I didn't know I was a wolf

Chapter 7

Students trickled in at a consistent rate all afternoon with concerns ranging from “why was my paper graded so poorly?” all the way to “can you help me get in t grad school?” She tried to have her mind focused on them and helping them as much as she could but all she could really think about was David Foster. By the time five o’clock rolled around she was emotionally and mentally done. She drove home in a daze, her car still faintly smelling like him.

When she got home Justin was finishing up making dinner. He had made enchiladas, they smelled delicious. She greeted him with a quick peck on the cheek. He kept trying to make small talk with her and take her out of her funk but she was so irrationally irritated by him and everything he did. Everything was just rubbing her the wrong way, so after they finished cleaning up she excused herself and curled up in bed to read her book and tried to put David Foster out of her mind.

The rest of the week was much of the same. She was irritable and moody and quick to snap. She could not really explain what was wrong with her even when she tried. She felt like she was an animal in a cage. She went for a run, and she half expected to see the wolf again, but she saw nothing. This annoyed her even more and she was even more ill-tempered after her run. She heard from David by proxy of his assistant sending her the contract they had discussed, she was immediately annoyed by this and tried to be extra harsh and critical of it, but she had to (grudgingly) admit, it was very fair. She made very minor changes to some stipulations and sent it back.

Friday is when she heard from him again, an email:

Sam,

Lunch?

D

Geez, it’s email not a telegraph Mr. Foster, you are not getting paid by the word, she thought. She texted him back. Lunch is good, same spot?

Same spot is good. I will pick you up from your office so we can maximize our time together

She felt like a balloon deflating. All business. She didn’t care, nope. Not going to let this get to her. She was a happily married woman who loved her husband. In fact… she was going to text her husband right now Hey, lets go on a date tonight. Dinner? Justin responded immediately that he would love and he’d make a reservation somewhere nice. Yes, see, this is how people in love act. She sighed and sent a thumbs up emoji to David. Now, to count down the time. She had no lectures on Friday. She usually took Friday as a catch-up day.  Today she mostly stared at the clock until it was time for David to pick her up. Promptly at 11:45 she heard a knock on her door. As she opened her door her heart did leaps, she heard the weird voice in her head again and she could smell him. It was intoxicating.

He seemed relieved and annoyed to see her, well fine then, she thought. As they walked together to his car. It was one of those big black fancy cars that you see rich people drive in the movies. They got in and there were piles of papers scattered throughout. She picked a spot to sit and he sat next to her. They were both careful to not touch. He dove right in to explain a recent merger with a different company and how his family firm was struggling to adapt. He was trying to implement new modern methods but the “elders”, as he called them, were struggling to get on board. It seems that without this group of people buy-in was difficult to obtain. ‘He uses interesting terminology, almost like a cult with their own terms’ she thought.

They kept talking business in the restaurant, he talked while she looked over the documents he had given her. She had some ideas on how to address his initial problems, but she needed to analyse the material further before she gave her suggestions. “Are you from the area?” He asked her. The question took her by surprise. They had been all business for almost an hour. “Yes, my parents moved here before I was born and they never left” He seemed really interested in her parents “tell me more about them. What are they like?” She shrugged “Dad passed away a few years ago, and mom is just, mom I guess. She was a teacher in the local elementary school but she retired years ago. They had me later in life, so she postponed her retirement until I was doing my doctorate and more or less settled” she said. He looked pensive at this. “Do you look like your mom or your dad?” She laughed, “what an odd question to ask David, I’m not entirely sure. I don’t think I look like either of them to be honest. Mom  and Dad had brown hair, and” I pointed to my own red hair “they had brown eyes and..” I pointed to my green “they were only children so I never knew any other family, but I imagine Irish? Justin keeps bugging me that I should do one of those DNA testing kits to find out where the red comes from, but truthfully I don’t think it matters” I said as I sipped for wine. He looked thoughtful as he drank his, then a devilish grin popped up “Clearly it must be Irish, but the hair is distinct. I am glad you don’t have brown, it would be too boring for such a fiery personality” I laughed again, I had not laughed this much all week, what is it about this man? “How would you know if I have a fiery personality or not?” He waved his hand as if it was no thing “I can just tell these things”  They both laughed at this. She felt muscles in her shoulders relax, she was feeling at ease “Sam?” She heard from behind her, she turned, “Justin! What are you doing here?” From the corner of her eye she could see David’s anger and disappointment, a small part of her was confused by the reaction and an even smaller part of her did a happy dance at the reaction.

Justin kissed her cheek and David turned away to not see this “I was just finishing up a work lunch and I see you two are in the midst of the same” he said looking at all the paper scattered through the table. “I won’t interrupt you any more, see you tonight” he kissed her and left. She turned to see David and he looked pale, but looked so angry that she didn’t quite know how to proceed or what to say. He finally said “How long have you and Justin been married?” He said Justin the way some people say certain 4 letter words. “um, just over two years now. We met when we were doing our masters but we waited until I finished my doctorate to get married. We’ve been together eight years” she said. He looked like he was trying to control himself.

“Well Sam, I hope you know what you got yourself into when you agreed to work with me. I will take up much of your time. I hope Justin is ok with this too” He said Justin funny again. “I hardly think this will take up as much time as you think it will. But I will dedicate all the resources I have available to make sure you have a successful communication campaign” He grinned “yes about that. I would like you to come take a look at our family firm, in person. There are some things I would like to show you there. I understand you have commitments at the university, but maybe we can spend a weekend together there?” She felt the color draining from her, ‘I don’t think I should spend a weekend alone with this man’ she thought. The voice inside of her head came roaring out “YES!! Mate!!! We go!!!” She really needed to talk to Mom about the possibility of mental health issues in the family, she thought again. “send me the dates you are thinking about and I should be able to make it work” she said before she could really think clearly about this. He grinned that mischievous smile again “ah, yes, I was thinking we could leave tonight?” he looked unrepentant, adorable, and up to no good. “David, I cannot possibly leave tonight, next weekend should work though” He looked crestfallen, “it would be very helpful if you could come tonight for this weekend though, we have a gala with many prominent members of, um, the board present and I’d like you to meet them” he said quickly. She sighed, that would be helpful, she thought. “I had plans this weekend, but let me see if I can work around it” she said. He looked like he had won a huge victory and it made her heart leap. ‘Oh girl, you are in so much trouble’ she thought as she called Justin, and she knew the trouble was not going to be from her husband.