Page 38 of Bear With Me

Dennis found himself a little surprised by that. Yes, Bjorn had cooked him breakfast, but he hadn't extrapolated that into Bjorn can cook in general. For some reason, he'd assumed that Bjorn, like him, lived largely on takeout. It felt weirdly domestic to hear the man talk about making lunch for two old women.

He must have made a noise of some kind, because Bjorn glanced at him. "Do you not like stew?"

"Oh, no, I love it," he assured him. "I was just having a moment over the fact that you cook."

Bjorn grinned, and Dennis didn't think he was imagining that it was a little lascivious. "I have many talents. You'll learn."

"And on that note," the healer said dryly, "I'll be going. See you tomorrow, everyone. No," she said as Bjorn started to move, "I can see myself out. Don't die, Ginny. Who would I fight with then?"

"Hate you too," Gran sang as she put her empty teacup down.

By some sort of silent agreement, they all waited until the healer had closed the front door behind her before turning back to their conversation. "So," Gran said then, eyeing Bjorn, "how was your shopping trip?"

He shrugged. "Fine. I got new clothes. Hopefully I won't ruin all of these. But I wanna hear about what Dennis thinks about the cafe business!" They both turned to Dennis and waited expectantly.

Dennis considered the question. "They hardly market the restaurant," he finally said slowly, "and the atmosphere inside the cafe is…not great. My impression is that while they want outsiders' business, they don't really know how to cultivate or welcome it."

"How so?" asked Gran.

"Well, the waitstaff is…kinda surly. Which can be fine," he added, pointing at himself. "I mean, case in point, me and my pub. But people expect that in a bar or pub a lot more than they expect it in a community cafe decorated in ceramic bears. Which, by the way…kinda creepy. I felt like they were all watching me."

Bjorn laughed lightly. "The ceramic bears weren't, but I guarantee you the real bears were. People around here are nosy as hell, and I'm the local weirdo for having moved away. And since you're here with me…" He shrugged. "You're gonna get attention."

Dennis wrinkled his nose, not liking that idea. "Gotta tell you, my friend, this place is not growing on me."

"Right there with you," Bjorn assured him. "Why do you think I moved away? It wasn't just my parents. People expected me to mate off young and probably become a house-husband. Or else an enforcer. Either way, they'd definitely want me to pop out babies if that was a thing, I assure you."

Dennis nearly choked. "Uh…that's not a thing, right?"

"Why?" Bjorn asked, eyes twinkling mischievously. "Worried about whether we need birth control when we boink?"

Dennis, aghast, flapped a censorious hand at Bjorn. "Don't talk about 'boinking' in front of your grandmother!"

Said grandmother, meanwhile, was laughing, hard. "Don't let me stop you boys!" she managed through her wheezy chuckles. "I can even put on my white noise machine that Bjorn bought me if you need some…alone time."

"Grannnnn," Bjorn whined.

Dennis, meanwhile, was still a little preoccupied. "Wait but…it's really not a thing, right? Nobody's gonna get pregnant?" He'd read books that had that plot, and while that was fine for fictional characters, Dennis had no interest in having an ass baby.

Bjorn snickered and waved a hand. "Nobody's gonna get pregnant." He eyed Dennis. "Though, does this mean you've been thinking about, you know?" He made a rude hand gesture with his index finger and circled fingers on the other hand.

"Hmph." Dennis didn't want to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that, yes, maybe he'd eyed Bjorn's body a few times, and maybe the man's sunny personality was growing on him. Just a little. Not a lot. He could resist.

"I think that's a 'yes'," Gran said with a smirk. "Just let me know if you need me to leave the house for a while, boys."

Bjorn, apparently having conquered his self-consciousness, slouched against the wall and shot Dennis a sly look. "We'll let you know, Gran."

Dennis could only shake his head. This was ridiculous. "She's not even allowed to leave her bed for two more days!"

"Oh, good point," Bjorn acknowledged. "Guess it'll be the white noise machine, Gran."

Gran cackled wordlessly.

Dennis facepalmed.

13

Bjorn