Chapter 20
Glad Grayson planned to take Kendra out to dinner to celebrate asking her to mate him, she didn’t have to think long about where she wanted to go. “What about that really nice steak restaurant in Kalispell on the golf course. The Royal Cut Steakhouse? I would love that.”
“You got it.” He smiled at her as if he knew she would choose that restaurant. It was pricey, but it was for the most important of causes.
He drove into Kalispell and headed to the restaurant. After parking in the crowded parking lot, they went inside.
She was amused that Grayson didn’t seem to be a romantic at heart. Not that she blamed him. He seemed to decide on something, and that was it. He wasn’t one to take a long time to think things through and then plan them out.
She was like that too. She thought it was because of the kind of work they did, where they had to drop everything and go after a fugitive as soon as they learned where he or she might be. He seemed to make plans on the spur of the moment, ever since she had met him.
White lights hung from the roofline at the log cabin restaurant, and extra lighting was on the deck, where additional seating with blue umbrellas overlooked a golf course. Pine trees surrounded the restaurant. A landscaped patio was at the entrance.
Inside the restaurant, a long bar covered one wall, and cloth-covered tables sat along the windows and in the middle of the tile floors.
The walls were paneled in wood, and wood beams crossed the ceiling, with crystal lights hanging from them.
It was rustic chic. Large paintings of the mountains and the steakhouse in all seasons were featured on the walls.
A fireplace surrounded by tile and stone added to the restaurant's hominess and beauty.
Steaks and shrimp grilling in the kitchen filled the restaurant with a mouth-watering aroma.
The restaurant was packed, both inside and out. To her surprise, Grayson gave his name to the hostess, and they were seated right away at a reserved table overlooking the golf course.
“You made a reservation? When?” She couldn’t have been more surprised.
“Last night, while you were showering.”
“But we had to take down Billy this morning. What if we hadn’t captured him in time?” She was rethinking her opinion of Grayson, who she had thought was not romantically inclined.
“I made three reservations for the day.”
She laughed. “What if I had wanted to go to a different restaurant? To have something Mexican or Asian instead?”
He smiled. “I was going to convince you we had to go to a steakhouse because they had such a variety of food. Steaks, prime rib, seafood that is out of this world, duck even.”
“Yeah, I love their prime rib, tender and served with horseradish potato cakes and broccoli,” she said.
“And huckleberry mojitos?” he asked.
“Hmm,” she said as he pulled out her chair and she sat down, then he took a seat opposite her. “A grizzly’s favorite.”
A beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived, and she smiled brightly when she realized it was for their table. “Oh, these are beautiful.”
Aromatic purple irises, white baby’s breath, pink, orange, and red roses, and hot pink snapdragons filled the basket, with a large, purple bow on the handle. It was just gorgeous. No one had ever given her a bouquet of flowers at any point in her life.
She got up from the table, and he rose from his seat. She gave Grayson a hug and a kiss. “I’ve never received flowers before.”
“You deserve that and everything good. I can’t imagine anyone in your life not giving you flowers. You just weren’t with the right person before.”
“I so agree.”
They sat back down and placed their drink order first. Then they looked at the menu again.
She overheard a woman at another table say to her significant other, “Wow, he knows how to do it right.”
The guy’s ears tinged a little red. “I guess I need to rectify that. But it’s probably their anniversary.”
A fresh loaf of bread, glasses of water, and their drinks were delivered to the table. “Do you know what you want to eat?” Grayson asked.
Both wanted the prime rib, potato cakes, and broccoli.
Grayson cut off two pieces of bread and gave her the slice that was in the middle of the loaf, while he took the heel, and he scooted the dish of butter over to her.
Wow. If she’d had a date who cut off a slice of bread for her, he would give her the crust. Sometimes, a boyfriend even cut a slice in the middle and left the crust for her to eat.
He wouldn’t even hand her the piece, but just got his own slice, and she was on her own.
It was simple things like that that showed how caring Grayson was.
They clinked their drinks together. “To us,” Grayson said. “I love you. You are amazing.”
“Oh, you mean the world to me. I love you too.” They drank from their glasses, and then she put hers down on the table. “Where do you want to live?”
“Since Marcus can handle cases in Whitefish and the surrounding area, and you’re on your own here in Kalispell—”
“You’re going to stay here with me, unless he needs help, and then we can help him.
” She was thrilled at the prospect of not having to leave her home.
Moving was so stressful, and she was on a bigger lake, which made it more fun for her.
Though she loved the forest out where he lived, and that his home was close to a ski resort.
“Sure, and we can stay with Dad or Marcus whenever we want to go skiing or running through the woods out there. So you want to have kids, right?" Grayson asked Kendra.
She was surprised he hadn't wanted to talk about this before he said he wanted to mate her. "Yeah, of course."
"Good. My dad is so ready to be a grandpa, and Ivy is dying to be an aunt. She wants to smother them with love."
Kendra laughed. "That's sweet. What about Marcus?"
"Oh, he'll be a great uncle. He is like my dad when it comes to Ivy's friends, helpful, always wanting to be there for them if they need someone to talk to, despite Ivy saying no one was paying any attention to her after Mom died.
We were all going through our grief process, and for Dad and my brother and me, it was throwing ourselves into our work for the most part. "
"And she doesn't work."
"Well, she had school, but she was really close to our mother, and she has been having difficulty concentrating on her subjects even."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I went through that when my sister died. And then again, with my parents. At least I was older when they passed. But it was still awful, and it made it difficult to get through the days at times."
Then it began to lightly rain outside, and she was glad they were inside, enjoying their fine dining. The people sitting outside on the deck under umbrellas were still protected, unless the rain and wind picked up.
He glanced out the window. "Oh, I'm glad I made a reservation for indoors."
Some people were hurrying to finish their meals.
Some were leaving. Others acted as if this were no big deal and continued to eat at a leisurely pace.
The others started to leave, but the cool couples, there were three of them, were still just eating and drinking without a care in the world.
They were dressed up too, business formal.
Then the wind began to whip up, and the rain steadily increased until it was a downpour. The umbrellas, though weighed down, were blowing to the side and looked as if they might fall over in the wind.
"Oh, wow, I'm really glad we didn't sit outside, thought it appeared that the weather was perfect to be there," she said.
"Oh, man, they'd better hurry and finish up their meals."
Then some of the restaurant staff ran outside onto the deck wearing rain gear. They began to fold down the umbrellas so they wouldn't blow over in the wind. Another man ran out with a cart and began removing plates, silverware, and glasses before they could blow over and shatter.
The three couples hurried to finish their meals and drinks and then headed for their vehicles.
They were soaking wet as the rain poured down on the back deck.
Then the staff folded up the remaining umbrellas, and the man with the cart began clearing off the tables, the rest of the staff hurrying to help him.
They laughed and finally headed back into the restaurant, pulling off their rain gear and taking the cart into the kitchen.
Kendra and Grayson continued to enjoy their meal. "What about dessert?" Grayson asked.
"What about a chocolate cream pie?"
"I'll get a lemon meringue cream pie. Tea? Or anything else to drink with it?"
"Cinnamon tea for me."
Grayson motioned to their waiter, ordered dessert, Kendra’s tea, and green tea for himself.
When the waiter left, Grayson said, "So about kids?"
"Yeah, I want them. I figure we can take turns grabbing fugitives when we have kids.
Much of our work involves locating them.
So we can do a lot of that work at home.
But when we have to run out to arrest a fugitive, one of us can stay home with the kids and the other can go after the bail jumper," Kendra said.
They were in the middle of their dessert and tea when a black bear shifter approached them.
"Hey, Blue. This is Blue Beardsman, Grayson. Most of our bear sleuth is made up of grizzly bears, but we also have a few black bears. Blue, this is Grayson Stone, my fiancé," Kendra said.
"Lucky dog," Blue said, smiling and shaking Grayson's hand as he stood up and greeted him. "So what do you do?"
"I'm a bounty hunter out of Whitefish, though I need to talk to Kendra's boss to see if he will accept me to work for him also in Kalispell. I work with my twin brother in Whitefish, who is also a bounty hunter."
Blue grabbed a chair at an empty table, pulled it over to their table, and sat down, surprising both Kendra and Grayson.
"Kendra knows I have a younger sister, and she was approached by some kid named Billy," Blue said.
"Hell," Grayson said, sitting a little taller and frowning furiously.