by Lilly Wilder
“He was,” Rene confirmed. “I didn’t wanna question anything, so I just listened to him and went to Parker’s room. Then, a few minutes later, I heard footsteps. I went out to see if Jesse fixed the fuse box and I stumble onto a creature that seemed to come straight from my worst nightmares.”
“Oh my God…” Alice’s eyes widened in shock and anticipation of what was to come.
“This man comes straight at me, telling me he wants the boy, but Jesse appears in the nick of time, and he basically got beaten up trying to defend me.”
“Wow…”
“About that time, Hyde returns home, and shouts Parker’s name, and the guy just jumps straight out the window and disappears in the bushes.”
Rene wrapped up her story satisfactorily, waiting to hear her friend’s reply.
“That sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel.”
“I know, right?” Rene took a deep breath. “And the worst thing is we don’t know who that guy was.”
“But, you know who he was after,” Alice reminded her. “Why would anyone come after Parker? He’s just a little boy.”
“Well, Hyde and Jesse shared something with me, the story of their origin, and trust me, you wouldn’t believe it.”
Come to think of it, Rene herself was still having a hard time differentiating between reality and fantasy, even though
“Tell me,” Alice urged.
“I don’t know if I should,” Rene admitted loudly, even though it was aimed mostly at herself.
Alice looked as if this lack of trust in their friendship insulted her.
“If you don’t trust me enough, then you don’t have to…” Alice snapped.
Rene wasn’t upset. The two had been friends far too long to come apart so easily.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Rene explained, “it’s just that the story is so insane that you’ll think I’m crazy for even considering the possibility of it being true.”
Alice just gave her a stern look and Rene knew that since she’d started this conversation, she needed to end it properly.
“Hyde told me how they lived in a clan,” Rene swallowed heavily as she spoke, “a clan of bear shifters.”
She paused, just like Hyde did when he was telling her the same story. Only, the reaction she got from Alice was far different from what she had expected.
“And that’s it?” Alice asked, with a frown.
“What do you mean?” Rene snapped. “This isn’t crazy to you?”
“You don’t know this, but my maternal grandparents were born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains. That’s in Romania. My mom moved here to study and then just decided to stay here, but she always told me stories from her old life, stories about witches and werewolves, vampires and goblins. I believed them all when I was a kid, and I haven’t stopped believing just because I’m a grown up now… kinda…” Alice chuckled to herself at her last comment and Rene did the same.
“So, you think he’s telling the truth?” Rene asked, even though deep inside, she was sure he was.
“Well, I don’t know what exactly he told you, and whether he really belongs to the clan he claims, but as to whether bear shifters really exist, I fully agree on that one. There are so many things our puny mortal mind isn’t capable of grasping.”
Rene suddenly remembered what her mother used to tell her a long time ago, when it was still possible for the two of them to have deep, philosophical debates and conversations.
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
Rene wondered if she somehow invited Hyde into her life, by wishing for him, but not being aware of it. Or maybe, he wished her into his?
“And the guy who broke into Hyde’s place, is he a bear shifter, too?” Alice asked, bringing Rene back to reality and the present moment.
“Yes, he belongs to the enemy clan who want Hyde and Parker, and Jesse as well, dead.”
“Why?”
“They ran away, plus Hyde is next in line to rule his clan.”
“I’m guessing someone doesn’t like that and wants a clear path to the throne?” Alice frowned.
“Exactly.”
“Wow,” Alice whistled. “I must admit, I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Me neither,” Rene laughed.
“I just thought you’d say something like, I was all over Jesse, when Hyde returned and joined us, and we had the best threesome ever.”
“What?” Rene sounded shocked. “No… no…”
Shocked, but she was still laughing, strangely titillated by this idea that Alice had planted in her mind.
“Oh, don’t tell me you never even considered it?” Alice was curious.
“Me? No, no, of course not,” Rene was shaking her head so vigorously, that she resembled a bobble head.
“You say it like it’s the worst thing someone could do,” Alice teased.
“No, I’m not saying that.”
“Then, what are you saying, you Victorian prude?” Alice poked fun, punching her playfully on the shoulder. “You want just missionary, for the rest of your life? Sex in the dark? Closed eyes?”
Rene was laughing, but deep inside, she was hurt by all this. Was this how Alice saw her? Was this how all of her previous boyfriends saw her - a Victorian prude? She knew this wasn’t true. She was a passionate woman. She just didn’t know how to show it properly.
“No, I can be kinky,” Rene tried.
“You kinky?” Alice burst out laughing. “No way.”
“Seriously, I can,” Rene whined.
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings or anything,” Alice started more softly this time, “you’re my best friend and I love you, but you’re about as experimental in bed as a wet sock.”
“A plus for the metaphor,” Rene stuck out her tongue and the girls burst out laughing together.
“I’m serious,” Alice smiled at her, “you should let go of these chains that you’ve imposed on yourself, and just live a little. Experiment. Do whatever the fuck you want. It’s your life. You live it for yourself, not for someone else and according to someone else’s rules.”
“You know, everything you’re saying makes so much sense,” Rene admitted, “in theory.”
“Everything is easy to follow, in theory. It’s practice you have trouble with.”
“I have trouble with everything,” Rene grinned.
“You are your own worst critic,” Alice theorized. “Why don’t you be your own best supporter instead?”
Alice was right. It was as painfully obvious as a stab in the eye.
“So, you think I should just let go and see which one of them I like better?” Rene asked.
“Why choose?” Alice toyed with a lock of her hair.
“There you go again with the threesome,” Rene rubbed her forehead.
“Hey, don’t judge until you try.”
“Seriously…”
Rene spent the rest of the day enjoying herself, as Alice left her for the afternoon, to go be with her boyfriend. A few times, Rene caught herself on the verge of dialing Jesse, just to ask him how he was doing, but as soon as she would grab the phone, she immediately put it back.
Chapter 9
The following week, Parker was staying with his mother, so Rene wasn’t needed at the McGallan household. She was disappointed that she would be making less money than usual, but what surprised her even more was the fact that she missed both Parker and Hyde. She even missed that smartass, Jesse when he’d occasionally drop in.
Rene decided to spend the morning checking up on her emails and other online stuff she rarely had time to read, so she went and grabbed her purse, reaching inside. Rene was as tech savvy as any other woman, maybe even more so. But, she was at the same time, also very old school, which meant that she didn’t save her passwords and important information in her phone or in the browser, but rather she wrote down everything in her little black pocket book.
She always had it with her, in her purse, so it was easy to access.
She rummaged through her purse, which now held less items than it usually did. After a few seconds of futile search, Rene puffed heavily, turning her purse upside down, and spilling all the contents on her coffee table. Her lipstick rolled down onto the floor, but she didn’t pick it up. A pack of gum still lay there unopened. Her extra set of keys was inside, too. A small pocket mirror, which her mother gifted her years ago. It was all there, apart from the pocket book.
“Oh, crap…” she scolded herself loudly, as it hit her that the last time she saw it was at Hyde’s place.
She took it out of her purse, wrote down a new phone number where Hyde could be accessed at work, but she didn’t put it back in her purse. She just left it there on the kitchen table. So, it was there. Today was Tuesday, which meant that she could stay without all her info until next week or she could bite the bullet, call Hyde and drop by to pick it up. It was a tough choice.
It took her only a few seconds to make her decision. Her excuse was that she really needed that booklet, if she wanted to get some work done. Her real reason to call was pure, unadulterated desire. Knowing that Parker wouldn’t be there, she just planned on quickly going in and out. There would be no stops, no casual chit chat.
“OK,” she pep-talked herself, “You can do this, just dial the number and be your casual self.”
She took a deep breath, then dialed. Audible silence opened up before her, until finally she heard the promise of a ring. It repeated itself several times before Hyde picked up.
“Hey, Rene!” he greeted her before she could say anything first. “Everything OK?”
“Yeah,” she replied, quickly glancing at her watch, “sorry to bother you at work, but I forgot something at your place and I know you don’t need me this week, but I really need to pick up my pocket book. Maybe I could drop by later?”
“Oh, yeah, I saw it in the kitchen. I was wondering whether you needed it.”
“I do,” she lied so well that she blushed.
“Sure, today evening is fine. Around 5?”
“Five is perfect. Thanks.”
“No worries. See ya!”
“Bye…”
Her voice trailed off as she replied, then hung up the phone. Her hands were clammy. She felt like the phone was about to slip out of her hands, so she quickly placed it back in her purse. She checked her watch again, completely forgetting that she did it mere seconds ago. It was 2 pm - way too early to start now. She needed to busy herself with something. But, what?
Then, it occurred to her. She would bake chocolate chip cookies, and take some to Hyde. She remembered how much he loved them when she and Parker made them. She wondered if it would be too much, if he would see it as crossing some kind of an invisible line that existed between the two of them. Then, she thought to herself.
Fuck it.
She giggled. She actually cursed. Of course, no one heard it, it was only inside her mind, but it was still fun to do. Alice was right. She was usually right, only Rene was reluctant to admit it often.
Rene went and played herself some 50’s music, the stuff she and her mother used to listen to when they were baking together. She started humming to the tune of some familiar, old song that brought back bitter-sweet memories. She didn’t need to take out her recipe book. She knew most of them by heart.
Cooking was a talent she’d inherited from her mother. Rene inherited her desire for it as well. They both believed that the fastest way to a man’s heart was through the stomach. That worked perfectly with Rene’s dad. A brave military man, who always had that old look about him, even in his youth. Rene was always surprised when her mother would tell him how old he was in a certain photo. Rene herself always thought he was at least 15 years older. Strict but righteous, Rene’s father loved his daughter through a regime of discipline and occasional signs of affection, which she cherished more than anything. Rene always felt like her parents were just two sides of the same coin - without one side, the whole would be incomplete.
Surprisingly, the three hours flew by and she found herself at the door, keys and purse in one hand and a basket of cookies in the other.
“I look like a regular Martha Stewart,” she thought to herself, gazing into the mirror.
A second later, and she was driving her tired Caprice down a recognizable road. She could feel butterflies inside her stomach getting all excited, fluttering to get out. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm them down, but it was all in vain. That eagerness to see Hyde remained at an all-time high, exacerbated by the fact that he would be alone in the house. If she walked in, then they would be alone in the house together.
She made a deal with herself not to stay, even if he asked her to. Of course, she didn’t want him to. Maybe she did, just a little. Or, maybe he would just see it was her at the door and he’d just bring over the pocket book and wave goodbye, without even inviting her in? All sorts of scenarios started swarming inside her mind, like curious bees.
Before she got out of the car, she checked herself in the rear view mirror. She regretted not putting on a little bit of lipstick, so she got out her chap stick, and used that instead. She frowned at herself once she was done, but that was that.
She sighed one more time, then got out of the car and walked up to Hyde’s porch. She raised her hand and knocked hard three times. Rene always knocked, even when there was a perfectly fine and visible doorbell. She just preferred the sound of knocking to the sound of a doorbell.
“Hey!” The door opened and Hyde greeted her cheerfully. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.”
She took one step in, careful not to make too many. The hallway was deceptively long and she knew that it only took a few more steps for her to end up in the living room or in the kitchen. That was dangerous territory. Being offered drinks would be a dangerous territory, too.
Little droplets of sweat started forming on the outlines of her hair, and she slowly trailed that line with her index finger, ending the motion with a curve around her ear, trying to calm down a loose curl.
“You don’t plan on standing there in the doorway, do you?” Hyde eyed her weirdly.
“Actually, I…” she lifted that same index finger to give him an excuse, any excuse as to why she couldn’t stay, but he had already gone into the kitchen.
“Come on in!” he shouted loudly, much louder than when Parker was there.
She looked at her feet. She wished them to be frozen in space, unable to move, but tough luck. It was pleasantly warm at Hyde’s place, as usual, and everything seemed to urge her to stay. The soft cozy lights, his cheerful voice. She had all the time in the world to spend here this evening.
“You coming?” His head popped out of the kitchen and his hand gestured her in.
Flown over there by some invisible force, she felt like she was walking without touching the ground. Sounds became distant, smells became more prominent, lights more powerful. When she entered the kitchen, she could see that he was cooking something.
“You’re cooking?” she wondered, enjoying the aroma of fresh basil thrown into the minced meat that was boiling in tomato sauce.
“Yeah, just spaghetti,” he smiled, pouring water in a big pot, then putting it on the stove.
She turned to the kitchen table and saw that it was set for two people. A small blue vase was placed right in the middle and out of it peered a few fresh, yellow sunflowers. Only now did she realize that soft music was playing in the background, some jazz that didn’t seem to belong to the modern times. She liked it.
“I’ll just grab my pocket book and get out of your hair, I see you’re having company,” she said, grabbing her pocket book like a life line and counting the breaths until she was out of there.
How stupid could she be to think that he’d invite her in to spend some time with her? Of course he had plans with someone else. A guy like that probably had girls queueing
for his attention. Her cheeks were flaring. She could only hope he wouldn’t notice her anxiety and disappointment.
“That’s actually for you,” he said, and she immediately felt weak in the knees.
He turned to the fridge, and got out a chilled bottle of wine, then two fancy glasses.
“I hope red is OK,” he showed her the bottle.
“It’s… fine,” she nodded quickly, not even looking at the label.
Not like she would recognize it anyway. Rene wasn’t much of a drinker, but she didn’t shy away from having a glass of red.