Page 45 of Lucius

“I loved it even more this time,” Sidney said. “I had some great sketches of the birds before, but it’s cool to be in the moment sometimes.”

“I agree,” Celeste said. “I keep wanting to record everything that’s going on with this pregnancy, but I also just want to be pregnant and enjoy life.”

Rhomi nodded. “I love that the aviary takes care of injured birds and is sometimes able to release them back into the wild. Jess and Auden do a great job taking care of them with Cael.”

Jess walked up to them after the last patron was gone and said, “What did you think?”

“Loved it,” Sidney said. “Even better the second time.”

“We try to make it a little different every weekend so people can get something new out of it if they see it more than once.”

“Great job,” Celeste said. “It’s always fun to watch the show. I wish we had more shows like this.”

“Me too,” Rhomi said. “Maybe the park will keep growing and we’ll have more cool exhibits like this in the future.”

“Well, you never know what might happen,” Jess said.

The trio walked through the aviary hospital and stopped at the huge cages while Jess talked about the birds that were under their care. When they were finished, Sidney said, “Thanks for your time today, it was so awesome. This park is amazing.”

“I’m so glad you’re here and that you and Lucius found each other.”

“Me too.”

She glanced at her watch, realizing Lucius had been gone for almost three hours.

“I wonder if they’re back yet,” she asked.

“Lemme check Jupiter’s location,” Celeste said. “If not, we can go hang out at the house, maybe grab a snack. Oh, popcorn sounds good. Or cotton candy.”

“Love those pregnancy cravings, huh?” Rhomi asked with a smile.

“I sure do.” Celeste stared at her phone for a moment and said, “They’re walking in from the employee lot, so we can meet up with them. I’ll send my guy a text.”

“Thanks again for everything, Jess,” Sidney said. “You, Auden, and Maggie really made this afternoon special.”

“Anytime.”

The trio left the aviary and headed to meet up with the guys. She was about to send a text to Lucius when she heard a very familiar voice.

“Sidney? Sidney!”

“Mom?”

Sidney lookedin surprise when her mom called out her name.

She was at the security office and Amadeus was on his phone standing next to her.

“Oh hey, Sidney,” he said, putting his phone back in his pocket. “I was just calling Lucius.”

“He’s on the way here with Jupiter,” she said. She left Celeste and Rhomi and walked to her mom. “What are you doing here?”

Her mom looked tired and frazzled. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair was in a messy bun.

“I didn’t know where you were,” she said. “I came to find you.”

“How did you know I was here?” she asked.

“Well, I didn’t,” she said.

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