Wilder Animals

by Geonn Cannon

  Ari said, “That sounds reasonable.” She held out her hand. “I look forward to doing business with you, Miss Parrish.”

  Parrish took Ari’s hand. Instead of shaking, she brought it to her lips and kissed the knuckles. She looked up at Ari through her lashes as she did it. Ari had to admit she felt another surge of arousal, and Parrish smiled knowingly as she released Ari’s hand.

  “Go use that on your girlfriend, Miss Willow. We’ll be seeing each other again soon.”

  #

  When Ari got back to the office, she told Dale about their new arrangement with GG&M, then revealed the secret to Cecily Parrish’s appeal. Dale took the information in stride, simply considering it for a moment before she nodded her head and went back to typing.

  “That’s it? That’s your whole reaction?”

  Dale said, “This summer, a woman transformed into a mermaid right in front of me. I’m not going to be surprised by anything we run into.”

  Ari chuckled lightly, the most she could do without hurting her face, and got the ice pack Dale had made out of the freezer. She stretched out on the couch and placed the ice on her black eye. She turned the TV on a game show and muted it. She watched as group of people from carefully-chosen demographics played games of luck to win fantastic prizes. A woman in a garish outfit started jumping up and down as the host revealed a car, but before she could see if the woman won it, the image was replaced by a flashy Breaking News graphic. Ari fumbled for the remote and jabbed the volume button.

  “Dale, I think it happened.”

  Dale came in with a warm compress. She took the ice off Ari’s eye and replaced it, then sat on the arm of the couch to watch as Sofia Kennedy appeared on-screen.

  “We apologize for interrupting regular programming, but we have some breaking news happening right now. Our crews have just arrived at State Senator Michael Irwin’s office where it has been revealed the senator and gubernatorial candidate is being taken into custody by the Seattle Police. Details are sketchy at this time, but we have been told that he is being arrested on multiple charges, including conspiracy and sexual assault.”

  The image cut to Irwin’s office, where he was being led into a corridor by uniformed officers clamped on to either arm. The hall was flooded with photographers and reporters shouting questions, all of which were ignored by the politician and his escorts. He wasn’t as handsome or charming when he was scowling, Ari discovered.

  “We’re still getting information now, but we’re being told that Cecily Parrish from the law firm Gilles Girard & Moreau is bringing the charges against the senator. She will be holding a press conference in just a few minutes to hopefully clarify some of the facts in this case for us. Senator Irwin, you’ll remember is currently running for—”

  Ari muted the television. “Looks like that’s that.”

  Dale gripped Ari’s hand, squeezing it hard. “You got him, puppy. I’m proud of you.”

  “I just hope and pray whoever they get to replace him is half as good as this jackass looked on paper.”

  “They’ll be better. Maybe it will be a woman.”

  Ari said, “Oh, that would be good. Be nice to have a woman in charge.”

  “I’ve always been a fan of it.”

  Ari chuckled and rolled onto her side. “What do you say I take you out for a great big dinner to celebrate everything? Irwin’s arrest, our new arrangement with Parrish, all the hard work you did to keep this place up and running while I was away… and in honor of Clark Wilcox.”

  “Ew.”

  “Hey, come on. He was an asshole, and he was a criminal, but there was a glimmer of goodness in him. He had a line he wouldn’t cross and he gave his life for this case. We should show him a little respect.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” She nodded at the TV. “None of this would’ve happened without him. I just wish he’d actually asked you for help instead of taking such a drastic step. It would have saved so much time. And his life.” She put her head down on Ari’s shoulder. “Okay. We can celebrate in his honor along with everything else. It’s a little early for dinner, though.”

  “I’ll need five or six hours just to cover this black eye.”

  Dale gently kissed Ari’s cheek. “I like it. It’s a badge of honor. But I’ll help you with the makeup if you insist on it.”

  “Oh, will you?”

  “Mm-hmm. C’mon.”

  Ari let Dale help her up and followed her into the bathroom.

  Epilogue

  On Christmas Eve, Dale and Ari brought a turkey and a pecan pie to the Macallan home. They started the evening by watching non-traditional Christmas fare (Dale chose a Claymation episode of Community while Lucy’s suggestion of A Nightmare Before Christmas spawned debate about whether or not it was actually a Halloween movie) before opening presents. Lucy, by virtue of wearing the elf hat, declared it her job to hand out the gifts.

  She grabbed the final package was Dale was in the kitchen getting a refill of eggnog. She turned it over in her hands looking for a tag before she finally gave up. She showed it to Ari. “Who was this one for?”

  “I don’t know. Are you sure it’s one from us?”

  Lucy said, “Not our paper.” Dale had returned so Lucy held it up. “Who was this one for?”

  Dale said, “Oh, that one. Um…” She stepped around the couch and knelt in front of Ari. “Ari, I know you spent years without really celebrating Christmas because you didn’t have anyone to spend it with after you ran away. But there was someone else who lost the holiday when you left. And she’s still spending it by herself. So I got that gift because I think we should take it to your mother’s house after we’re done here. I let you talk me out of Thanksgiving, and I understand why now, but this is Christmas. And it’s your mother. I’m not ready to completely forgive what she said, and I know you’re not, either. But you know her true feelings about me. You know how she feels in her heart. If we skip this, you’ll risk falling back to the way things were. You don’t want that.”

  Lucy quietly cleared her throat. “My parents weren’t the most open-minded of people. When I brought home a girl for the first time, they insisted on hearing ‘girlfriend’ as two words. She never accepted who I was or the women I loved. She never got a chance to meet Diana.” She reached out and touched Diana’s ear, pinching the lobe in an affectionate way. “I would do everything over if I had a chance. And since time travel is impossible, all I can do is make sure you don’t make the same mistake.”

  Ari said, “Thank you, Lucy. And you…” She cupped Dale’s cheeks and leaned forward to kiss her. “Thank you. We’ll head over there as soon as we’re done here.”

  Diana said, “Why wait? I don’t want to intrude, but if you need the moral support, Lucy and I would love to meet your mother.”

  “You wouldn’t be intruding. It would actually be really helpful to have you there.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?”

  Diana got up and began gathering the remnants of their desserts, while Lucy retrieved a bag for them to carry the presents in. Ari put on her jacket at the door and waited for Dale to get her scarf on before she pulled her close.

  “Thank you.”

  “I feel the same way Lucy does. I lost my mom. I don’t want to see you throw away your chance to have a real relationship with her.”

  Diana had found a Santa coat and hat, smiling as she brought the presents into the hall. “Are we all ready to go?”

  They piled into Ari’s car and she drove along the lakeshore so they could see all the boats bedecked in their holiday finest. When Ari pulled onto her mother’s block, she first realized that maybe her mother wasn’t alone. Maybe she’d made plans with friends or had a date. But she remembered their time at the cabin, their conversations about how Gwen had isolated herself during the war with the hunters and still didn’t quite understand how to be social.

  The lights were on when they pulled up in front of the house. Gwen had kept the decorations limited to
a single strand of white lights strung along the eaves and a plastic top-hatted snowman on the porch steps. Ari took a breath in front of the door, looked at Dale, and rapped her knuckles against the wood. She took a step back so they could all be seen through the peephole. A moment later, Gwen answered. She was dressed in a red sweater and black leggings, and she eyed the group on her porch with a confused but sincere smile.

  “Hello, Ari. Dale.”

  “Hi, Mom. This is Diana and Lucy Macallan. They’re friends of ours. We thought… well, Dale thought… Dale thought and I agreed…”

  Dale clutched Ari’s upper arm to shut her up. “We thought it wouldn’t be Christmas if you were celebrating alone, so we thought we would come over. We brought pie and cookies and presents… It’s okay if you didn’t get anything for us…”

  Gwen said, “No, I did. I bought presents for you and Ariadne both.”

  Ari said, “You did?”

  Gwen looked at her daughter and smiled. “Every year, Ariadne.”

  Dale said, “So is that a yes? Can we come in, Mom?”

  Gwen turned to Dale, her smile fading as she was overcome. It returned almost immediately a few degrees brighter.

  “Of course, Dale. Please, come in. There should be enough to drink, but we may need to start some coffee.”

  “I can take care of that.” Ari hugged her mother and whispered, “Diana knows. Lucy doesn’t.”

  “Noted.” She turned and hugged Dale extra tight. “You look gorgeous, Dale.”

  “You too.”

  She introduced herself to Lucy and Diana. “I didn’t know you were coming, but I’m sure Ariadne would be willing to sacrifice a few of her accumulated presents from the last decade or so.”

  “No, she’s not,” Ari called back over her shoulder.

  Gwen said, “Christmas spirit, Ariadne.”

  “Fine. But if there’s a train set, I’ve been asking for that since I was five. So dibs.” She joined Dale in the kitchen. “I’ll make some tea for you.”

  “Thank you, puppy.”

  She hugged Dale from behind and buried her face in her hair. Dale pressed back against her. They held the position as they listened to Gwen and the Macallans getting acquainted in the other room.

  “This was a pretty great present, Dale.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Ari held her a moment longer and then got to work on their drinks. It had been a hell of a year, starting with wolf manoth and ending with Wilcox’s suicide, but she and Dale had made it through together. The coming year was destined to be interesting. She still wasn’t quite sure what to expect from her work with GG&M, and Irwin’s trial was going to be a madhouse, but she was sure that she could weather any storm with Dale by her side.

  She finished the tea and kissed Dale before dragging her out into the living room so they wouldn’t miss the gifts being opened.

  About The Author

  Geonn Cannon lives in Oklahoma. He is the author of several novels, including the Riley Parra series which is currently being produced as a webseries for Tello Films, and an official Stargate SG-1 tie-in novel. Information about his other novels and an archive of free stories can be found online at geonncannon.com.