Page 8 of His Determined Bear

After driving for two days with one stop for the night at a hotel, I finally drove into Asheville. The welcome sign read ‘Welcome to Asheville, Population 1,931’.

“One thousand, nine hundred thirty-one,” I gasped, “ there’s no one living here. What are you going to do for work here? This is like the backwoods of nowhere.”

“Billings, Bozeman, and Missoula aren’t very far away,” she said, clearly refusing to rise to the bait.

I sighed, “Is there even a decent restaurant in this place? I bet this is one of those one-horse towns. Like seriously, I bet we walk into something like Deliverance.”

She sighed, and I could hear the exasperation dripping off it. I knew I was being a pain in the ass, so I shut my mouth. Remember, Coop, you’re going to be supportive until you find out something different.

Yeah, that’s what I had to do. Wait till there is something specific to point out, then she won’t have a choice but to come to her senses.

I was a little shocked at what I saw when I drove onto Main Street. The town was quite modern and quaint, instead of the rundown shops and storefronts I had pictured in my mind.

Don’t lie to yourself, Cooper. It is stunning.

I wasn’t expecting to feel like I’d just walked onto a Dutch street. This little place was so picturesque, it could be on a postcard.

There was a windmill one of those old school quintessentially Dutch ones. A gourmet chocolatier? My mouth dropped open. And did that shop actually say they made real Italian Gelato? And was that a creperie a few doors down from an Italian restaurant? A Belgian cafe, a cute little coffee shop, and a bakery. My mind is officially blown!

What was this place? There was no way she would miss California enough to move back if all of this was here and available to her.

When I glanced at my mom, she wore a self-satisfied smirk. She’d known all along how I would react to all of this. I rolled my eyes and refused to be baited, all the while making notes about all these cool places I needed to explore. This could be great content for me.

The animated voice from Google Maps directed us to a turn at the next road. Our destination, Aaron’s house, was about two miles away. When the automated voice notified us that we had arrived at our destination, I was gobsmacked. I was looking at yet another secret my mother had kept from me. A very large house made of stone and wood sat before us.

This was not what I’d expected when they both had described it as a cabin. The little “cabin” had to be at least 4000 square feet.

Still in shock at the façade in front of me, I didn’t even get a chance to ask mom what kind of teacher had a house like this when the car door was pulled open. My mother unbuckled her seat belt and threw herself into Aaron’s arms. Only this time, I was getting the full effect, and it was at least six-foot-three of silver fox goodness.

Was I allowed to think that about my mom’s fiance?

I shrugged and turned the car off. After I got out of the car, I walked over to meet Aaron officially. With one arm held tightly around my mom, he took a step towards me with his giant arm extended to engulf me. On reflex at his large stature, I backed away. This was not how I had planned to handle this meeting, and of course, Mom gave me the stink eye. In my defense, I wasn’t ready to hug the man like we were long-lost friends either.

But I wasn’t raised by wolves—I snorted. Was there such a thing as wolf shifters? When did my life become Alice in Bloody Wonderland, or I guess in my case Twilight. I swear if someone says vampires are real, I’m out of here.

Stepping forward with an awkward expression on my face, I shook Aaron’s hand and even managed a smile. “You have a lovely home,” I said.

He grinned, “Thank you, Cooper. It’s great to have you here. I hope you’ll soon see it as yours too. If you ever want to get away from the city, we would love to have you. You can even pick out your room and—” He shook his head, “Sorry, I’m a little nervous. I should at least invite you inside before trying to—” he laughed, looking sheepish, “Come in. Come in.”

It hadn't escaped my notice that Aaron hadn’t let go of my mother since she got out of the car. As for my mom— I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen her smile that hard or wide.She was obviously in love with him, and it made me happy for her.

I kind of found myself hoping there was no other shoe to drop and that Aaron was as good a man as she said. My mom deserved to be this happy.

Following them into the house, I had to admit it was beautifully decorated. Immediately it conveyed a very homey and welcoming vibe. My rapt attention was drawn to the large brick fireplace framed by two wide, light grey sofas with many pillows and thick throws. I could imagine sitting there wrapped up with hot cocoa in my hands, the TV on, and the blinds open to showcase the view of the mountains in the background.

I took a minute to look around me while my mom and Aaron shared a sweet kiss. The ceilings were high, with exposed wood beams. There was a large dining room to the right of the door where I could actually see myself having dinner with my mom and Aaron.

I shook off the image. Focus Cooper, don’t get distracted by the coziness and welcoming atmosphere. This was not the plan.

My gaze landed on some dark picture frames on the stone fireplace mantle. I walked over to them to see what Aaron thought important enough to display. The first one held a wedding picture with a younger Aaron and a pretty brunette. From the look on their faces, they were clearly in love. I couldn’t help smiling because that was the same look I recognized when Aaron looked at mom. Further across the mantle were more pictures of him flanked by his students as he received Teacher of the Year Awards over the years. Some others showed him hiking; there was even one of him with my mom in what looked like San Francisco.

I remembered when she took that particular trip. Apparently, she had conveniently skipped mentioning it was a romantic getaway. Still, they did look happy. My mom looked at the camera, but Aaron’s eyes were on her like he couldn’t believe she was real.

There was one more picture that had me puzzled. I picked up the frame to study it closer, then frowned. This had been taken right outside the house. The man in the picture was slightly taller than Aaron, but his cheekbones were just as sculpted. He had dark, wavy, almost to the point of curly hair and a short, neatly trimmed beard.

Could he be? I glanced around to find it was just mom and I in the room.

“Hey, Mom,” I said as she looked up from her phone at me. “Come look at this,” I used my hand to gesture.