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The Legal Stuff: Bears Know Best  © 2012 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright  © 2012 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface
 
It's been a while since my readers have heard from me, and I know that this isn't the book that they expected to be next. The Standing Up to Life series will be concluded, but I had reached a writers block with the series and needed to take a break. Bears Know Best has been that break, and I hope you all will enjoy it!

Like the first three books I posted here on BigCloset, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I will be posting it up in 28 installments, but that may change if I feel like a posting needs more. The book has a total of 35 chapters and a short epilogue. The full version should be completely posted by September. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. There are two types of eBooks available depending on how you wish to read it. One is the ePub format that you should be able to load on any e-reader (you may need an additional app, but I believe all will read it), and the other is a standard PDF formatted file. I believe the PDF is the best way to read it on a computer screen personally. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($8.95 for the eBook formatted files).

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy reading Bears Know Best!

Dedication
I would like to thank and dedicate this novel to the countless authors and authoresses whose tales I have read online. They have given me hope and helped me to understand myself more than anyone else could. Knowing others are out there is probably the biggest source of strength that any of us can draw from! I would also like to thank all of my readers who have given me such great feedback over my previous novels. I hope you will enjoy this new work!

Finally, a big thank you especially to Carla for all of your hard work in editing my long novels!
 
 
Chapter 13: New Ride
 
THE NEXT MORNING I groggily got up and put on the set of cycling clothes that matched the set I’d bought Alyssa. I kind of hoped she’d wear the same set today for some reason. Mom was in the kitchen, where I grabbed a granola bar, then she handed me two water bottles that she had filled for me.

I gave her a hug, and said, “Thank you.”

Once I had my shoes latched on, she followed me outside where Alyssa’s family was already gathering for the ride.

“Ready Taylor?” her mom asked.

I nodded, “I think so.” She could probably tell I was more than a bit apprehensive.

“Don’t think that you have to be a hero today Taylor, if you’re getting tired please let us know, and we’ll cut the ride shorter.” She told me. “We have plenty of time to torture you if you later!”

I could tell I was going to like her mom before, but I was sure of it now. “Thanks!” I told her.

I was a little unsteady in clipping in. For some reason I couldn’t get my left cleat to lock in the way it was supposed to right away, but I eventually managed. Alyssa rode side by side with me, behind her parents for a while before the road narrowed and we went single file. Everyone, including me, rotated to the front for a bit of time before backing to behind the others again. It was a lot of fun, and I was kind of surprised that I was keeping up with their fairly brisk pace.

The computer on my bike read fifteen miles when we made a turn to head back towards a place they said was another five miles out and we’d get breakfast. “So you apparently rode more in Atlanta than you let on?” Alyssa asked me as the road widened enough for use to ride side-by-side again.

I smiled, “It was the best way to get away from Rachel sometimes.”

She nodded, “I can understand that.”

“Plus, Dad would take me on a lot of trail rides. It’s one of the off-season training things he does.”

“Cool,” she said.

We spoke about some other things as we clipped along at close to twenty-miles-per-hour the whole time. Closer to town I sensed that her parents really wanted to speed up, and so I just nodded to Alyssa and the two of us passed them so we could set the pace. They passed us though and raced for an invisible finish line somewhere, with Alyssa racing to fend them off. I just kept riding and tried to ride their coattails somehow!

Everyone was laughing and having a good time as they let me catch up and we rode in to their normal Sunday breakfast stop. It was handy that they had a bike rack in front of the restaurant, and we soon had everything locked up, and walked in with cleat covers on our shoes.

“You did really well Taylor,” Alyssa’s dad told me. “How’s the new bike working?” he asked.

“It’s really responsive,” was the best I could come up with to describe it. Honestly it was kind of unnerving with how little movement it took to get it to turn. If I wasn’t careful I thought I could fall over with as light as it was. The wind was fairly light that day, but a couple gusts had tried to push me over.

The four of us took our saddlebags off of our bikes and placed them in our helmets that we carried to a booth the waitress led us to. “Hi Jessica, Greg,” a waitress came over, “Alyssa,” and looked at me. “How are you all doing?”

“We’re doing well Cathy,” Alyssa’s dad replied.

“And who’s this?” she asked curiously.

I figured the fact that Alyssa and I were dressed in the same outfit was making her more curious. “This is Taylor,” Alyssa’s mom answered. “She just moved here last weekend, and she and Alyssa are joined at the hip already.”

I blushed slightly as she said, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I responded.

The breakfast service was good and fast. On their advice I was careful what I chose to eat, but thoroughly enjoyed the eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. Her parents took the time to politely interrogate me about everything that could be a topic of conversation. They insisted on paying for my breakfast, and I didn’t fight with them on it. We all used the restroom first before heading back out to our bikes and setting back off towards home.

We had been riding again for fifteen minutes when my bike started feeling weird. It felt soft, and I was slowing down. Thankfully I was in the middle of the pack then, so everyone else noticed right away that I was stopping. Alyssa’s dad looked at my bike with me, and saw the problem. In all, my bike had a total of twenty-three miles on it when I received my first flat!

“Grrr…” I growled.

Alyssa and her dad just laughed, “It’s a sign you’ve broken it in a little bit,” he said as helped me turn the bike over and get the quick release lever loose.

“Why don’t you go ahead and change it, and I’ll help out if you need it?” He suggested to me.

I looked at him strangely, but he probably figured I was just the normal little girl he saw and didn’t want me to be helpless. I shrugged, “Okay,” and went through the bag I had to find a spare tube, my shiny new CO2 pump, and the tire lever attached to it.

Fifteen minutes passed before I managed to manhandle the tire off, punctured tube off, new one on, and the tire back in place. I did it on my own, but almost asked for help because the tire was so stiff to put back on the rim. Her dad did offer some suggestions at that point on how to get it on that worked. I was tired by the time it was back inflated, but I felt better that it was done. We got back on the road and made it home about a half-hour later.

“Thanks for taking me with you this morning,” I told them at their driveway.

“Anytime Taylor! We’d love to have you join us every weekend if you want,” Jessica, Alyssa’s mom, added.

“We’ll see what happens, I don’t always want to slow you down,” I told her.

“Except in the sprint we don’t usually go much faster on weekend rides,” her Dad said.

“Well, I’d like to then,” I said with a smile.

When I got inside I put my bike against the garage wall and headed into the house proper. My shoes found a place in the laundry room next to the garage and I said a brief ‘Hi,’ to Mom before going upstairs to shower.

The shower felt wonderful on my body, and I had to force myself not to spend all day in there. I’d forgotten to get any clothes out, so I put on my new bathrobe and hopped across the hallway to my room. ‘What do I want to wear today?’ I asked myself as I went through my clothes. ‘I’ve worn that already,’ I griped at myself as I looked at the only sundress I owned. ‘I felt pretty in it the other day, too,’ I thought.

I fought back and forth over what to wear today with my limited wardrobe. ‘I guess I could put underwear on first,’ I thought, trying to end my stalemate, ‘no you can’t, what if you need a different bra?’

I have no idea how long I stared at my choices before I felt a hug from behind me.

“Can’t decide what to wear?” Mom asked.

I shook my head, “I think I need some more sundresses,” I said, a bit embarrassed.

“You’ll build a wardrobe up in time,” Mom said. “I need to do some things around here today, so we can’t go shopping today. Maybe next weekend?” she suggested, before adding, “We do have to go into Cleveland on Wednesday for your appointment, we could do some then.”

“Assuming they don’t rush me into emergency surgery or put me out for good?” I said half-jokingly. I wasn’t sure they weren’t going to.

“Sweetie, they won’t do either of those things.” She said.

I had been standing with my back to her, still trying to decide on what to wear, but suddenly turned around and buried my head in her shoulder and started crying, “Mommy I’m such a freak,” I said.

I’m pretty sure Mom wasn’t expecting this, but she took it in stride. “Shhhh,” she cooed, “no you’re not, and you’re going to be alright.”

I didn’t go on a long cry fest, but I did feel better. Mom stayed with me long enough to help me pick out one of the last two skirts in my wardrobe that I hadn’t worn and a spaghetti strap top to go with it. I went back to the bathroom to work on my teeth and everything else that I’d put off until I knew what I was going to wear. It took me another half-hour before I walked downstairs and found Mom sitting at the breakfast counter with a cup of coffee in her hand.

“Coffee?” she asked me.

“No thanks,” I told her, “I’m awake from the ride.”

She nodded. I got a glass of water and joined her looking through the ads. “So… what girl lesson did we learn this morning?”

“I thought I already knew how to cry?” I suggested. I had no idea what she was talking about.

“No, not that. What set off the crying?”

“The freak part?”

She sighed, “Please don’t use that word anymore, you’re not, and before that.”

I thought for a second, “The clothes?”

Mom nodded again, “If you choose your clothes the night before it’ll help keep that from happening.”

“Oh… yeah, that’s a good idea,” I agreed.

We looked over the ads together, both pointing out things that looked like they would be good for me. At a few points she pointed out things that would fit me, but I would not in a million years wear! My problem was that the best fitting clothes we’d found for me were still a size ten or twelve in girls. Juniors sizing was too tall it seemed, and the jeans and such mostly been way too loose, even in a size zero. The one sundress I had was a zero, and fit well, but it had been the only thing on several racks that had. ‘I guess that one doesn’t look too bad,’ I noticed a dress in the girls section of the Kohl’s ad.

“So what are you up to today?” Mom asked.

I shrugged, “Maybe go hang out with Alyssa, or practice, or something?” I paused to take a last drink from the emptying water glass, “You?”

“Laundry, some grocery shopping, and some other things around here.” She paused, “We’ll have to work out a chore rotation next week, having two people in the house is building up chores a whole lot faster,” she smiled as she said that.

“I’ll do whatever you want me to,” I told her.

“I know you will,” she said as she reached over and pushed a stray strand of hair out of my face. “But, not right now. Do whatever you want today,” she told me. I decided to go upstairs and find my iPhone.

It ‘dinged’ right when I unplugged it from my computer, with a text message from Alyssa. “Going 2 Erie 2 shop, wanna come?” she asked.

“Sure, let me ask,” I replied.

I found myself bounding down the stairs, “Mom, Alyssa just asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her parents in Erie, can I go?” I said as I skidded to a halt in front of her.

“Wow, you do have the shopping bug, don’t you?” She teased. “Sure, I’ve stolen their daughter enough this week, it seems fair enough that you should be stolen for a while too.”

“Thanks!” I said and found my fingers on the iPhone screen quickly texting an affirmative.

Ten minutes later I had my only purse that was actually mine, my iPhone, and a pair of cute flats on my feet and skipped across the yard to their house. I pressed the doorbell and Alyssa opened the door. “That looks cute.”

“You too,” I said, smiling.

“Glad you could come,” her mom said from behind her.

“Thanks for inviting me!” I said with a smile.

“Any time,” she replied with a smile.

The four of us piled into their SUV and began the hour trip into Erie. I found myself being asked questions constantly by her mom, and at some point I let slip that my dad was a professional football player. That had her dad asking questions excitedly then. He knew my dad as a good player for his team and that made him curious about what he was like in real life. My standard response of the shrug and ‘He’s my dad,’ was mostly enough.

Her mom eventually saved me by asking about my playing horn like her daughter. “Alyssa said that you have a really pretty horn?” she asked.

I nodded at her, half-twisted in her seat looking back. I was about to answer when Alyssa said excitedly, “It’s not just pretty, it’s gorgeous!”

“It’s a rose gold color that I really do like,” I said with a smile.

“We’ll have to hear you play sometime,” she said.

Alyssa nodded in agreement.

The trip really passed by pretty quickly, and I was pleased that no questions regarding gender ever came up. I didn’t know how close Mom was to her mom, and if she had said anything yet. Kohl’s was to be our first stop, and I was on a mission to find more clothes! Alyssa and I shopped the whole of juniors first, and I managed to find a single top and one skirt that fit there.

“I’m going to have to look in the girls section,” I sighed at her as she came out of the dressing room next to me simultaneously.

She gave me a sisterly hug with her free arm, “I’m done over here anyways,” she said holding up a pile of conquered sales items. I was jealous about almost all of the things she’d found. It seemed we liked similar clothes, but they fit her!

We ran into her mom coming across the aisle from women’s. “Finished?” She asked.

I shook my head, “I’m going to check and see if there’s anything in the girls section that fits… and doesn’t make me look like I’m in elementary school,” I added.

She smiled at me, “You’ll grow sooner or later,” she said.

I shook my head, “My mom’s not that much taller, I don’t think I’m going to get more than maybe a few more inches.”

“Just how tall are you?” She asked.

I grimaced, “Four-foot, seven,” I told her.

She grinned, “So you’re technically still supposed to be in a booster seat?”

I groaned, “I guess so, size wise. I think all of the laws say eight years old though, so I’m okay.”

She laughed, “Don’t worry; your secret is safe with us.”

Alyssa’s mom walked with us to the girls department and we actually had some success in finding a couple of sundresses for me, along with a few more tops, and a dress/legging set that was cute too. I’d just finished up trying on the last of the items for Alyssa when she disappeared as I changed.

“You sooo need this,” she said, holding up a set of pajamas that would make me look like a five year old.

“Umm… no.” I told her while sticking my tongue out at her. She somehow convinced me to try them on really quick, and took a picture of me in them!

“That’s not fair, you’re too big for me to get even with you,” I pouted after I’d taken them off.

I had to admit I did look ‘cute’ in them, but I didn’t think I wanted to look cute like that! She just laughed at me. Her poor dad had to have been dying of boredom by the time we left that store. We rewarded his patience by letting him choose where we were going for lunch. They insisted on paying for my meal at the steak place we ate at. I enjoyed just hanging out with their family the whole time. My dad was remarried, and so I guess I was sort of used to having two ‘parents’ around, but it was different with her parents. Maybe it was just because she was biologically a part of both of them that made the difference, but I didn’t think so.

We spent more hours in the mall combing for clothes, and I had a bit more success in Justice again, as much as I was going to deny ever having purchased clothes there! It was a pain, but by the end of the day we had managed to find six sundresses, seven more tops, a couple more skirts, a couple dress/legging combination outfits, among other things like some cute socks.

“Any reason why you’ve tried to buy out the stores today?” her mom asked on the way back out to the car.

I didn’t quite know how to answer her, “I didn’t bring much clothing when I came up here,” I told her. That was sort of true.

She nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure you’ll especially have to build up a whole winter wardrobe you’ve never had.”

‘She doesn’t know the half of it,’ I thought to myself while nodding.

All-in-all it was a fun trip that day, complete with dinner out too, before we returned about eight-thirty. I had barely walked into the house with my arms full of bags when my iPhone started ringing. I threw the bags down quickly on the kitchen table and reached for my phone. Dad was calling.

“Hey Dad,” I said. The two of us talked about the weekend for about a half-hour before Rachel came in and needed something. He let me go then, and I hoped that things would somehow get better with that whole situation.

“So how was your trip?” Mom asked as she came around the hallway corner.

“It was great!” I told her, “You want to see what I bought?” I perked up.

“Absolutely!” She smiled. “Let’s go upstairs?”

I followed her up to my room where she theatrically opened my bedroom door for me, “What do you think?”

“Mom, when did you do all of this?” I exclaimed.

“Today,” she told me proudly.

She had finished putting out all of our purchases from yesterday and added other little touches around the room to make it look awesome! I gave her a big hug and looked around the room a bit more. It looked nice, and I laughed when I saw she had found some stuffed animals and a Rapunzel doll from Tangled and set them up on my dresser. I went up to them and inspected them a little bit more. “Where’s Belle?” I asked.

She laughed, “Another time,” she smiled at me. “Now do I get to see what you bought today?”

I tried on everything from the bags, and received another surprise when I found those awful pajamas in a small bag with a handwritten note, ‘They’re too cute for you not to have them, today was fun, we’ll have to do it again soon! — Jessica’

I grumbled, “I can’t believe she bought these…” I said as Mom made me show her.

“Those are cuuuuute!” She exclaimed.

I sighed, “Yes they are, but I look like I’m five in them. Alyssa had me try them on as a gag, took my picture, and apparently her mom thought they looked too cute too…”

She gave me a hug, “You don’t have to wear them,” she told me.

I looked at her, “But you’d love to see me in them, wouldn’t you?”

Her smile widened.

I put them on long enough to show her, before changing into another pair of pajamas I already had, then carried the new clothes downstairs to wash. I was glad to have some new sundresses, as I really had enjoyed wearing the one the other day. They were a little impractical at times, but I felt good in them. Mom and I ended up cuddling up and watching some TV while the laundry ran. When they were finished I went to bed anticipating a very busy week.