to me, just like Amelia used to do when I was sad. “I’ll miss you too, sweetie, but we’ll text every day, and once I’m settled in, I’ll try to come and visit.”
    When I first told Nat I was moving, she threw a fit. She cried, screamed, and finally started begging me to