First I think there are shadow men in my house, now phantom bears outside the cottage. I don’t even know what to believe.

She remained awake until first light, wondering what she could trust about herself anymore.

Chapter Twelve

“Look for scat on the porch when you leave.”

Andrew stared at Kate with his shirt in his hand. He was getting ready for a nice run, just enough to flush the niggling hangover from his system.

“Scat?”

“I thought I heard a bear on the front porch last night.”

“So, you want me to look for bear scat.”

She looked up from her tablet. “It’s not like you’ll really have to look. If it’s there, you’ll see it right away. I’ve been reading up on bears, and Maine only has black bears.”

Tugging his shirt over his head, Andrew said, “Is that good or bad? I always forget which one is worse.”

“Good. Brown bears are nasty, bordering on evil. They eat their own cubs, for crying out loud. No, black bears are smaller, shyer, and tamer.”

He had to take his sneaker from Buttons, the old beagle resting his head on it. Back in the day, the dog would have chewed it to tatters, slobbering all over it.

“So I don’t need to worry about bears when I’m running around.”

“Not the black bears. There hasn’t been a fatal bear attack in Maine since the 1800s. If something’s going to hurt you, it’s either a moose or a tick.”

Andrew took a cold water from the fridge, swallowing down his vitamin. “Well, I’m not going to run screaming from a tick.”

Kate looked at him seriously. “You should. They have Lyme disease up here now. Go put your big boy pants on and cover those hairy legs. We can’t afford to have us both sick.”

Rather than argue with her, he quickly changed, knowing he was going to be wearing shorts no matter what once things heated up. They’d been through so much, he figure he was owed not coming down with Lyme disease.

“How do I look?” He did a little dance by the bed. She pinched his ass.

“Sexy. Before you go, can you please get me a drink so I can take my meds like a good patient?”

He gave her a soda, her morning beverage of choice, and half a protein shake. She made a face at the shake. With one look, he got her to drink the shake with grim acceptance. Kate looked awful today, despite her chipper mood. It was obvious she’d been up all night. He’d felt her tossing and turning and had almost asked her to turn down the TV a few times.

She unscrewed the cap of her mason jar and fished out a handful of pills.

“Scat patrol is in effect,” he said, opening the door.

Thankfully, the porch was poop-free.