Chapter 5
Not one damned thing in this whole world made sense anymore.
Not the fact that he could suddenly feel his dick when he hadn’t for nearly three years.
Not the fact that his furniture was wrecked because he’d transformed into a grizzly.
And certainly not the fact that the woman he loved wouldn’t explain why she claimed he deserved “better” than her. She was everything to him.
Well, everything if he found something for his headache.
He felt like shit. His head was throbbing, and he fought the urge to sleep.
He kept thinking that he felt something in his legs or his feet.
Was it pain? Temperature? Pressure? Maybe.
Or maybe he was just imagining things. He’d felt the exact same mirage right after the car accident that broke his spine.
He couldn’t fall down that rabbit hole again.
Not if it ended up back here in this chair.
And yet, he couldn’t stop hoping. Was magical regeneration any stranger than the fact that he’d been a bear last night? A bear with full use of its legs. God, just the memory was wonderful enough to bring tears to his eyes. He’d had working legs again—which made him hate his chair more than ever.
He wanted to be a full man for Margaret. She’d see him as a romantic possibility then. She’d forget her charade.
She stood before him, tense, clearly trying to avoid a fight. “I…um…don’t know what you want me to say about the change. I saw it, Gary. I was looking right at you, and you changed into a bear.”
He nodded, though the very idea was crazy. “And before that?”
She shrugged. “You were angry. Worse than I’ve ever seen you before.”
“I was ramped up all day. But I’d never hurt you.”
She flinched. “I know you wouldn’t. But…what about you as a bear?”
“Even as a bear,” he promised. Had he really just said that?
She swallowed then nodded. “Okay. But…how could that happen? How could—?”
“I need some coffee.” He was weak with fatigue, and he had no answers.
“Are you sure? Maybe—”
He snarled, overwhelmed, and she gave a little gasp of surprise.
Damn it. He was making things worse.
“Don’t be afraid, Margaret. Please. I’m terrified enough for us both. And hungry as…” He snorted. “Hungry as a bear.”
She had a way of putting everything in her eyes. Hopes. Fears. Needs. Everything was right there in those changeable irises. Right now they were running more blue than green, and glinting as if she were fighting tears.
“Why are you about to cry?” he asked, working hard to keep his voice gentle.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m hoping for you, and I’m afraid to hope. I’m scared for you—and for me. I want to help, but I wonder if it would be better for me to leave. But I don’t have to. Work called, and the trip is cancelled—”
“Good!” he said. The thought of her leaving for any reason clawed at his insides. He needed her with him. “We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “We’ll just…watch the movie. We forgot to do that last night. Not sure how.”
She smiled at his joke and seemed to relax. “Okay. If you want me here, then I’m here.”
“For the record—yes, I want you here.”
Her gaze slowly dropped down his body. “You could really feel the cath?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I really could.” He started thinking as he wheeled himself toward coffee. “I could walk as a bear…”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “You could.”
She sounded tense again, so he felt the need to reassure her.
“I’d never hurt you—as a bear or a man.” As he spoke, he sipped his coffee. Somehow, she always made it better than he did. Everything was better with her around.
“Should I make us some eggs?” she asked.
“I can—”
“Please, let me.”
He wheeled backwards to let her into the kitchen. Then he watched her work efficiently in his kitchen.
“This might be a stupid question,” she said, “but did you have any idea that…um…that would happen?”
That I’d turn into a bear? Ha!
And yet, a memory popped back into his mind that was eerily connected to the sudden sound of his phone, a distinctive ring tone—“Take Me Out to the Ballgame”—he’d assigned to his father. He recalled his father’s strange comment when Gary turned seventeen.
“Not a clue,” he said to Margaret and then went for his phone. “Dad?”
“Gary? I’m just checking in. Been of a bitch of a night, what with the city going crazy. Are you okay?”
“Not really, Dad. I…” How did he say this? Had his father been joking about turning into a bear all those years ago? Gary looked at Margaret, gaining strength from her presence, and pretty soon the words came out. “I changed last night. I changed…shape.”
“Damn,” his father said. “I was afraid of this. Didn’t you get my text? I told you not to drink the water.”
What? He’d been a bit preoccupied yesterday and maybe missed a text, but had the whole world gone crazy?
“The city’s tap water is poisoned,” his father continued. “Did you go full bear or just stinky parts?”
“Huh? I was a bear, Dad. A huge grizzly bear—”
“Stay put, I’m coming over.” Then his father groaned. “Your mother is going to kill me.”
Gary glanced at Margaret. She looked as confused as he felt. “Dad—”
“And eat something. You’re probably starving. Oh hell, I gotta call the Griz.”
“Your biker gang?”
The man snorted. “We don’t have bikes, son. Well, a few of us do, but I just told you that so you wouldn’t think I’m crazy.”
Gary rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t the bikes that made you sound crazy, Dad. It was all your—”
“My weird friends and the way I disappeared to ‘be grumpy.’ Welcome to the crazy club, son.” His father chuckled. “I’ll have to introduce you to the new boss, Simon, but we’ve got our hands full right now with the quarantine.”
“What quarantine?”
Margaret lifted her head as if she knew something about it, but then Gary’s father exhaled and said, “Turn on the news, I’m coming over. Don’t drink the water, and don’t go outside. Whole lot of hybrids running scared and getting shot.”
“Eat something, don’t drink, and don’t go outside,” Gary repeated. Frustration made his chest tight. “I don’t understand anything you’re—”
“Stay calm!” his dad snapped before moderating his tone. “Look, I know it’s confusing, but I can’t explain over the phone. And you need to stay calm. So relax, turn on the news, and don’t drink the water. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The line went dead, and Gary stared at his cell.
After a moment he looked up at Margaret, who was at the stove and starting to cook up omelets.
How many times had he woken to this, to the sound of her in his kitchen?
She’d never spent the night in his bed, but she’d often fallen asleep on his couch then awoke to make them breakfast. Seeing her now was a callback to a long-lost normalcy.
“He’s on his way over. He told me to stay calm and turn on the news. Has the city really been quarantined?”
Margaret nodded, apparently shocked into complacency by all the strange happenings. “The Detroit Flu. It’s gotten worse. Apparently lots more people have it and are hallucinating. Citizens are advised to stay indoors and not shoot anything.”
He made the connection. “That’s why you’re not flying out today.”
She nodded, her mouth tight as she flipped an omelet over in the pan. “Grounded.”
Wow. Was it awful that he was grateful a citywide epidemic it kept her with him today?
His stomach growled, loud and hungry, and he busied himself with pouring them both glasses of juice: she liked cranberry, which he had shipped direct from a local farmer.
While he set the table, his mind spun, spun, spun like a hamster in a wheel.
His father. The quarantine. He’d been a bear.
Margaret had stayed last night despite her fear.
That meant more to him than anything—but she’d also said they could never be together.
“Margaret, I want to finish our talk. The one that got interrupted by all the craziness.”
She shook her head and grimaced. “‘All the craziness’? You sound like you got an overseas phone call or something.”
He winced. She wasn’t wrong to wonder what the hell was going on with him. And yet… “I want to talk about this now. About you and me. It’s more important.”
Would she flinch away or go soft and receptive? Neither. She held his gaze and said, “I don’t think this is a good time.”
He disagreed. There would never be a better one. “What aren’t you telling me, Margaret? If it’s not about my legs.”
She was silent, so he rolled close and jiggled her arm.
It was a playful gesture, reminiscent of how they usually interacted, but she didn’t smile and nudge his shoulder.
She just put omelets on their plates, answering only when she went to clean out the frying pan.
“Don’t make me talk about this, Gary. Not now.
I slept on the floor, the world went insane, and your father’s about to come over.
I’m not exactly in a stable frame of mind. ”
All the better, he thought. Your defenses are down.
“We’ve always been able to talk to each other,” he offered after a moment. “You tease me about everything. You think I talk about shit and piss with anyone else? But I needed to because it was important. Now it’s your turn.”
He tugged harder on her arm and then brought his other hand up to hers to intertwine their fingers.
She didn’t stop him as he pulled her to sit at the table, but she wasn’t exactly responsive, either.
“Come on, Margaret. I bared my soul to you yesterday.” He flashed her his most charming smile.
“Not to mention every other part of me. What’s going on with you? ”
“It’s no—”
“Don’t you dare say ‘nothing.’”
She sighed and gestured to his plate. “Eat.”
“Not until—”
“I’m going to answer, Gary, but your stomach is growling so loud it’ll deafen me if you don’t eat.”
Gary narrowed his eyes. “You promise—?”
“I promise. Assuming that you promise, once I explain, we never ever bring it up again.”