Saving Her Bear: A Second Chances Romance Read Free

rear view at Jean and she squealed in excited terror. “Man, I’m not gonna sleep at all tonight!”
    Though Bennett didn’t say a word, she knew him well, and would bet any amount of money that he was silently offering to give her another reason to stay up all night.
    What a jackass? She thought.
    They turned up the main road of Cherryfield, passing the beautiful mansions that lined either side of the road. Catherine smiled. She hadn’t seen these houses in over ten years.
    The rest of the drive consisted of Catherine picking the music and Bennett making small talk with Jean. She was a lovely woman, and Catherine didn’t begrudge him his efforts, but Bennett had a way of grandstanding when he was trying to get a girl’s attention. She didn’t mind it on most occasions, but as they were driving along these old familiar roads, Catherine wanted desperately to ride in silence, letting AC/DC blast through the speakers – the way John Fenn did when he finally got his license and demanded she go for a three hour drive with him across the Canadian border.
    She smiled to herself.
    They arrived at the gravel road around six in the evening, turning into the woods that stretched along the border of Falkirk’s Seat. Twenty minutes later, they’d reach the camp. Bennett wasted no time hopping out of his truck to start assembling their tents, making a point to show Jean just how rugged and manly he was. Catherine sauntered over to the forest edge and began collecting brush to start the evening’s fire. Jean was giggling and flipping her hair for Bennett’s benefit, and Catherine rolled her eyes. She might be sleeping in her tent alone tonight.
    “Don’t get lost over there, girly!”
    Catherine startled around to find the source of the voice. Bennett charged forward to offer a back slapping embrace to his old friend, Paul Merlotte.
    Paul was one of Bennett’s good friends from Blackrock High School. He’d been a staple of the Calhoun compound when she was young; riding ATVs and going clamming on warm days with Bennett and Bennett’s dad, Bodie Calhoun. Sadly, Catherine hadn’t been a part of those rugged afternoons. After all, as the Calhoun men often reminded her, she was just a girl.
    “Catherine, you remember Paulie, yeah?” Bennett asked
    Catherine stepped forward to shake Paul’s hand. He took it, smiling politely. As she recalled, Paul wasn’t one of her favorite people as a young man. He’d been brash, rude, and often made fun of her for being a little overweight when they were in school. She was still ‘a little overweight,’ but Paul gave her an appraising look, his eyebrows shooting up.
    “Geez Catie, you look great! God, it’s been ten years, hasn’t it?”
    She nodded. “Yes it has.”
    And yes she did, she thought. And I weigh the exact same amount I did in high school, you prick.
    Paul was soon joined by another familiar face – Jason Twomey, yet another of Bennett’s high school friends. Catherine gave Jason a wave as a truck pulled into the camp road, its windows rattling with the sound of Classic Rock. The familiar faces weren’t at all surprising. The whole weekend was planned around a booze laden camping trip of Blackrock’s finest. They did this several times every summer. Catherine only agreed to join the shenanigans as a tradeoff for a ride north. Grampy Calhoun was getting old, and as her mother assured her many times, if she wanted to remain in the will, she might want to say Hello before he died.
    Catherine couldn’t give two shits about Grampy Calhoun’s will. Still, her mother’s current life choice became rather persuasive.
    Catherine turned her attention back to the woods, losing Jean’s interest completely to the crowd of burly men. She drowned out the sounds of their sailor talk and back patting, collecting another six or seven long sticks before venturing back to the fire pit.
    She dumped them into the pile and dropped to her knees. A moment later, they had a roaring