Chapter 12 #3
He gave a low whining sound that she couldn’t interpret, probably a grizzly version of a plea.
Or a threat. Or just a sound to confuse her.
“There’s no earthly reason you need to watch me shower,” she complained, but she only half meant it.
It was nice to know that he found her so attractive—and even better to know the feelings were mutual.
He blew out a breath and turned deep soulful eyes on her. Wow. Even as a bear, he knew how to turn on the charm.
“Fine. You win.”
She showered with the door cracked, and he stood outside. She wasn’t sure if his nose poked in or not, but when she came out she felt better for him being there. This huge grizzly bear was in her living room…and she’d never felt safer.
Still, how long would he stay a bear? And what would he be like when he changed back? He had to be wondering. She certainly was.
“I’m hungry. Want anything?”
Gary grunted and shook his head, so she said, “Suit yourself.”
She went into the kitchen and made herself a sandwich, grabbing potato chips and then dropping onto her couch.
As she settled, he adjusted his position.
He still guarded the door, but now he was next to her, his dark grizzly eyes watching with a steadiness that felt different.
Simpler. More accepting. Was that Gary in bear form, or just at the new place in their relationship?
Either way, it was quieter and more comforting.
Yup. She’d just called a grizzly bear comforting.
She ate her sandwich and tossed Gary potato chips that he caught out of the air. Or he tried. The resulting antics had her laughing hard enough that her sides hurt. Then she turned on the TV and searched for something for them to watch.
Nothing caught her attention. Her mind was going too fast, memories popping up, thoughts spinning around.
Eventually she turned the television off and looked at Gary, and somehow his expression got her talking.
This was why people had dogs, she decided.
Because they were great listeners. It was so easy to just let the words flow.
She burrowed her fingers into his fur and told him the rest of her secret—something so hidden that she hadn’t thought about it in years, though maybe it had never really been far from consciousness.
It was about her next-door neighbor when she was a child, a boy who was in the same class and who’d delighted in tormenting her.
He was a big kid with a mean dog, and he’d terrorized whomever he could.
She’d lived next door to him for most of her early childhood.
Big body, big jerk. He’d yanked on her hair or knocked her backpack off her shoulder.
His dog would bark in her face, and he’d snickered when she ran past crying, headed home as fast as she could.
He caught her several times, trapping her against his chest. That big body suffocated her until he laughed and let her go.
Her asthma had started about that time, too.
Eventually he’d moved away. He was out of her life by the time she was in middle school, and she’d shoved him out of her mind until now. Until she started seeing how she avoided big men. Until Gary had made her realize that she never would have talked to him if he’d been able to stand.
Weird, how something she hadn’t even thought about for years had shaped so much of her life and she hadn’t even realized it.
She told Gary the grizzly all about it. About how she’d felt then, and about how clear it was to her now. And when she eventually got too tired to talk, she got ready for bed, climbed under the covers and looked at the mattress. Would it hold him?
She gestured him over.
“Might as well test it, huh?”
Turned out it could only hold half a grizzly bear. He settled his upper body on the mattress, his large front paws stretched out before him, then dropped his head down and stared right at her.
“You’re not going to do that all night, are you?”
He lurched forward and licked her face, a big wet swipe across her mouth.
“Ew! You have got to stop doing that!”
A rumble emerged from Gary that she was sure was a chuckle.
Margaret waited a moment, taking strength from the liquid depths of his eyes as she thought about the last two days.
“I love you, Gary. Human or bear, legs or no legs, you’re everything to me.” She paused and she waggled her eyebrows. “And since I’m not broken down below, you need to turn back to human soon so that we can ‘explore’ some more, okay?”
He lifted his head, and his front paws stretched out across her mattress. Not just stretched, but stretched. Was he trying to shift back? She waited, but it appeared he couldn’t manage it yet.
“Don’t force it, Gary,” she whispered. “For once in your life, don’t push. Be exactly what you are.” She smiled and scratched behind his ear. “I like Grizzly Gary a lot, too.”
He licked her again, a kiss just as sloppy as the previous.
She laughed and punched him in the shoulder then wiped her face on his fur.
She didn’t bother turning out the light.
It was too comfortable here nestled against him.
He was huge and soft and warm, and his breathing had a deep rumble that soothed her to sleep.