Fifteen years later ...

The brass bells at the entry way chimed pleasantly as Meadow pushed open the door to her new favourite bistro on her side of town. A tall, vivacious woman, all dressed in white, with gleaming teeth to match, gave her a cheerful wave and beckoned her over to a small table in the quietest corner of the bistro. The place was nearly devoid of customers at the time but there were plenty of staff milling about.

Gloria Nieminen, the proud owner of Bonita's Bistro and Grill, called out to Meadow in her overly friendly and typically dramatic style, "Darling, you made it!"

Meadow gave the beautiful woman a little smile and a slight nod as she crossed the spotless clay-coloured ceramic tiles of the bistro in her little white tennis shoes that didn't make a sound as she went.

"Come, have a seat sweetheart," the woman exclaimed cheerfully.

Meadow took the seat across from Gloria, who didn't sit right away. She smiled instead and clapped her hands loudly. This brought a young, handsome server from the back with a tray in hand. On it, ready to be served, was a cold glass of iced tea, Meadow's go-to drink any time she was there.

He set it down in front of her and gave her a little wink as he placed a napkin and a paper straw beside the glass. He was model-worthy and just the right amount of flirty to make a girl feel good about herself. But, Meadow knew not to read anything into it. Everyone who worked for Gloria was beautiful and an expert flirt.

"Thanks," Meadow said as the young man straightened up and left her and his boss to talk.

Gloria sat down in one smooth, elegant motion, crossed her legs to the side of the little table, leaned a single elbow on the glass tabletop and flashed fingers loaded down with beautiful diamonds and recently manicured nails. She looked ready for a swanky date at a symphony or ballet. But, this was nothing out of the ordinary. The woman always dressed to kill.

"Darling, time is money and all that. So, I wont keep you. I'll cut straight to the chase," she offered with an amused smile. She leaned in a little and whispered, "I have no idea how you'll take it though."

Meadow took a sip of her iced tea and shrugged one of her gently sloping shoulders. "I don't know either. Guess you'll have to try me out."

"That's the spirit," Gloria declared as she took a quick look around the nearly deserted bistro before pulling her stainless steel chair a few inches closer to the table.

Meadow saw the staff trying to nonchalantly edge their way closer and closer to where they sat. Whatever was coming down, it had to be juicy. Meadow was curious.

"Darla said that you don't have a boyfriend. Is that so?" Gloria asked in a lowered but not altogether quiet voice.

Darla was the one who introduced Meadow to the delicious menu at Bonita's Bistro & Grill a year ago, and then later introduced her to Gloria when it became clear that Meadow loved the food and was quickly becoming a regular. But, Darla wasn't exactly a friend. She was more of an acquaintance. A client Meadow had helped with some tedious and difficult paperwork a year ago at the Bureau of Lycanthrope Affairs (BoLA) where Meadow had worked for the last five years.

"Yes, that's correct," Meadow said with a little frown. She wasn't sure what her personal life had to do with this meeting and she hoped she wouldn't regret agreeing to sit down with Gloria.

Gloria seemed relieved and her bright smile widen even more. "Is there anyone you have your eye on? An unrequited love or something like that?" She asked with a little wave of her bejewelled fingers and turquoise and emerald nails.

Meadow laughed lightly and asked, "What has this to do with anything?"

"Oh sugar, don't be offended. It's just between us girls," she assured Meadow with a sincere look. "Well, do you?"

Meadow, not being able to figure Gloria out or the direction of the conversation, just laughed, shook her head, and said, "No, I'm not in love with anyone secretly or otherwise."

"Good, good, good," Gloria responded straight away with a satisfied smile.

Meadow took another sip of her iced tea and then glanced, from the corner of her eye, at the staff who were practically on top of the counter trying to listen in on this conversation.

"Ms. Nieminen," Meadow began in a polite but somewhat serious tone.

She was cut off immediately by the radiant Gloria who quickly said, "None of my friends call me Ms. Nieminen. It's Gloria. I wont hear of anything else."

"We're friends, then?" Meadow asked curiously.

Up until this point, Meadow was quite sure she was just another customer to Gloria Nieminen. The woman had never paid more or less attention to her than any other customer who had come and gone from her bistro as far as Meadow was aware. In fact, Meadow had been surprised by Gloria's invitation to come and talk. And she had just supposed the talk was going to be about BoLA applications, rules or regulations. Most of the time, when a lycanthrope wanted to talk to her outside of business hours, it was always about clarifying some concern over one confusing document or another.

"Maybe more," Gloria said half under her breath but not so low that Meadow didn't catch it.

After drinking down half her glass Meadow sat forward and placed her arms on the little table she and Gloria were sharing. "Why don't you come straight to the point?" She suggested gently. "Whatever it is, I'll hear you out," she said with a genuine smile.

Meadow was not use to lycanthropes beating around the bush. She wasn't accustomed to engaging in small talk or 'girl' talk with them. Gloria's behaviour was growing more and more suspicious by the minute, leaving Meadow with the desire to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her.

"Do you know about mates?" Gloria asked with what was a pensive expression.

Ah, finally, they were getting to the meat of things. The BoLA regulations regarding mates was complicated and it required almost a Master's degree to fill out the paperwork for anyone registering a mate. Meadow relaxed. She was confident she'd be able to answer any of Gloria's questions and help the woman get things straightened out.

"Yes, I do. Do you have a mate? Do the both of you want to register through BoLA? I can certainly help you navigate the process." Meadow assured her with a professional smile.

Gloria's face went slack with surprise and then she took to laughing in the next instant. "No, no, no, darling, this isn't about me!" She proclaimed with confidence. "This conversation is about you."

Meadow froze a moment and then she let her eyes slowly look around the bistro before falling back on Gloria. "What do mates have to do with me?" She asked skeptically.

"What if I told you that there's a guy in our pack who is interested in you?" Gloria asked with a little caution. "More than interested," she admitted as she lightly tapped her nails on the glass tabletop.

Meadow sat back in the steel chair and clamped her mouth shut. This was tricky business and could be dangerous business for her if not handled delicately. Saying no and running out of the bistro wasn't exactly an option. She was a BoLA representative, even on her off days, and she needed to be mindful of the desires and wishes of both the lycanthrope community and her bosses. Diplomacy was essential in questionable lycanthrope-human interactions such as this.

While society had come to terms with the existence of lycanthropes and had even made special bureaus, arrangements and laws for them specifically, there was something society still could not abide – inter-racial marriages. On the books it was totally legitimate. But, in the real world, it was social suicide.

Human families (less so lycanthrope families) disowned their children for entering into marriage with a lycanthrope. Human dominated workplaces would refuse to hire humans in these kind of inter-racial marriages. And people were even banned or shunned from their local grocery store, drug store, corner store once the news spread and their neighbours found out.

And yes, Meadow might be a lot more broad minded about human-lycanthrope relationships than the general population, having grown up in close proximity to a few small lycanthrope packs in the mountain villages around Arrowfield; however, she never once entertained the idea of being a lycanthrope's mate.

Her father, more than anyone else in the family, would have a fit. And, while her brothers might come around to the idea, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't follow in their father's footsteps. Her mom would think the whole thing very romantic, but her mother never was a very practical person and had no idea the complicated legal and tax issues that arose from such a union. Meadow knew all too well about these issues because of her work at the Bureau.

Crossing her arms over her lap, Meadow leaned forward. She pinned Gloria, who was looking a whole lot less confident and charming after several long minutes of silence from Meadow, with a studious look. "I'm glad you brought this up with me today, Gloria."

Gloria immediately frowned and sat back. Her demeanour went from hopeful to closed-off in the space of a few diplomatic words from Meadow. She hadn't even got to the crux of what she wanted to say, but Gloria was reading her right.

"You're just like all the rest," Gloria huffed.

Meadow ignored the insult and replied, "It would be best for everyone if you could speak with your friend and discourage any interest he might have had in me. Inter-racial marriages are difficult to achieve and come with a high social price ..." Meadow was saying when Gloria shot up from her chair and snarled openly at Meadow.

"Who are you to reject him," she bit out bitterly. "You, what are you? Nothing! No one!" She continued to declare.

Meadow sat back casually in the steel chair and continued to look Gloria straight in the eye. Nothing she said was new to Meadow. These were the same insults hurled at her every time something went wrong at the Bureau and a lycanthrope was frustrated with the system, the paperwork, one of the clerks, or all of the above.

"You don't know what you are saying no to. You are just an ignorant little hick from who knows where with a tiny bit of education but no brains, no ability to think for yourself. You're just a pencil pusher – a mindless office drone."

She was so agitated that she was stomping back and forth around the table and inadvertently blocking Meadow from leaving if she had wanted to 'slip' out. Meadow just stayed put. There was no point in reasoning with Gloria or shutting her down. Both would just fuel her anger and that might get Meadow in a really difficult spot.

"Goddess have mercy," she declared as she was coming to the end of her rant. "What does he see in this little scrap of ... of nothing?" She turned and asked the staff who were now all standing behind the counter watching her and Meadow anxiously. 

The moment she turned her full body away, Meadow stood up. She quietly finished off her drink and left a fiver on the table. Without another word to anyone at all, she just walked out of the bistro as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

She'd have to report this incident to her superiors though and have it on record. Something like this could really come back to bite her if she was looking for a promotion down the line. She sighed heavily and turned up Trent Street to catch the bus to the lake. Right now, what she needed was a long walk along the lake to help her process the situation and decide what to do.

In any case, it would mean the end of eating at the bristo. Meadow found that more disappointing than anything else.