You Had Me at Cougar (Heart of the Cougar #9) - Terry Spear Page 0,8
to protect her from the bear.”
Dan offered his hand to the man. “I’m Sheriff Dan Steinacker, and this is Deputy Chase Buchanan. We can help you locate your sister. Why don’t you come this way?”
The man shook Dan’s hand. “Jonathon Browning.”
“Wait, you didn’t pay for your reading,” Ava said, then flushed furiously as if she realized he was worried about his sister, and she shouldn’t be charging him.
“Proceeds go to…?” Jonathon asked.
“The Big Cat Reserve,” she said.
“If the money went to a bear reserve, I would pay more.” Jonathon fished out his wallet and gave her a five.
“Even though a bear is chasing your sister and I might have helped you to locate her?” she asked.
Jonathon only gave her a tight smile.
“If you need my help, let me know,” Chet said to Dan.
“Will do,” Dan said.
Bridget told Ava, “He’s a bear. And the woman he is after and the bear chasing her down is some other bear but I'm not sure that she doesn’t want to mate him,” Bridget said. “At least that was something that Jonathon was concerned about.”
Chet realized Bridget hadn’t come to deal with Jonathon, but to read his mind. Chet would never get used to her doing that.
Shannon was back to watching the kids when Chase had to take off on the bear rescue mission.
Even though a long line of cougar shifters were waiting to see Ava, no one minded the wait, not when the cougars were all like family and everything that was going on concerning them interested them.
Dan’s wife, Addie, was next in line and she held her hand out. “What do you see in my future?”
“Uhm…” Ava cleared her throat. How could she tell Addie she would be in an emergency situation as a deputy sheriff, delivering Mandy’s babies? Ricky was nowhere to be seen, though Ava only got bits and pieces, but Addie was definitely delivering a baby in the backseat of a car.
Addie frowned. “Maybe I don’t want to know.”
“No, it’s just…” Ava sighed. “Okay, you’re going to be delivering a baby in an emergency situation. You might want to get a book to read up on it.”
Addie’s mouth gaped. “Whose?”
“Uhm, Mandy’s.”
“Okay, so I’ll talk to Kate about putting Mandy on bedrest for that last three months of her pregnancy.” Addie sighed. “And failing that, I’ll get a book on emergency deliveries. All of us at the sheriff’s department could use that in a crisis.”
Ava smiled. “That’s just the ticket.”
“Okay, I’ve got to get back to work.” Addie shook her head and hurried off.
The next person in the line to get her fortune read was Dottie Barrington. “I see your booth is really popular, now that you have taken it over. Everyone wants the real news, not some pretend stuff, even if it can be bad news. But a bear shifter here? Now that takes the cake.” She gave Ava twenty dollars for the reading.
“Yeah I know. I had a dream about a bear chasing me earlier this year, and maybe it was a shifter, not just a wild bear. Who would ever have figured, right?” Ava said.
“A premonition or a dream?” Dottie asked, looking concerned.
So was Chet. Even though he meant to get some swimming in or visit with folks, he couldn’t make himself move away from Ava’s booth for anything. He was fascinated with her ability to see future events in people's lives. Bridget smiled at Chet, patted his shoulder, and headed back to where Travis was taking care of their two-year-olds.
“A dream, I thought. And then I realized I'd had a premonition. It makes me wonder if it has to do with Jonathon and his sister. Now I’m not sure. So, let me read your palm.”
Dottie turned her palm up. “Don’t tell me I’m delivering anyone’s babies or going to have any more kids of my own. As much as I love them, five is enough. And if we have more kids, Jack’s going to have to go back to the clinic to have it snipped again.”
Chet felt in pain for Jack all of a sudden.
Ava glanced at him and smiled as if she knew just what he was thinking about.
“Or,” Dottie said, “Jack will think I’ve been seeing someone else.”
“No, way,” Ava said. “Okay, I see you are having a celebration in a little while of your own.”
“A celebration. We’re doing that all day today.”
“Jack just finished his mission south of Yuma Town and he’ll be here shortly.”