Page 39 of Perfect Three

“What about you, Sebastian?Are your parents working?”

“My father worked for the government.He’s been retired six years.He was a senior clerk with the Department of Housing.My mother died thirty years ago, when I was twenty-five.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He shrugged his shoulders.“If we’re telling you to be upfront and honest, then it’s expected we are, too.My mother died from substance abuse—alcohol.Maybe that’s why I don’t drink.”

Lucy couldn’t hide her incredulous tone.“And yet you run a place that sells alcohol?”

“I know.Weird, isn’t it?”

“A little.Although, I don’t drink either.Is that why you have so many mocktails on your drinks list?”

He saluted her with a little nod.“Anyway, Dad lives in Sydney.I see him pretty regularly.”He gave a funny, almost sarcastic laugh and looked down at his body.“You’d have to be blind not to notice...My mother was First Nation.Dad’s white.”

Lucy stared at Sebastian, looked him in the eye.“Does it matter?”

He shrugged.“Not to me, but it does to a lot of people.I’m actually very proud of my Aboriginal heritage.”

“Well, I wouldn’t really care if you were green or purple.I like you.”

“Purple?”

“Oh, you know what I mean.”Flustered, a sudden warmth rushed to her face as Lucy blushed.

He grinned at her and said he did.

Lucy took another mouthful of coffee in an attempt to cover her embarrassment.

Jack touched Sebastian on the leg.Fluttering his eyelashes madly, he said in a silly falsetto voice, drawing out the words breathlessly, “I love your color, just like hot chocolate.It’s so sexy.”

The two men laughed as if sharing some old, on-going joke.

Jack grinned at Lucy and answered her unspoken question.“There’s this strange woman who often comes in to dance with friends.She has the hots for Seb.She comes over to him all the time.She runs her hands up and down his arms and says that.”

“Oh my.”Lucy laughed.

“What about your parents, Lucy?”Jack asked.“We know your mother is gone.What about your father?”

“He was killed when I was sixteen.A work accident.He was an electrician and the company had contractors in to do some extra work.Anyway, one of them did something wrong and my father was killed.The Union fought hard to get compensation for Mum and finally got a two-million-dollar settlement.She paid off the mortgage she and Dad had, did the plumbing work, replaced the electrical wiring, and made a few other essential repairs to the house.”

“That must have been hard to lose your father that young.”

“It was, but...”She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.“Anyway, that was a long time ago.”

Jack tapped his head against her knee, just a little gesture of comfort, but she appreciated it.

“So neither of you has ever married?”

“I did.”Jack spoke up.“Lasted not much longer than yours—five years.”

“Do you have any children?”

“A son, he’s thirty-one.Lives near my parents in Queensland, actually.He moved out when he was twenty to live with a few mates and somehow ended up north.”

Lucy wanted to ask if the men’s relations knew about their sexual preferences but didn’t know how to without seeming rude.

Jack must have been tuned into her, because he looked up and said, “My son and parents know about Seb and I.Mum and Dad are completely confused by it all, but they like Seb.My son wasn’t that impressed.I got the impression he’d prefer me to be straight or gay rather than bisexual.”

---