Scattered Read Online Free Page A

blue eyes dancing, his hands resting on my shoulders.
    I didn’t care he’d scared me. Not this time. I gulped in a breath. “Bear,” I said, pointing down the trail, my hand shaking.
    “Really?”
    I nodded. Then the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen that man do happened right in front of my disbelieving eyes. Sebastian started back the way we’d come, towards the bear.
    “What are you doing?” I hissed, my fear turning to anger as I thought of myself widowed before I’d even turned thirty.
    “I just want to see it. I’ve never seen a bear up close before,” he said.
    “There’s a first and a last time for everything,” I snapped and then contrite at the thought of my last words to him being snotty I changed tactics. “Please come back, we need to keep going, I thought you said we were almost there.”
    Sebastian didn’t answer me except to wave backwards. As if I was going to get any closer to the bear, yeah right. He kept moving forward, his movements slow and steady as if he was afraid to spook the animal. I didn’t think that was going to be a problem.
    I wanted to scrub my hands over my face with frustration but had to settle for gripping the edges of my shorts. There had to be a way to get him to come back.
    “Sebastian, I’ll divorce you if you keep looking for the bear.” Maybe this would work.
    “You’re too poor to pay a lawyer.”
    I snorted. “So are you.” I thought a moment more, knowing I had the answer. “I’ll tell your Gran on you.”
    He stopped and turned to face me. “You wouldn’t.” The look on his face said it all and a twitch started in the corner of my lips. I knew I had him. I let out a sigh of relief and put my hands on my hips.
    “I would, just you wait and . . .”
    A huge black bear burst out of the bush behind Sebastian with a roar and I bit down on a scream, my worst nightmare unfolding before my eyes. Sebastian stumbled back towards me and fell over a rut in the ground. I grabbed a rock and cocked my arm to throw it, when a hand dropped on my shoulder and shoved me to the ground. The smell of cigar smoke curled through the air, slicing through the sweet musk of the broom and the heavier musk of the large predator ready to eat my husband.
    “Stay down girl,” a throaty voice said and I looked over my shoulder to see our sort-of-crazy neighbour Dan above me, a gun levelled at the bear. “You too boy, stay down.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking to Sebastian or the bear.
    We both stayed low on the ground and Dan walked towards the bear, his gun never wavering.
    “Come on Bob, you know you aren’t allowed to be eating the locals. Specially these city folk so new here, they’re practically a biohazard with all the toxins and chemicals they’ve been living in.”
    “Hey, we eat healthy,” I said, then thought about the situation and shut my mouth. A crazy man with a gun and a bear in the middle of a forest trail that no one knew we were on. Quiet Mara, you’ll live longer.
    I watched in disbelief as the bear—Bob, I guess—dropped to all fours and let out a long low snort.
    “Yeah,” Dan said, “I feel the same about these imports, but we got to give them a chance before we run them off.”
    The bear grunted and pawed at the ground a mere foot away from Sebastian’s bare legs. I whimpered in fear, wishing I had the gun in my hands. Why wasn’t Dan shooting the bear? He wasn’t truly having a conversation with the animal; he had to know that, didn’t he?
    “Go on now, Bob. Come around back of the house later tonight and you can have one of the salmon I thawed out this morning.” Dan said as he lowered the gun. Bob gave one last snuffle and turned away from us, heading back down the trail towards the ocean.
    I scrambled to my feet and ran to Sebastian, catching him in a, dare I say it, bear hug.
    “I’m okay babe,” he said into my hair.
    “No you’re not.” I stood up and kicked him in the shin, pleased with the wince it produced. “You