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Tonight he couldn’t settle at all.

Mara was coming to pick him up, and more than that, she was already on her way. He could sense her. The awareness was still distant, but it grew stronger as she came closer to town.

She is coming because she wants to spend time with us, his bear pointed out.

Again, Gabe added.

That morning Mara had walked through his bakery door instead of sending him a text message and told him, with a slightly startled expression as if the words had escaped before she could stop them, that she had wanted to see him. Then she had asked him to dinner. He had replayed that part more than once while he was closing up, and had caught himself standing with a tray in his hands and no clear idea how long he had been holding it.

Because she can feel the connection too, his bear said. She might not know we are mates. But she can sense there is something between us.

His bear was right. That should have made him less nervous. It did not.

You’ll be fine, his bear said.

I hope so, Gabe replied, tugging at his shirt.

She asked you to dinner, not your shirt, his bear said dryly.

Gabe ignored him and glanced toward the window. Main Street had gone blue with dusk, the streetlights just beginning to warm, one lit window over the hardware store where somebody was working late.

The awareness of Mara strengthened. Closer now.

He waited. Not moving until headlights swept across the bakery window and slid along the wall behind him, and his bear went suddenly, completely still. She’s here.

Gabe was already opening the door.

Mara pulled up outside the bakery and parked at the curb, and he waited on the step while she switched off the engine, trying not to look like a man who had known the exact moment she would arrive. She smiled when she saw him, and the knot of nerves in his stomach tightened. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she wore a dark green sweater beneath her jacket.

She looks beautiful, his bear said. Tell her.

I know she does, Gabe agreed.

I didn’t ask you your opinion, his bear huffed. I wanted you to tell her mine.

Mara got out of the car and shut the door behind her, and the sound carried the whole length of the empty street. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Gabe came down the step. “You look beautiful.”

Her smile changed, pleased and a little shy. “Thank you. You look pretty good yourself.”

There was a pause between them that wasn’t uncomfortable, only different. They had already spent hours together, but there had always been something else happening around them. A trail to walk. Food to eat. A bakery full of work. Tonight there was nothing else. Only Mara, and an evening she had asked him to spend with her.

She fiddled with her car keys before turning toward the car.

She’s nervous too, his bear said, and Gabe felt some of his own nerves ease.

“Ready?” she asked.

“I’ve been ready for a while.” The words slipped out before he could reconsider them. Mara looked back at him from the driver’s side, and her smile warmed.

“Nice shirt.” Then she slid back behind the wheel.

His bear chuckled as Gabe folded himself into the passenger seat.

“Are you okay?” Mara asked as he clicked the seat belt.

“Yes.” Gabe moved the seat back as far as it would go and shifted his knees away from the dashboard.