Slade sighed and pushed away his dessert plate. “You’re right. I know you’re right.” He glanced at Kennedy. “Does it have to be done right away?”

“I don’t think so. Ginger won’t be old enough to breed for a while, so you’ll have some time to get used to the idea. I’m pretty sure the shelter will give you a deadline, though. If you don’t get it done by then, there’s probably a clause in the adoption papers saying they can take Ginger back.”

“Maybe we should just get a male cub,” Slade suggested.

Kennedy shook his head. “Nope. Then they’d both have to be altered, because they’ll grow aggressive with each other as they get older. Think of it this way. In the wild, a black bear’s average life-span is eighteen years. The oldest black bear on record in captivity lived forty-four years. If Four Toes lives even to be thirty, do you really think he’ll be as happy as he should be without a companion?”

Slade gave Vickie a long look. “I was there once, and no, I don’t think he’ll be truly happy if he has to be alone for the rest of his life.”

Vickie reached out, took Slade’s hand, and dimpled her cheeks with a mischievous smile. “What he never experiences, he won’t miss. After the surgical procedure, his desire for that will fade, and as Kennedy said, he’ll be mellower. For a bear that lives around humans, that will be a good thing. And I believe with all my heart that it’s the responsible thing to do as well. We don’t want the two of them to make babies. The only goal is to increase the quality of Four Toes’s life and to offer Ginger sanctuary where she’ll be happy as well.”

* * *

The next morning, Wyatt received a text from Slade asking him to come to the main house. Normally the boss sought Wyatt out when they needed to confab so Wyatt wasn’t called away from his work. When Wyatt knocked, Vickie greeted him and ushered him to the in-home office where Slade sat behind a massive, cherry desk.

“Have a seat,” Slade said, gesturing at the empty castor chair across from him. “I have a special assignment for you.”

Wyatt immediately thought of all the things that already topped his list and wondered how he would find time to do anything more. “Okay. What’s up?”

“I’m sure Kennedy’s told you we’re getting a female bear as a companion for Four Toes.”

Wyatt nodded. “Yes. We all think it’s great.” Wyatt met his boss’s gaze. “But if you’re in one of your frugal moods and think I’m going to band that bear or do surgery on him with a pocketknife, you have another think coming.”

Slade threw back his head and laughed. “I’m not quite that frugal. When the time comes, I’ll have it done by a vet.” He rested his arms on the desk blotter. “What I have in mind will actually be a fun assignment for you. Ginger will arrive in a week and a half, and Vickie is very excited about it. She got the idea of turning the first meet between the two bears into an occasion and wants to invite all the people in Mystic Creek who helped feed Four Toes as a cub.”