The Ugly Bear

He slowly makes his way towards the kitchen; he wants to surprise Rosa. Then he hears voices— one of them is Rosa's.

"Mmmm, deeper, Phil."

Then comes another, and Steve recognizes it as the chef's — who is not named Phil.

"Yeah, suck me, baby."

What? I'm not hearing this. He tiptoes and peeks around the corner. He's shocked. He sees Rosa bent between two men. The chef's cock is deep in her mouth, and the other guy, Phil, is fucking her ass. They're too busy to notice the large man by the entrance to the pantry. He retreats slowly and gets out, flabbergasted. The image haunts him for a little while as he walks aimlessly through the streets of Old Montréal.

He stops at a café and gets a beer and a burger. He thought that he and Rosa had something going on. Judging by what he just saw, she didn't think so — and that's not the only reason it shocked him. He never would have thought she'd do something like that. He eats his burger, pays for the meal, and returns to the office.

It's not even noon when he gets to the office. Steve enters from the garage entrance and goes to his locker.

"Ah! Steve!" Karl says, with a huge smile on his face. "There you are."

"Yup, I'm here."

Steve's dry reply comes as a surprise to Karl. "Is there a problem, Steve?" Karl asks, suddenly concerned.

"No, no. Sorry, it just came out that way. Is there anything you need me for?" He tries to sound more cheerful.

"Yup. I do. The presentation went so well, and the clients were so impressed by Jules' and Mat's work, that they decided to go with us for their project right there and then."

"Wow! That's fantastic. Them geniuses deliver again, hey!" Steve's mood improves a thousandfold. He's thinking of Chloé, who will certainly work with Mat on the prestigious project.

"They sure did, Steve. We were supposed to do that after lunch, but they wanted to go through it as they came out of their meeting. We need to set up some tables and chairs in the lobby for some kind of buffet. By the way, did you go to Rosa's?"

"No. The door was locked, so, I went to a café somewhere on Saint-Paul Street."

Karl frowns at the cold tone of Steve's answer. His friend remains stoic.

"We couldn't get through to her, so, we ordered the buffet from Bill's café. He will prepare bison, seal, and sea lion meat. God knows where he got that from. He'll have standard white people's food, like he said. It should be here in..." he looks at his watch. "...fifteen minutes."

"Okay," Steve says, "let's go, boss." Huh! If you only knew what she was up to.

Karl knows that something's bothering Steve, but he decides no to force the issue just then. There's too much to do.

*

Mat's house.

"Jules, calm down." Mat's on the phone, trying to figure out what's going on. "I can't understand what you're saying. Am I on speaker? What's all that yelling? What are you doing?

Jack is standing a few feet from Mat, frowning, wondering what the hell is going on.

Mat's expression suddenly brightens. "No kidding! Woo Hoo!"

Now Mat's yelling. Jack shrugs and waits for his son to get off the phone.

"We got the Kuujjuaq project, Dad. Jules wants me to go. They're organizing a buffet in the lobby. Christ, I'm not shaved; I'm not dressed..."

"Woah! Mat. Calm down. You look fine. Just go."

*

Mat's house, supper time.

Mat, after checking with his dad, invited his colleagues to his house for a light supper.

Jack is walking with a tray of hot pizza slices around the small crowd, followed by Karl, who's carrying a big tray of soft drinks and beers. They're all excited about landing this high profile and unique project. The main subject of conversation is the reaction of the Innuits when they saw Bill's display of food brilliantly prepared for the occasion.

It's nearly midnight; the last of the guests are leaving. Steve's a bit too drunk, and Mat insists that he sleeps there. He offers him the sofa; it's big enough for him.

Jack hugs his son and Karl and goes to bed. I'm tired, he thinks to himself, but tonight was so much fun.

Steve, who stripped completely, is snoring on the couch, comfortably tucked under a thick comforter. Karl puts his clothes, properly folded, on the sofa next to him, then helps Mat pick up around the house. The night is quite cold, so the house will cool down by a few degrees. The heating system adjusts automatically at night.

Karl and Mat have their shower and jump into bed. Karl starts his foreplay as soon as Mat gets under the covers. They make love slowly, tenderly, and noiselessly. Karl tops his diminutive lover a few times throughout the night. Their lovemaking is passionate, and it takes them to new heights of pleasure. It feels so natural for both of them.

*

Wednesday, December 17, Mat's house.

Jack, as he has done every morning since he arrived a couple of weeks ago, happily cooks breakfast, whistling a jazz tune that he particularly likes. Mat sits on one of the benches on the other side of the large island, yawning until his jaw drops. He immediately receives his large mug of coffee.

"Thanks dad," Mat mumbles. "Euh, where's Steve?"

"He's in the shower," Jack answers, pointing in the direction of the library.

A gruffy voice coming from the library gets their attention.

"Euh, Jack?" Steve calls. "Where's my clothes?"

"On the couch, Steve," Jack answers.

"Euh, mind bringing them to me?" he asks.

Jack looks at Mat and winks.

"I'm busy at the stove, Steve. I can't at the moment."

"Damn," he says, "I'm naked, Jack."

Jack grins. "There just a few steps away."

"Euh!"

"I'll bring them, Steve," Mat tells him.

"Thanks, Mat."

Karl is sitting down grinning. Jack has quite a sense of humour. He, too, receives a big mug of coffee.

"Chef, I'd like three eggs over-easy, bacon, and a ton of those fried potatoes. Any sausages?" Karl orders his breakfast as if he were in a restaurant.

"How many?" Jack asks.

"How many what?"

"Green peas." Jack replies, not looking at Karl, enjoying the little game.

"Oh, that. Four, please."

"Comin' up, sir."

Mat shakes his head. Kids, he thinks.

Steve walks in, looking like the morning after the night before, and sees three grinning faces turning towards him.

"I'm sorry, Mat. I never drink that much. I'm real sorry."

"I don't see the problem, Steve," Matt tells him, trying to make Steve feel at ease. "Did you sleep well? Sit. The cook will bring you a gallon-sized cup of coffee."

Steve just nods and sits down. A gib mug of steaming black coffee appears in front of him.

"Euh, Steve?" Mat says, digging into his breakfast. "However, uh..." He chews his crunchy bacon. "You'll need to clean the sofa, wash the pillow cover and the linen — not the comforter — and wash the breakfast dishes."

Steve looks at Mat, who looks dead serious.

"That's all?" Jack intervenes. "Karl, here, had to do the floors and clean the fireplace."

"Yeah!" Karl continues. "And I had a bigger headache than he does."

"Ah, shit!" Steve laughs. "You had me going there for a minute."

The three guys look at him, stoned-faced, and say all at the same time: "But we are serious."

Steve freezes for a moment. He looks at them, not sure if he should laugh or cry.

They burst into laughter. Steve shakes his head and takes a big gulp of hot coffee.

"What will you have, Steve?" Jack asks him.

"The same baby portion he's having," he replies, pointing at Karl's plate. "That looks good."

Karl and Steve leave after eating. They want to clean up the office before the employees arrive.

"What a great bunch!" Jack says.

"They are." Mat replies. He's washing the dishes, and his dad is drying them.

"You've cancelled your trip like you said, Dad?"

"Yes, Mat. I can't go through with it." Jack sounds so sad.

"I want you to stay with me here, for good," Mat tells his dad. "I changed the plans for the other section. We will build a studio on the ground floor for you, fully equipped — the whole thing. Upstairs, we'll have four bedrooms — not big, but comfortable, with two full bathrooms, for the families when they come visit."

"You mean, stay permanently?"

"Yes, of course. I can't have you live alone in a big house in Ottawa. No way. I want you near me. It's my turn to take care of you."

Jack's unable to speak. Mat looks at him and raises his thick eyebrows, inviting an answer.

"I'd love to, Mat," Jack says. He smiles. "I'll work with you guys. I insist." He tries to keep a serious face.

"You can't hammer a simple nail, Dad; you never could."

"Okay, I'll supervise and make coffee and muffins."

"Deal."

*

Rosa sends a text message to Steve: "Tonight?"

Steve is cleaning up the garage and making sure that everything is in order. The office will be closed from the twenty-fourth of December to the fifth of January. His cell vibrates, and he retrieves it from his back pocket. He reads the message. He ignores it. Then he changes his mind before putting it back. He replies, "Saw you yesterday before lunch with two friends. Bye, darling!"

Case closed, he thinks. I don't fuck around with that kind of woman.

Elena is looking for Steve; she wants to talk to him about the renovations they intend to do during the holiday period. A contractor will do the work; he's already been hired, but Jules would like to have Steve supervise the work. She also wants to have some small changes made to the main floor plan.

Steve is walking back towards the lobby, on his way to talk to Karl upstairs, when Elena makes a delicate waving sign, calling him. Damn, she's a good-looking woman, he thinks for himself. He can't help noticing her generous attributes, but he would never make any kind of comment to that effect. He smiles at her and changes direction to meet her.

"How are you, Steve?" she asks in a soft but clear voice.

"I'm very well, Miss Hartley, and yourself?"

"Please, Steve, call me Elena." Her light blue eyes meet his dark brown, impenetrable ones. Steve's senses have suddenly woken up since meeting Rosa. "Jules asks if you could supervise the contractor that will do the renovations during the holiday. You'll be paid, of course, in addition to your vacation pay."

"We get a vacation pay?" Steve says, surprised.

"Well, of course. You get full pay, like everybody else, plus your regular pay if you agree to supervise the renovation work."

"Euh, well, yes. I'll be glad to do it. You have the information, plans, something for me to look at?"

"Of course," she says, amused by Steve's reaction. "Let's go talk to Jules."

A little later, they enter Jules' office.

Jules gets up, as he always does when someone enters his office. "Hey, Steve, please come in. Elena, please, sit down."

Jules has a coffee bar in his office, where a full, fresh coffee pot awaits. He gets three mugs of coffee, which he puts on a tray with milk, cream, sugar, and pastries. He serves Elena first, then Steve, then goes around his desk and sits down.

"Okay, so I think Elena has already told you about the renovations for downstairs. It should be a simple job. There's no plumbing or anything complicated to do, just a few partitions and electrical work. Elena has all the information, and she will be working with you during the holidays." He takes a bite of his Boston creme donut, followed by a big sip of black coffee. "Elena and I would like to express our satisfaction about your work and your willingness to always help. Karl..." He stops as he sees Karl coming to join them.

"Sorry, I'm late," Karl says. He taps Steve on the shoulder, and he goes to sit next to Elena.

"No problem, Karl." Jules says, standing up again to greet him. He makes a very serious face. "There's fresh coffee, if you want, but the pastries are for me and Steve."

With a smile, Steve says, " you can have one of mine, if you want."

Elena looks at Karl, who's shaking his head. He sits down with his coffee and waits for Jules to continue. Jules retakes his own seat.

"Karl insisted that..." he says, looking at Steve, then turning his attention to Karl. "Oh, Karl, by the way, Steve will supervise the renovations with Elena."

"I told you he would." Karl looks at Steve and winks at him.

"Karl insisted that we compensate you for the incredible work you've done with him. He says that you're the best man he's ever worked with — and that, Steve, that's saying a lot."

Steve looks uncomfortable. He shyly nods at Karl, unsure of how to react to such raise.

Jules smiles at him, as do the other two. "Relax, Steve," Jules tell him. "You deserve it. Anyway, we agreed, the three of us, to increase your salary substantially, effective immediately. Euh..." He hesitates and looks to Elena for help.

"Your salary is immediately increased by twenty-five percent," Elena continues, smiling at Steve's reaction. "It will be reflected on your vacation pay. Also, for the work you've already accomplished, you'll get a bonus of ten thousand dollars."

Steve nearly chokes. "Euh, why?" He doesn't know what to say.

"You work without ever complaining," Karl says, taking over. "You follow my rhythm without any problem; you don't need explanations, and you always anticipate what I'm going to do. You deserve it, and we want to keep you with us for a long time. You're the best, Steve."

"I don't know what to say. Thank you."

"You should see your face. It's so funny." Karl laughs.

*

They get up to leave, but Jules asks Karl to remain. Elena and Steve leave. As Steve gets closer to the top of the stairs, he frowns. He doesn't see Chloé at her workstation.

"She left with a friend earlier, "Elena reassures him. "She couldn't find you, so she told me that they would eat out somewhere and then go Christmas shopping."

"Ah!" He looks towards Mat, who, as usual, is still working on something. "Good night, Mat."

"Night, you two." He looks briefly at them and plunges back into his work.

"He's a good kid," Steve says.

"Indeed," Elena agrees.

"Chloé and I wanted to take you out for lunch or supper," Steve blurts out, "but she must have forgotten."

"Well, we can have supper, the two of us. Where would you like to go?"

Taken aback, Steve looks at her; she's serious. "I don't like fancy food, Elena. I like Bill's place." He looks at her, and she nods.

"Yes, I like the place. The food is very good and ideal for a meat and potatoes guy like you, right?"

"Yup. You got that right." He smiles, and they leave.

They thoroughly enjoy their evening. She's not what he thought she would be. They argue about hockey and football; they talk about Chloé, his pride and joy. He remembers Rosa, so he's very cautious. He likes Elena, but he's not sure he's the right man for her. She's sophisticated, intelligent, and so feminine, he thinks. I'm just an old guy without any education.

Elena, for her part, finds Steve to be so refreshing, natural, and spontaneous. She's pleasantly surprised that he doesn't make any stupid remarks about women, or act shocked that she loves hockey and football; she would have forgiven him if he'd ribbed her for preferring soccer — they are in Canada, after all — but he doesn't. She sees sitting before her a true gentleman, and she decides that she likes him. The natural question, of course, is whether he likes her. She tries to find some hint in his dark eyes, but they're inscrutable. Soon enough, she's instead back to thinking about how manly and virile he looks.

He walks her to her car, like a gentleman would, and even opens the door for her. Elena gets in her car; he gently closes the door. As he starts to walk away, the car window comes down. He stops.

"Perhaps, Steve," she asks him, "we could have supper again, if you'd like?"

She deploys just enough charm to avoid being too obvious. She likes him, but she wants to proceed slowly.

"I'd like that, Elena," he says, with a smile reaching his eyes. "Just let me know when it would be okay with you."

*

Sunday, December 21, Old Montréal.

"Hey, big bro," Xavier joyfully says. "I'm in front of your door. What do I do?"

"Hey, little bro," Karl responds. "Stay there. I'm coming down. You'll park in my garage spot."

Ten minutes later, the whole family is in Karl's three-bedroom penthouse condo. His brother's family grew a bit more than expected. Lee-Ann had twins at the end of September, so, the extra rooms will come in handy.

"Damn, Karl," his not-so-little brother says. "This place is huge. Why did you buy such a big place? Look at that view: the river, downtown, and the old town. Christ, Karl, this must have cost you a fortune."

Lee-Ann walks into the living room, and she announces, "They're all asleep. The poor little ones. They're exhausted after such a long flight. Can you imagine a five-hour flight with the Jetstream pushing on your ass almost all the way?"

She hugs Karl, who returns the hug warmly, but is careful not to crush the diminutive mom.

"This place is magnificent. Look at that view." She's awestruck by the incredible 180° panorama — from sunrise to sunset, all year round.

Montréal got a lot of snow the day before. A wild storm left twenty centimetres on the city. Fresh, sparkling white snow covers gives the city a nice, clean look; it won't last. The streets were plowed early this morning, leaving huge snowbanks on the sides of the streets of Old Montréal and everywhere else in the city. The miracle is that there were no power failures.

"This amount of snow," Xavier says, "would cause total chaos in Vancouver. Everything would be shut down. Here, it's just another snowfall."

"Have you boys brought everything up here?" Lea-Ann asks with her hands resting on her hips. "Where's the baby food?"

"Oh, damn. I forgot the bags behind the seats. I'll be right back." Xavier, looking sheepish, starts towards the door when his brother stops him.

"Hey, little bro, you'll need this." Karl hands him the electronic card that opens all the doors.

"Honey, you'll need a hand," Lee-Ann says. "There are five big bags of stuff." She smiles at the expression on Xavier's face — wide eyes with a bright red complexion.

Karl shakes his head and leaves with his brother for the garage level.

*

"Do you like Italian food, Steve?" Elena is sitting on her comfortable love seat, calling Steve.

"Yes, I do." He answers, happy to hear from Elena. He couldn't bring himself to call her.

Elena detects a slight hesitation in Steve's voice and reassures him. "It's not a fancy food place, although the décor is charming. It's sort of traditional food, and the menu includes all the goodies you like, I'm sure. It's called Gino's, and it's off the tourist trail in Old Montréal." Her soft, feminine voice gets Steve's attention every time.

"Okay, Elena, but the supper's on me," he responds with his baritone voice.

They walk into the restaurant, which has a typical Italian café's décor. Gino welcomes them, and he sits them near the fireplace at a nice, cozy table.

"Uh," Steve mumbles, "do you mind if I take a pizza for myself?"

"Of course not." Elena answers with a devastating smile. "I think I'll have the veal parmigiana. It's delicious here."

Gino appears out of the blue with a big smile on his face, and asks if they have made their choice. Steve orders the food, and when Gino asks if they want wine with dinner, Steve looks to Elena.

"A beer for Steve," she says, "and I'd like a glass of Merlot, please."

"Excellent choice," Gino says. "I have a half bottle of Merlot for the price of about two glasses, if you'd like."