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Man, that seemed like forever ago, but it wasn’t even five years. A lot had happened since I graduated.
“Got them,” I called as I walked down the stairs. “And for the record, you are not allowed to look at me freshman year or sophomore year. I was going through some things and was trying to figure out who I was,” I warned.
I gingerly sat down on the couch and set the books on the coffee table.
“Now I am for sure going to find your picture those years,” Bear called.
“Only if you have your yearbooks handy so I can see what you looked like five years ago.” I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
Bear finished eating, and I listened to him wash his dishes and put them in the strainer.
“I don’t exactly travel with my yearbooks, mama, and it was more like thirteen years ago.”
I glanced over at Bear. “Really?”
He nodded and sat down next to me. “I’m an old man.” He grabbed a yearbook from the top and sat back. “Class of two thousand and eight. Go Dawgs,” he barked.
“That sound too natural coming from you. I assume you played high school football and had all of the cheerleader's phone numbers.”
Bear chuckled and flipped open the yearbook. Thankfully, he had grabbed my senior year. At that point, I had figured out who I was and looked pretty much the way I did now. Granted, I wore a bit more eyeliner back then.
“Defensive end and I had one girlfriend.”
“Oh,” I laughed. “I really thought you would have had a trail of broken hearts.”
He shook his head. “Hardly.”
“What happened to the girlfriend?” I asked. I grabbed my freshman and sophomore yearbooks and set them next to me on the couch.
“Told me she was lesbian on prom night.”
I choked on my own spit and sputtered. “Excuse me?” I gasped.
“I kind of figured she did like girls the whole time we were together. Looking back, I dated her because I didn’t really want to date at all, so she helped keep the girls away. We both did each other a favor. We stayed together until we graduated because she didn’t want to come out to the whole school. I went to Colorado State with a scholarship, and she went to the west coast. Last I heard, she’s a lawyer who lives with her wife and four kids.”
I slowly turned my head toward Bear with my eyes wide. “She told you she was a lesbian, and you still dated her?”
Bear laughed. “Well, as far as anyone knew, we were dating. Most of the time, when she would come over, we would play video games.”
“You are truly a one-of-a-kind man, Bear.”
He shrugged and started flipping through the yearbook. “It wasn’t that big of a deal, Greta. It’s not like I was madly in love with her and suddenly she told me she was gay.”
“I just mean that was really cool of you to keep acting like you two were dating when you could have been an ass.”
“No point in being an ass to someone who doesn’t deserve it, mama.” He smiled wide and held up the yearbook. “Is that you in Art Club?” he drawled.
I leaned forward and squinted. “Good God. That was when I thought having neon orange hair was cool.”
He grabbed a lock of my hair and tugged at it. “As opposed to purple?”
“I’m a little more subtle now,” I laughed.
“Sure, mama.”
I sat back and opened my junior yearbook. “Am I just supposed to look for a guy who looks like Dr. Douche?” I asked.
“Yeah. Also, look for the name Conner Lu.”
I nodded and slowly paged through the book.
An hour later, after painstakingly going through each yearbook, we weren’t anywhere closer to figuring out how Conner Lu knew anyone from the Devil’s Knights.
“If you planned to bore me to death by looking at those, you have accomplished your mission.” I smothered a yawn with my hand and dropped the yearbook on the coffee table. “High school was meh when I lived it. Going through it again was not that fun.”
“I was pretty entertained by the evolving Greta.”
I rolled my eyes and sat forward. “We will not speak about freshman and sophomore year, Bear. Those are two years of my life that I do not want to talk about.” I cut a glare through him. “Ever.”
Bear held up his hands and laughed. “You won’t hear me say a word. I’ve got those pictures burned in my memory for the rest of my life, though.”
“Lord,” I mumbled. “I’ll see you in the morning, lumberjack. I think the aunts are coming over tomorrow again. I also need to call work and see when they want me back in.”
“You think you are ready to go back to work?” he asked.
I shrugged and stood. I lifted my arms over my head and stretched my back. “I’m getting better, though I don’t think I’m ready to go three rounds with Dr. Douche yet. But I do think I can handle some dogs and cats.”
“That is something you don’t have to worry about,” he drawled.
“Let’s hope not.” I nodded to the recliner. “You do know I do have a spare bed, right?”
Bear shook his head. “The recliner is where it’s at for me, mama. Lying flat on my back is something I can no longer do.”
“Like ever? Not even for like a minute?” Or maybe ten minutes while I– I shook my head and cleared any thought of riding Bear. We were talking about his hurt back and nothing else. Down, girl.
“Sleeping, mama. I can’t sleep on my back.”
Hmm, that was good to know. “Well, then I guess the recliner is where you need to be.”
“Yeah.”
