Chapter Two
Aldrin
The accounting for our business was the worst part by far. Keeping up with all our travels especially when one of our trio of grizzlies was very bad at giving me receipts.
Last week, he’d returned from a weeklong hiking trip up the Pacific Coast Trail but hadn’t given me any receipts. He also forgot to use his business credit card, which would have kept the record for him.
“Judah!” I yelled a little louder than necessary.
He was in the other room baking sweet potato brownies from a recipe someone on the trail gave him.
Well, I was sure Judah was in charge of the actual baking.
Judah, out of the three of us, was the best at making fast friends, whether on a hike or a kayaking trip or trips abroad.
He often came back with recipes and food ideas.
Saber joked that he didn’t have an enemy in the world.
“Yeah?” he called back instead of coming into our shared office.
“I need your food receipts. You ate out twice during the hike, right? At the trailhead and somewhere else.”
“It’s in the envelope.”
“What envelope?” I could get up and find out what the hell he was talking about, but there was a principle here. I shouldn’t have to look at all.
“Aldrin, it’s right there. Brown envelope marked Judah PCT.”
Shit. Right in front of me.
“Oh. Thanks. How are the brownies turning out?”
“Good. Come and taste them. You can do that later.” He waited for me to follow him.
This was the dynamic we’d made, and it worked out. I was the accountant. Judah handled social media and uploading the videos. Saber did a little bit of everything but mostly, he reminded us to take things slow and stop to smell the roses.
Plus, he was a damned fine cook.
“I can’t do this later. Quarterlies are due.”
Judah glanced at the calendar and shrugged. “You’ve got two more weeks. And I’ve told you before, we both have, that if it’s too much, let’s hire an accountant. It would free you up.”
My sleuth brother’s easygoing outlook made me jealous. Truly. I was the one who worried about things, sitting up straight in the middle of the night, covered in sweat, wondering if I really had paid that bill, replied to that email.
“Okay. I’m coming.” We went into the kitchen filled with the scents of sweet potatoes, coconut sugar, and, of course, chocolate. Dark chocolate, if I wasn’t mistaken. “Smells good, Saber.”
“Thanks. The recipe was less than specific but there were a ton of recipes on the web. They are cooling now. I made a fresh pot of coffee.” I heard the hiss and bubble of the percolator.
We were all coffee fiends and had gone through every brewing system from fancy to the pod ones and everything in between before settling on a percolator.
Sometimes the easiest and most basic things were the best.
We poured ourselves coffee and didn’t wait for the brownies to cool completely before digging in. They were very hot but the flavors were amazing.
“How is your trip planning going?” I asked Saber.
We traveled together and on solo trips. Respect for each other’s alone time was important to us.
Lately, we did a lot of road trips and camping together but years before that, we went everywhere.
There were only a handful of countries we hadn’t visited.
“It’s going well. I’m keeping it casual with the scheduling. As I always do.”
Judah nodded. “You hate a tight itinerary.”
Saber chuckled. “I do. You have to get in there and dig for the authentic experiences. You can’t schedule those.”
He was right. When we traveled together, Saber was the one who trusted the shady cabdriver to bring us to the best hole-in-the-wall spot to eat or the waterfall or hiking spot that the tourists didn’t know about.
He made friends everywhere he went and had a slurry of emails from around the world almost every day from friends he’d made.
I liked the tourist spots, and Judah…he liked a bit of both.
“Speaking of Nairobi, I got an email from Jacob today. It turns out that my visit is going to coincide with his mating ceremony.” Saber had only eaten one brownie, and I took that as a sign that something was bothering him. The man knew how to eat.
Judah’s eyes widened. “Whoa! That’s great timing. It’s about time he found his mate.”
We’d met Jacob about five years before, and he was concerned that with his small village, he might not ever find his fated mate. He was eager to meet her.
“I know. She was passing through, traveling through the country, and it was instant.”
The table went quiet. No secret the three of us were eager to meet our mates as well. Our sleuth, our pack, our bears, knew that one day, we would share a mate. It wasn’t planned, simply turned out that way.
“Jacob mentioned something in his email and I wanted to run it by you.” Saber traced a circle on the table with his finger.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Before meeting his mate, he tried out a new app for shifters. It’s supposed to help you find your fated mate.”
Judah tossed his piece of brownie back into the pan. “We’ve been there. Done that. Nothing came of it.”
“But this one is different. There are algorithms and proven science. There are hundreds of matings on there. It’s working for people.”
I chuckled. “So you’ve already checked it out.”
Saber nodded. “Can I at least show you two?”