Beyond the Bear Read Online Free PDF Page A

Fourth of July weekend. There I was with my brother and some of my closest buddies from college, with music and theatrics and enticing women all around, and all I could think of was how much better it would be had Amber come along.
    By the time I returned I’d decided to go for it. The New Orleans band Galactic was playing at the ski lodge that coming weekend, and I knew Amber would be there. I just hoped it wasn’t too late.
    The night of the show, I got home from work around seven. I grilled up some fresh salmon, tossed together a salad from my garden, and had a quiet dinner in the sun alone on my deck. I washed my dishes and stacked them in the drainer. I brought Maya inside, filled her water dish, poured kibble into her bowl, and topped it off with salmon skin peeled off the grill. While brushing my teeth in front of the mirror, I noticed my hair was a bit rowdier than usual. I pulled my favorite ball cap over the top of it, and headed out to the show.
    Halfway through the first set I saw her up front near the stage. I watched her a while, then worked my way up, dodging dancers’ elbows and toes. Our eyes met. We nodded at each other. If she was irritated with me for dropping the ball she didn’t show it. I gave her a big hug, and she gave me a big grin.
    “It’s really good to see you,” I shouted over the din.
    We danced side by side facing the stage in a crush of bobbing bodies, and hung around each other off and on the rest of the night. But the place was so packed, by the time the show ended around midnight, I had lost track of her. I waited outside by the front door watching people pour out of the lodge, but didn’t see her. I went back inside, looked around, went back out, waited some more. Then I noticed clusters of people milling about the parking lot, and there she was, sitting on the tailgate of her truck, talking to friends while Hobbit was off watering the shrubberies.
    Everyone was heading to the bars, but Amber had been holding back, hoping I would show up. When she saw me strolling her way, hands in my pockets, acting all nonchalant as if I’d forgotten which way was home, she hopped off the tailgate to greet me.
    “Yo, Amber! You coming?” someone shouted from across the way. She glanced in that direction, then back at me and shrugged. “Well?”
    “I’m not feeling the whole bar thing right now,” I said. “Could I talk you into a beer at my place?”
    She paused a moment. “Yeah, sure, that sounds good to me.”
    Back at the house, I grabbed two IPAs from the refrigerator, popped them open, handed her one, and took a long draw from the other for courage. We took them out on the deck overlooking the creek, where, leaning side by side against the railing, I took a deep breath and finally said it.
    “I thought about you a lot down in California. Actually, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
    Amber stared down at the creek and felt her face grow hot. She turned to me with a crooked smile. “Oh, did ya now?”
    I couldn’t stand it any longer. I looked at Amber, and she looked at me, and for a moment we both forgot to breathe. I reached for her hand, and led her back into the house and down the hall to my bedroom, closing the door behind us.
    My room had little to offer in terms of sitting options. So we sat cross-legged on my bed facing each other, the sound of the creek pouring in through my open window. I took Amber’s hand and placed her palm against my heart, then put my own against hers. We sat without talking, without needing to.
    “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life,” I told her.
    It wasn’t anything either of us said that cinched it. We knew without saying that we would be making love. But not that night. Both of us were half-tanked, and we didn’t want our first time to be that way. We lay snuggling on top of my comforter, talking in near whispers, soaking up the warmth of each other’s bodies. We held each other until four in the morning before finally