Poseidon (The God Chronicles) (5 page)

“Oh, hey!” I
responded, trying not to drop anything. “Um, yes. I would like some help, thank you.”

He quickly reached out and took half the bags from me and grabbed one gallon out of my still open
trunk.

“You looked like you would topple over if you carried all of those yourself,” he laughed, closing the trunk for me.

“I may have,” I admitted.

“It’s a lot of food for such a tiny person,” he teased.

“I only go shopping every two weeks.”

“Nice.”

We walked up the stairs and into my cool apartment, trying not to trip over Talley as she excitedly greeted us.

“Hey girl!”
His greeting was almost as excited as hers.

She tried to jump up on hi
m, her tongue hanging out, ready to give kisses.

“Down,” he laughed,
backing away from her without dropping anything.

Once all of the bags were on the table or counter and the milk was in the fridge, Sy headed for the door.

“I’d help put it away, but I don’t know where anything goes,” he said sheepishly.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” I blurted out before he could get his hand on the handle. I blushed, wishing that I’d somehow lead up to the invitation.

“I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” he started.

“I already bought extra food for you,” I rushed. “I figured you’d like a good, home cooked meal for a change. I saw the frozen dinners,” I admitted when he
gave me questioning look.

“Well
. . .” He seemed to mull it over before smiling at me again. “I guess I’ll stay then. Do you mind if I go change real quick though?”

“Sure, that’s totally fine.”

As the door shut behind me, I quickly began to put food away, leaving out what I planned on making immediately. By the time Sy returned, I’d already cut the potatoes, opened the green beans, washed the chicken, and laid everything in the pan.

“Come in!” I called as I sprinkled everything with seasoning and covered it with tin foil. I didn’t turn around until it was safely in the oven, cooking away.

“Well, what I saw looked good,” he said as he sat down on the couch next to Talley.

“It has to cook for an hour, I hope that’s not a problem,” I
explained, staying in the kitchen. “I should have told you not to rush.”

“I didn’t,” he said smiling at me. Talley barked at him then and he turned, holding his hand out for her to smell.

“You’ve got a nice voice,” he complimented her, laughing. “What’s her name again?”    

“Talley. She thinks she’s a hunting dog. Sometimes she goes out on the balcony and howls at the neighbor’s cat. They don’t appreciate it much.”

“Well, she is beautiful. And big! I bet she’ll be around seventy pounds when she’s full grown.”

“That’s what the vet said,” I confirmed. “Do you like animals?”

“I do. I actually just started at Sea Life Arizona.”

“I’ve never been to it,” I said. “I’ve seen it when I’m at that mall though.”

“It’s not bad. I’d hoped to get on at the Phoenix Zoo, but they didn’t have any positions open. I like fish too, though. It’s not a huge deal for me. Except for the uniform. Who makes people wear long pants to the work in the desert?”

“You’d be surprised,” I laughed
, silently agreeing he looked better in his normal clothes—shorts and form fitting t-shirts. Especially the ones he was wearing now. Black was a good color on him. His emerald green V-neck was very flattering too.

“Do they make you wear hot, stuffy uniforms where you work?” Talley had laid her head in his lap and was enjoying the scratching behind her ears Sy was delivering.

“Actually, I work in the front office of a high school. Sometimes I wear more casual clothes, but it’s mostly dressy stuff. It’s not so bad since I’m inside all day.”

“That’s cool. What do you do during the summer though?”

“Well . . .” I paused for a moment, knowing that John was about to be brought up. “I have enough money saved up to not have to work. Some of it is just money I put into the account. The rest is insurance money.”

“Were you in an accident or something? Can you get money for almost drowning?” He laughed a
little, a curious twinkle in his eyes, obviously unaware of what he was stumbling into. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. I don’t want to be rude and pry.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said softly, rubbing the band on my finger. “It was bound to come up at some point.”

I moved to the table and turned one of the chairs to face the living room, sitting down.

“My husband, John, died at sea. He was working with a fishing company for the summer and their boat got caught in a storm. Even though he was a teacher, we had good insurance. My grandfather had advised us to do it, whic
h turned out to be a good idea. No amount of money can replace John though.”

“
Audrey, I am so sorry.” Sy stayed on the couch, obviously uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean to bring up such a horrible thing. I thought you’d been in a car accident or something. You’re so young; it didn’t occur to me that you could be a widow. I didn’t even notice your ring until now.”

“It’s not a problem,” I said, taking a deep breath. “You were bound to find out eventually. At least it was from me.” I smiled at him, tr
ying to reassure him that he’d done nothing wrong. “Would you like to see a picture of him?”

“Sure,” he said, still obviously uncomfortable.

I went back to my room and grabbed the photo off of my nightstand.

“This is my favorite picture of him,” I said as I walked down the hall. “It was taken on our wedding day. This was when he saw me coming down the aisle.”

I handed the frame over when I reached him, smiling happily.

“He’s handsome, isn’t he?”
I asked, not that I really expected an answer.

Sy looked at the picture, some color draining from his face as he studied it.
He looked as if he were about to be sick.

“Yes,” he
answered quietly, handing it back to me and looking down at the floor. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused.

“Uh, nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s just one thing to hear about someone who’s died and another to see them. At least for me it is. Thank you for showing it to me though. It looks like you were both lucky to have found each other.” He smiled tightly before looking away, a strange look of horror stuck on his face.

“We were,” I
agree warmly, trying to ease his discomfort. “I loved him so much—I still do. I don’t think I’ll ever not love him. We were going to have a baby when he passed. I guess the stress of it all is what caused me to lose it, too.”

“
Audrey,” Sy started then stopped, his mouth opening and closing silently like he wanted to say something. After a few moments, understanding seemed to hit him like a rock. “That’s why everyone thought you’d tried to kill yourself? Because all of that had just happened?”

I nodded, smiling at him appreciatively. “I have you to thank for dispelling that.”

“Audrey . . .” His eyes met mine and I was shocked at the true sorrow I saw there. “Audrey, I am so sorry.”

“I’m doing a lot better,” I admitted. “But enough of that depressing stuff. Why don’t you tell me about you some more?”

He blinked at the sudden change of subject, pausing a moment before speaking.

“What do you want to know?”

“Well, you said you like animals. Do you have a degree to work with any of them?”

“You’d think that a twenty seven year old would have a degree of some kind, but I’ve never managed to do it.” He was still transitioning from our previous top
ic, but didn’t seem to mind the change.

“You never went to college then?”

“Oh, no I went,” he laughed nervously, shaking his head like it would get John’s face out of his mind. “I just never got a degree. I was always taking the classes I wanted to take. Usually, that didn’t include some key general education classes. I’m certified in several things, but not really licensed in anything. I thought that maybe I’d try out the university here. I’ve heard it can be a pretty fun place to be.”

“If you like partying,” I laughed.

“Well, maybe I’ll finally buckle down and get a degree. You never know. I think there’s only a few math and English classes keeping me from finishing three associates’ degrees.”

“Why would you not take them then?” I exclaimed. “If it was that easy, why not force yourself through it?”

“I don’t want to,” he laughed, finally easing away from what I’d told him.

“That is insane. If I were that close to graduating I would jump on the chance.”

“Well, do you have a degree, Miss College-pants?”

“I do,” I laughed. “It’s only in general education
though.  I haven’t decided what I’d like to go into yet. There’s too much to choose from!”

“So you understand my side of it
?”

“I guess.”

We talked for a while longer about the school, and what fun things there were to do here. By that point, the chicken was starting to smell delicious, so I got up to set the table.

“Do you want any help?” Sy asked, struggling to slide out from under a now sleeping Talley.

“Sorry,” I laughed at his struggles. “She thinks she’s a lap dog.”

“It’s okay,” he said, finally breaking free. “What do you need help with?”

“Actually, if you could pull the pan out of the oven, that would be great. The oven mitts are in the drawer right next to the fridge.”

I finished getting the table ready while he did what I asked.

“It smells amazing in here. Thank you for inviting me over.”

“No problem
.” I kept trying to reassure him he was welcome, removing the tin foil off of our food and letting the steam escape. “It’s nice to have someone who isn’t my mom over.” I gasped as soon as I realized what I had just said. “I didn’t mean to say that! I’m really not an introvert, I swear. It’s taken me some time to get back in the swing of things.”

“I can imagine,” he said softly, pulling a chair out for me. “I’m so, so sorry,
Audrey.”

“It’s not your fault,” I laughed nervously. Spending so much time on this subject was
not what I had wanted.

Sy didn’t
appear to have anything to say to that, so I grabbed our plates and began dishing out food.

Our meal was mostly silent. I took it to mean one of two things
—either the food was delicious and he was too busy shoveling it into his mouth to talk, or I had scared him away with my dead husband. I fervently hoped it was the first option. I couldn’t explain what it was about Sy, but I liked spending time with him. It was nice to feel like I had someone I could just invite over at a moments notice. Given the chance, I thought we could become good friends.

Once the food was gone
and leftovers packed up, he left. There was a mumbled thanks for everything, another weird feeling apology, and then Talley and I were the only ones left in the room.

Great
, I thought to myself,
so much for that
.

Chapter Six

“So, why didn’t you tell me that he moved in next door?”

Mom continued to water her plants in the kitchen window, sunlight filtering through the blinds. Her short brown hair
fell in front of her eyes as she moved, swaying back and forth. While she filled her can again in the sink, droplets splashed out onto her floral, button up shirt and black jeans. She didn’t seem to notice though, moving on to the flowers outside the open dining room window.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal,”
I said, answering her question from my spot at the table. “He was just there one day. It was as normal as any other person moving in.”

“Well, this man saved your life,
Audrey. That makes him different from just any other person.” She laughed, turning to give me a mock stern look before going back to work.

“It doesn’t matter now,” I sighed. “My one chance at having a friend again and I blew it.”

“What do you mean? You have lots of friends.”

“That all knew me before the accident,” I interjected. “They all treat me like I’m going to shatter into a million pieces at any moment. At least Sy let me talk about it.”

“You haven’t seen him since then?”

“No.”

It had been a week with no sign of Sy anywhere. I hadn’t really gone looking for him, but it still seemed odd that I hadn’t seen him around the complex. Sadness burned in my chest as I thought about it.

“If he can’t handle your past honey, then he doesn’t deserve to be a part of your future.”

“I know,” I mumbled. “There was just something about him.”