A Canadian Werewolf in New York

Chapter Fourteen

"ANDREWS!" Gail said as she stormed into the waiting room.  And I quickly realized that it wasn’t her scent from memory that I’d been recalling, but that I’d been smelling her approach.

The rosemary mint scent of her hair was overpowering as she got closer.  And for a quick moment I relapsed into that rendezvous in Rockefeller Center and imagined standing up and taking her in my arms again, pressing my body against her and not ever letting go.

But that, of course, was in the repressed thoughts, those things that go through a person’s mind that are on a level far removed from reality.  Like the way you might imagine, however briefly, reaching out and flicking the forehead of the annoyingly snobbish sales clerk to see if that might snap him back into a sense of reality.  

In my non-repressed conscious mind, I did want to stand up, to at least walk over to her, but I realized I couldn’t.

The memories of that kiss with Gail had indeed been strong, had indeed been powerful.

So much so that I’d actually developed an erection just thinking about it.

I squirmed uncomfortably on my chair, looking up at her as she approached.

She had an odd look on her face, and I smelled the scent not only of concern for her (brother-in-law - the word came to me like a punch in the gut and begin the process of my erection beginning to slowly retract) boyfriend’s brother but also an air of confusion over why I hadn’t stood up.

As she got closer, and as I began to stand, the erection subsiding slowly, but still present enough to make the motion of getting up awkward, I saw a lightning flash rue smile cross her face, and caught the hint of the scent of amusement that I remembered smelling on her that day in Rockefeller Center when she’d felt my erection pressing against her while we embraced.

The flash of the smile and the amused scent were gone immediately, but were just enough to let me know that she knew what had been going on in my pants.

Again, that thing about Gail.  She could read me like a cheap suit, even now, after all this time had passed.

I’d really fucked up when I lost her.

I was beginning to realize that I would likely never recover from that loss, no matter how much time had passed.

“How is Gary?” Gail asked, pacing back and forth in front of me.  “When was the last update?”

“They haven’t told me anything.  I told them that a family member was on the way.”

 She stopped pacing and stepped closer to me, leaned in and in a quiet voice said.  “What can you hear going on back there now?”

I was taken aback.  I forgot that Gail knew my secret, that she knew I was a werewolf and possessed these special enhanced senses.  Amazing how quickly she’d fallen into accepting the reality of it, accepted the simple fact that I had this gift.  She asked the question the same way you might ask a friend who was better with doing math in their head if they could quickly calculate what a decent tip would be on the restaurant bill.

I marveled at this thought and again kicked myself across the room and back in my mind over the thought that I’d kept the secret from her, terrified that I would lose her if she knew.  And yet, it was not telling her that had driven us apart -- and now, so much later, here she was, no longer with me, but accepting of who I was, of the wolf nature of my being.

It just wasn’t fair.

“I overheard them say that he has had a heart attack.  But he’s been stable now for the past 10 minutes at least.  There hasn’t been any other discussion related to him since then, at least that I could hear.”