Page 17 of Lucius

They walked away and found a bench near the carousel, settling in to watch the families as they waited in line for a turn around the old-fashioned ride. His friend August’s soulmate Ginny, who was a jackal shifter, ran the ride.

They snacked on popcorn in silence for several minutes.

Then he said, “Do you want to talk about the conversation with your mom?”

She sighed. “I wasn’t being too loud, was I?”

“Not at all, I just know you’re upset and I’ve got two perfectly working ears if you’d like to talk.”

She exhaled through her nose and didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then she told him everything in a rush: the argument with her mom, the way she’d always felt pressured to support her mom but had never gotten the same support.

“Hell, you and I just met and you’ve been more interested in my art in the last couple of hours than my mom has my whole life. My dad was supportive of my art, but he was also really involved in the salon and did a lot of things for my mom. When he died, my mom needed me to keep the salon from going under,so I stepped in and took his place. But it was never supposed to be a permanent change.”

While she talked, she’d gotten out her sketchbook and sketched one of the horses on the carousel. He was amazed at watching her draw as she talked, the pencil smoothly moving across the thick paper as she made the horse seem like it could jump off the page.

“Did you want to go to art school?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I’m okay with not having gone at this point, though I would love to work in something related to art, even if it’s just working at an art supply store or teaching classes somewhere part-time.”

“It’s not fair that your mom put so much pressure on you and didn’t offer you any support.”

“Well, life’s not fair.”

“Maybe,” he said, “but I think family should try to make it as fair as they can. Support and love go a long way.”

“True.”

She put the pencil down on the bench and held up the sketchbook.

“It’s a beautiful drawing, Sidney,” he said.

She gifted him with a very big smile, her eyes glittering with happiness. “Thanks, Lucius.”

She put her things away and they finished the popcorn, but she didn’t want to talk about her mom or herself at all; she wanted to hear about his life. He’d told her some things, but so much of what he’d gone through and what had brought him to New Jersey was related to him being a lion shifter, so there was a limit to what he could say.

“Well, my dad Caesar works at the park here in the security department, and so do my brothers Jupiter and Amadeus.”

“You guys have some interesting names,” she said.

“Right?” He laughed. “My dad said it’s because his family always named the guys unique names and he wanted to continue the tradition.”

“What about your mom?”

Nowthatwas a conversation he didn’t really like to have, because he always felt betrayed by the situation. But he could at least tell her a good portion of the truth, even if it hurt his heart to retell his history.

“So we’re originally from California. Our parents were together for a long time, but then when I was little, our mom decided she wanted to be with someone else, so she left our dad, and us, and started a new life for herself. My dad had friends out here at the park, so we moved and have been here ever since.”

“Wow, that sucks,” she said. “Are you in touch with her at all?”

“No, her new life didn’t include keeping us in her life. I think it bothers Jupiter and Amadeus more than me because I was so young when she left that I don’t have a lot of memories of her. But they’re older and they do. No matter how old I was when she took off, though, it was rough growing up without a mom even though my dad did as best he could.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Honestly. Plus, if all that hadn’t happened, then I wouldn’t be here with you now.”

She shook her head with a chuckle. “That’s putting a nice spin on a devastating past.”

“Hey, I’m all about silver linings, sweetheart.”

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