Bearly a Memory: Pacific Northwest Bears: (Shifter Romance) Read Online Free PDF

Rochon. You keep her safe and make sure she wakes up. I don’t care how you do it; that’s not my problem. But I’m telling you, I want my girl on the phone telling me she’s okay by tomorrow, you hear me?” Maybelle said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
    “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do my best,” Tanner promised. They weren’t just words, either. He meant it.
    “All right, I’ll go tell her daddy. Man is in a tizzy, and by that I mean he’s been doing crosswords since you called last. Never good when he does crosswords,” Maybelle mumbled.
    “I’ll call,” Tanner promised.
    Pulling off his hat, he ran his hand through his messy hair again. He needed food and time to figure out what the hell his next step would be.
    Aunt Jennie’s diner sounded like just the place to refuel and ponder Brooklyn Nishi.

Chapter 6
    “ M ore coffee , sugar?”
    Tanner’s Aunt Jennie stood next to him with a pot in hand. He was pretty sure she’d already asked him if he wanted more, but he’d been lost in thought.
    After his trip to the hospital, he couldn’t get Brooklyn Nishi off his mind. He was more than just curious. His bear was insistent that he get to know her. That she was someone they needed to be around. His bear wasn’t usually pushy without a good reason.
    “Sorry, Aunt Jennie. Yes, please.” Tanner rubbed his hand over his face. The rough stubble on his face reminded him he needed a shave. If he didn’t, he’d be looking like his burly cousin Cash in no time.
    “You got that look, like when someone made off with those twenty-foot logs from Mr. Bunker's place,” Jennie said with a grin.
    “Yeah, should have known those little shits just log rolled them into the river,” he sighed. His much younger cousins had stolen thousands of pounds of timber from Mr. Bunker by lining up on the logs and rolling them with their feet into the river to float them like canoes. Mr. Bunker was pissed, the boys were soaked, and reparations had to be made. Namely, the boys cutting and stacking enough firewood to last Mr. Bunker until he died.
    “Scamps,” Jennie said fondly.
    Tanner nodded at his aunt and looked around the diner. It was in a brick building on Main Street that had a hardware store on one side and a thrift store on the other. His great aunt Dorothy had opened it originally many decades ago. Back then it catered to the loggers who came into town to spend their wages. Now it was one of the few places to get a home cooked meal that you didn’t make yourself.
    The interior was lined with linoleum topped tables, mismatched chairs, and black and white pictures of men from years ago standing next to trees that were so big as to be unbelievable. Back then they cut most of those trees down by hand and used horse and mule teams to pull the logs down the mountain. The young pups today didn’t know how easy they had it.
    “This have to do with the pretty lady down at the hospital?” Jennie asked.
    “Eddie call you?” Jennie was Eddie’s mom, and he was as big a gossip as she was.
    “Of course, he calls his momma at least twice a day. Said that you were real concerned about that poor lady. In fact, he said you were very concerned,” she said giving him the same eyebrow wiggle her son had given him earlier.
    “Damn busybodies in this town,” Tanner mumbled into his coffee cup.
    “Oh, come on, you old fuddy duddy. How often do we get something as exciting as a new person in town who goes and gets herself thunked on the head and half drowned? Hell, I bet it’s in the paper by tomorrow,” Jennie said.
    “Shit, I need to call them,” Tanner said, adding it to his to-do list. Jennie was right; this was just the kind of newsworthy item that the local rag would love to print up.
    “Spoilsport,” Jennie snarked.
    “Aunt Jennie, can’t this town just worry about the salmon runs, or whether there is a new owl that needs saving from the big bad loggers?”
    “Don’t give them any ideas. So I’m guessing this does