The night bear

Chapter 3

“Hello,” I said warmly.

“Um, hey,” he replied. His round cheeks flushed red. He was so cute I just wanted to take a bite of him.

“I…well, I was wondering if you’d like to…” He cleared his throat. “…Come over to my place for dinner tonight. I haven’t entertained anyone since I moved here and I need to stop my social skills getting rusty.”

I nearly whooped with joy. “I would love to! Shall I bring anything?”

“Everything’s taken care of. Just come round about 7:30.”

“See you later then,” I said.

I wanted to hug him goodbye, but thought that might be overstepping the mark. Dinner with Pete! What to wear…

I turned up at 7:30 with a bottle of wine, having showered and changed into a purple off-the-shoulder sweater and jeans. Casual but sexy. Not trying too hard, but still trying! He welcomed me warmly. He’d changed too. He was wearing a charcoal coloured heavy rib sweater and jeans. Casual but sexy just like me!

Inside, he told me that dinner was ready. He sat me at the table, poured us some of my wine and served up the meal. It was delicious salmon. We chatted easily all through dinner. We’d never had a full conversation before so there was a lot to discover about each other. I hadn’t even known what kind of books he wrote (historical thrillers). He was interesting, funny and a good listener.

When he went to bring in dessert, I got up and looked at the books on his shelves. My heart stopped when I spotted a number of books about bears. There were at least eight of them. I picked out a large book with loads of beautiful photographs of black bears.

“Are you a bear expert?” I asked.

He laughed, bringing in two plates of lemon cheesecake. “Just interested.”

“We’ve got a bear,” I said, excited. “I mean, there’s one that visits the neighborhood some nights. Have you seen him?”

“I’ve seen the mess he leaves behind,” he said, sitting down.

“Oh, I see him all the time. He’s adorable. Well, I know he’s a wild animal, but I think he’s lovely. He’s just looking for something to eat. Bulking up for winter.”

Pete smiled. “I know how that goes!” he laughed, rubbing his gigantic tummy. “I must be nearly as fat as him by now.”

I blushed, resisting the urge to join him in his tummy rubbing.

“You’ve put on quite a lot, but it really suits you. As long as you’re healthy, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of meat otherwise.”

He took a big forkful of cheesecake. “Well, I feel alright health-wise.”

“And emotionally?”

“Well, I’m a bit lonely, maybe. But the extra weight keeps me warm at night.”

I smiled. Poor Pete.