Baby For The Bear

“Tell me it’s none of my business, if you want. But is everything okay?” Reese asked.

Ken pondered exactly what to say and then replied, “Everything’s… I don’t know how everything is, Reese. Maybe I’m just a big spoiled cub. I’ve been used to having things my own way and having what I want, when I want it. I’m not used to anything else. Maybe this is a wake-up call for me.” He paused, then added with a weary chortle, “Or a grow-up call.”

“Is this anything to do with what you were mentioning before, about wanting to hire a surrogate to have your cub for you?”

Almost snorting, Ken replied, “You might say that.”

Making a crooked smile and shaking his head, Reese guessed, “Don’t tell me, it’s not working out the way you planned—because you decided not to do it the way you planned.”

Ken did not answer in words, only with a mortified look.

“Look, tell me to fu*k off if you want, but I thought from the start that was the wrong way to go. You tried to make it neat and simple and uncomplicated, and you couldn’t do it. Getting someone pregnant artificially, that’s not for you. But I didn’t say anything because you’re the boss. But to be honest, I’m not surprised.”

Ken frowned, agreeing. “I shouldn’t be, either. I should have known better. But here I am. You know something, though?”

“What’s that?”

“Everyone, sometime in his life, should be laid the way I’ve been with…this one woman. Everyone should experience that one perfect someone in bed, the one who’s the best there can be for you. I’ve just had that. And I don’t know if I can get it back.”

“Ken—again, you can tell me to fu*k off. But I’m surprised to hear you talk this way, you of all people. Yeah, it’s true you’re used to getting things you want and getting things your own way, and part of that is because you were born into it. But man, I’ve seen you work your ass off to prove you deserved it. And I’ve seen you work your ass off to take what you were born with and make it better. Why should this thing with this woman be any different? You’re the biggest, baddest bear in the forest. Why don’t you just go get her?”

Shaking his head, Ken said, “You’re right, I know. But if this were the forest it’d be exactly that simple: going and getting her, maybe fighting off another bear for her. That, I could handle. But…this isn’t the forest.”

Smiling with the corner of his mouth, Reese said, “It’s a different kind of forest, that’s all. Different kind of thing, same rules.” He held up his hands, a conciliatory gesture against offending the boss. “Just my opinion.”

“Not a bad opinion after all,” said Ken.

The two man-bears got themselves back on their feet and made for the shower.

______________

It was the last hour of the workday and there were still some things that Ken wanted to attend to in the office. As he strode towards Pamela’s desk and his own office door beyond her, Pamela looked up at him, adjusted her glasses, and announced, “Mr. Brecker, there’s someone waiting for you inside.”

Ken was startled. He pointed to his door. “‘Inside…?’ You just let someone in? I didn’t have any appointments for this time.”

Pamela said, “She insisted on waiting for you in there. And she said you wouldn’t mind.”

The boss bear’s mouth dropped open, but no words tumbled out. He blinked and headed right for his door. Inside the office, there she was, dressed in an off-white suit and white blouse, with that blonde hair falling thickly over her shoulders and bosom, looking rather as if she were the CEO of Brecker American herself—sitting behind his desk. In his chair.

Ken shut the door behind him and walked towards the desk. “What are you doing there?”

“I always thought I’d sit in a CEO’s chair someday,” answered Samantha. “I just thought I’d try it out. How do I look?”

He had to admit, she looked as if she did belong there—or as if she would belong there in a few years. And, truth be told, she was not the first woman to sit in that chair. She was only the first woman to sit there with her clothes on.

“How do you think you look?” he asked. And then, feeling as if that were the wrong tone to take, he followed with, “You look fine. You look… It looks right.” And he meant it.

“Thank you,” she said, rising. Tapping the back of the chair, Samantha said, “But this is yours. One day I’ll have one of my own, but this is yours.”

I don’t doubt it for a minute, Ken thought, coming around the desk to where she was standing. He reached for her, wanting to sweep her into his arms. To his surprise—his latest surprise—Samantha put a hand on his chest to block him. “We have to talk some more.”

Ken accepted this and let her walk around the desk to where he’d been and sit down opposite him. He took his own seat, and there they were, right back where they started.

“Okay,” said Ken. “What’s on your mind?”

“I’ve been thinking some more about the things we said in my apartment,” Samantha said. “Everything was about what I’m ready for. And what I thought I was ready for, and really wasn’t. And the way I expected things to be, which they weren’t. Ken, I think maybe you and I have something in common. We both go into things knowing how we want them to come out. And we both work hard to get things that way. And…neither of us likes it very much when things aren’t the way we planned. We couldn’t be more different, you being what you are and me…just being human. But I am human, Ken. And I want the things a human wants, and I expect the things a human expects.”