He glanced out the window. "Oh, I'm glad I made a reservation for indoors."
Some people were hurrying to finish their meals. Some were leaving. Others acted as if this were no big deal and continued to eat at a leisurely pace. The others started to leave, but the cool couples, there were three of them, were still just eating and drinking without a care in the world. They were dressed up too, business formal.
Then the wind began to whip up, and the rain steadily increased until it was a downpour. The umbrellas, though weighed down, were blowing to the side and looked as if they might fall over in the wind.
"Oh, wow, I'm really glad we didn't sit outside, thought it appeared that the weather was perfect to be there," she said.
"Oh, man, they'd better hurry and finish up their meals."
Then some of the restaurant staff ran outside onto the deck wearing rain gear. They began to fold down the umbrellas so they wouldn't blow over in the wind. Another man ran out with a cart and began removing plates, silverware, and glasses before they could blow over and shatter.
The three couples hurried to finish their meals and drinks and then headed for their vehicles. They were soaking wet as the rain poured down on the back deck. Then the staff folded up the remaining umbrellas, and the man with the cart began clearing off the tables, the rest of the staff hurrying to help him.
They laughed and finally headed back into the restaurant, pulling off their rain gear and taking the cart into the kitchen.
Kendra and Grayson continued to enjoy their meal. "What about dessert?" Grayson asked.
"What about a chocolate cream pie?"
"I'll get a lemon meringue cream pie. Tea? Or anything else to drink with it?"
"Cinnamon tea for me."
Grayson motioned to their waiter, ordered dessert, Kendra’s tea, and green tea for himself.
When the waiter left, Grayson said, "So about kids?"
"Yeah, I want them. I figure we can take turns grabbing fugitives when we have kids. Much of our work involves locating them. So we can do a lot of that work at home. But when we have to run out to arrest a fugitive, one of us can stay home with the kids and the other can go after the bail jumper," Kendra said.
They were in the middle of their dessert and tea when a black bear shifter approached them.
"Hey, Blue. This is Blue Beardsman, Grayson. Most of our bear sleuth is made up of grizzly bears, but we also have a few black bears. Blue, this is Grayson Stone, my fiancé," Kendra said.
"Lucky dog," Blue said, smiling and shaking Grayson's hand as he stood up and greeted him. "So what do you do?"
"I'm a bounty hunter out of Whitefish, though I need to talk to Kendra's boss to see if he will accept me to work for him also in Kalispell. I work with my twin brother in Whitefish, who is also a bounty hunter."
Blue grabbed a chair at an empty table, pulled it over to their table, and sat down, surprising both Kendra and Grayson.
"Kendra knows I have a younger sister, and she was approached by some kid named Billy," Blue said.
"Hell," Grayson said, sitting a little taller and frowning furiously.
"Eat. Don't let me stop you. I wanted to discuss something with you though. I talked to Rowland, and he said Kendra and another bounty hunter were looking for Billy and his stepdad, Younger. So I guess that's you, Grayson."
"Yeah, we captured Billy for a second time," Kendra said, then took another bite of her pie. "Hopefully, the judge won't post bail again."
"Oh, good that he has been captured again. Can someone of the sleuth talk to the judge in the case and ensure he doesn't get released again?" Blue asked.
"Rowland will try to persuade him, since Billy removed his ankle monitor and went into hiding," Kendra said.
"He needs to be terminated," Blue growled.
"I agree," Grayson said. "He and Younger and his wife, since she's obstructing justice and helping them to evade capture. These guys are a real danger to the young ladies who are in the area, and they need to be incarcerated for it. Forever."
"I agree," Kendra said. "So what happened to Eliza?"
"She was on the internet, talking to this kid, though we weren't sure if he was really a teen, or someone just posing as one. He set up a date with her, and she was going to go, but she told her girlfriend about it. Thankfully, her girlfriend told me about it. I stopped her from going and spoke with Rowland. I figured nothing would come of it because they hadn't actually met, and it could have been legit. But then he told me Billy's stepdad had grabbed another bear shifter's sister. So I was glad I talked to him."
