Page 15

By the time they got back to the park, Sidney had broken down a couple times but was feeling better in general.

She’d hoped that the conversation with her mom wouldn’t go south, but it had, and her mom’s harsh words and condemnation had hurt more than she thought they could. She never thought that her mom would cut her out of her life, but it was probably something she should have expected.

Her mom tended to lash out when she was hurt, and she often spoke without worrying how her words would affect others. So Sidney shouldn’t have been surprised by anything her mom said.

But she was still hurt.

She couldn’t believe her mom really wanted to cut her out of her life, and part of her thought that her mom’s words were over the top and she’d reach out at some point to heal the brokenness between them. But how long would that take? And what if she never reached out?

Lucius had been so amazing while they packed up her clothes and things. He’d told her that he was sure her mom would bridge the gap at some point, but Sidney was allowed to make her own choices.

Do you want to live with me, sweetheart? Do you want to be mine and for me to be yours?

Yes, of course! I want it more than anything.

Then this is the right path for us both. She’ll come around in time, I think. And if she doesn’t, she’s the one who shut the door, not you.

Rubbing her chest, she opened the passenger door and hopped down.

Lucius was at her side a heartbeat later, and she leaned against him. “If you keep hugging me, I’m going to cry again. You’re being too sweet.”

He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Tell me what you want me to do.”

“Hug me just a little tighter and then tell me a joke.”

“A joke?”

“Yeah, something goofy.”

He gave her a tight squeeze and then said, “What kind of tool does a gorilla use?”

She lifted her head to look at him. “I don’t know.”

“A monkey wrench.”

“Oh, that’s awful,” she said with a laugh.

“You didn’t say it had to be a good joke.”

“True.”

“We taking this stuff down?” Amadeus called.

“Yeah,” she said. “Thanks for your help, guys.”

“You bet,” Benjamin said. “Thanks for not making me carry a couch.”

“You still had to carry feed for the petting zoo,” Indio said.

“Good point,” Benjamin said. “I vote we don’t let Indio come on trips with us anymore.”

“Hey!” Indio said. “For that you can carry the bags all the way to the petting zoo for me.”

“Damn it.”

Sidney chuckled. She knew the guys all liked each other. They had such a great relationship even though they were different animals. And she liked Lucius’s brothers a lot too.

“We should get your stuff to the house because dinner is in about an hour,” Lucius said.

“Sounds good to me,” she said.

The SUV was full of trash bags of her clothes and toiletries, and a suitcase filled with her art supplies. Lucius had marveled at her stack of sketchbooks and mugs full of pencils, and the easel that she liked to put in front of a window so she could sketch with natural light.

“I just realized there’s no natural light at your house,” she said as she picked up one of the bags.

“Ah, crap. Well, there’s plenty in the park, though,” he said.

“True. But I should probably get a regular job, right? You said that everyone works here.”

“We can figure that out later, there’s no rush,” he said. “We just met and are still getting to know each other.”

“I don’t want anyone to think I’m trying to be a mooch or anything.”

“No one would think that, I promise,” he said.

“Here,” Amadeus said as he joined them pulling a cart. “I called Jupiter and asked him to grab a couple carts for us to haul Sidney’s things and the petting zoo supplies.”

“Good thinking,” Lucius said.

“I do have good ideas from time to time,” he said.

They loaded her things onto the cart and followed Indio and Benjamin as they moved their cart of petting zoo supplies through the gate into the park. They parted ways, Sidney and Lucius taking her things to the employee cafeteria to utilize a service elevator, which would take them to a hallway where the private living quarters were located as well as the marketplace.

He unlocked the door to the lions’ area and in no time they were unloading her bags and dumping everything onto the bed.

They were quiet while they sorted her things; hanging, folding, stacking. It wasn’t that it was hard work or needed a lot of mental attention, but she was still sorting through the argument with her mom.

“You know what bugs me?” she said finally as she carried a stack of shorts into the walk-in closet and set them next to shirts she’d already placed there.

“What’s that, sweetheart?”

“Like I wonder if she ever would have been happy for me? I mean, I know that what’s happening between us is fast because we’re soulmates and she doesn’t understand that part of it, but I’m excited about a new relationship and finally doing something for myself, and she just absolutely shut me down.”

“Well, she probably felt attacked.”

She came out of the closet and stared at him. “What?”

“I mean personally. You’re her family and she probably never thought you’d leave. I would suspect, too, that she was very aware she wasn’t being fair to you and just hoped you’d keep going along with it.” He put a bundle of socks in a drawer he’d cleared out, then looked at her. “She thinks you’re selfish for not sticking with her even when you were miserable, but she’s the one who put the family business ahead of everything else.”

“Yeah.” She sat on the bed with a sigh. “I hate that things are crappy between us, but I don’t know how to fix it. I also think I really can’t be the one to bridge that gap, I think it has to be her.”

“I agree.”

He joined her and put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a kiss on the side of the head. “Sweetheart, when we have kids, I promise that I’ll never force them to do something they don’t want to do. Family should support, not stifle. It’s easy for me to say that because I grew up with people who wanted me to have the life I wanted.”

“But you have to be here in the park,” she said.

“Yeah, but I didn’t have to go into security,” he said. “There’s so much I could have done and been safe in the park. Like Justus is a bear. They normally work with food, but he’s part of the security team. And Jasper is a wolf, and he’s part of security instead of working with the VIP tours. What’s that saying? Family gives you roots so you can have wings to fly where you want.”

“I’ve never heard that saying, but I like it. And I like the idea of having kids who can do what they want with their future. Can they go to college?”

“We have school here in the park, and there are online programs we’ve used, so yes.”

“Cool.”

She sighed. “I think we have to get to dinner?”

“Yeah, and then we’ll come back and finish up.”

She rose to her feet and smiled. “I’m pretty sure you promised me that we’d have some time to ourselves.”

“But all your stuff is on the bed,” he said, gesturing to at least a trash bag’s worth of clothes covering the bed.

“We’ll just have to be creative. Or toss the clothes on the floor.”

“Creative? You got it.”

He rose to his feet and hugged her. “I’m sorry things went to hell today, but I’ll never be sorry that you’re my soulmate. You’re precious to me and I only want you to be happy.”

“I’m happiest with you. Happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”

“Good. Let’s get to dinner and then get home so I can be creative .”

“I love how you said creative.”

He wiggled his brows and smiled.

She was falling for him hard.

He’d been there when she felt like her world was falling apart and hadn’t shied away from any of the messy emotional stuff. And he was still here, making her laugh and supporting her.

Having a soulmate was awesome as hell.