“Bears?”Delilah kept right on swinging Maggie’s arm.“From a Godiwocks story book?Do they wike porridge?”She looked up at Maggie, all wide-eyed innocence.
Yeah, no.There was nothing cute and cuddly about a grizzly bear.But he didn’t want to scare her.
“More like the kind that’ll eat ya.”Cody announced this with glee.
Great.Not exactly what he’d have said to introduce Delilah to a non-storybook bear, but there was no going back.And even though he wasn’t thrilled with Cody’s announcement, he found himself chuckling at the boy’s enthusiasm.When he’d been that age, he and his brothers had traipsed off into the woods looking for bears.He’d been young, stupid and fearless of injury or death.Just like Cody now.
“Eat me?”Delilah’s blue eyes were round as saucers.
“Cody.”Maggie’s tone could only be described as a “mom voice”—stern and full of reproach.It was impressive.“That’s not nice Actually, bears are omnivores.”Maggie wiggled Delilah’s arm.“So, technically, they might eat porridge—if they had the chance.”
“Omni-huh?”Delilah’s nose scrunched up.
“They eat pretty much everything.”Braden winked at his daughter.
“People, too,” Cody mumbled under his breath.
“Oh, wike sharks?”Delilah nodded, understanding settling on her face.“Sharks eat everything.”
“Really?”Maggie asked.“That’s interesting.”
“The trail’s over this way.”Braden waved them to follow.He’d picked the easiest trail.If this was a colossal disaster, he’d rather not have to hike a couple of miles to get back to their cars.Plus, he didn’t know how tuckered out his daughter would get before they were done.
Delilah let go of Maggie and skipped past him.“Here?”She pointed.
“Yep.Right there.”He nodded.“Hold up and let’s stay together.”
Delilah pretended to freeze in place.“Wike this?”She barely moved her lips.
He gave her a thumbs-up and turned to see Cody bringing up the rear.He’d shoved his hands into his jacket and was dragging his feet.He waited until the boy was next to him to say, “I’ve got a jacket just like that.”
“Uncle Mike says they’re the best for ranchers.”Cody shrugged.“But I’m not always going to be a rancher.”
“Oh?”Braden matched his pace with the boy.“What are your plans?”
“I wanna be either a pilot or a bull rider or a paleontologist.”Cody glanced up at him.“Gramma doesn’t want me riding bulls, though.She’s a nurse.She says lots of bull riders get hurt.”
“That is true.”Braden had plenty of friends walking around with metal plates or screws in their body from some sort of rodeo accident.Rodeo wasn’t easy on the body, but it could be a hell of a lot of fun.“Guess being a paleontologist is a safer career—all the dinosaurs are dead.”
Cody was laughing so hard he snorted.
“Dino-what?What’s that, Daddy?”Delilah was skipping around him and Cody in a circle.
“Dino-saur.”Cody slowly enunciated the word.
“Dinosaur.”Cody sighed.“It means monster lizard.”
“Yeah, I can say that.”Delilah imitated Cody’s sigh to a tee.“So what are they?”
Braden saw the way Cody’s face lit up and knew his little girl was going to get an earful.He didn’t mind, though.Dinosaurs were a universal cool thing for all kids, so she should know about them.And he’d rather they were talking about dinosaurs than being eaten by bears.
“Dinosaurs are one of Cody’s favorite things.He knows more about them than anyone I know.”Maggie smiled at her son—who was beaming from her praise.
“I bet I wike ?em.”Delilah grabbed on to Cody’s arm.“Why do you wike them?”
“Why?It’s a lot, so listen real hard.”For the first time, Cody didn’t sound irritated by Delilah.
“’Kay, I’m wistening with both ears,” Delilah agreed.
