Poseidon (The God Chronicles) (6 page)

“That’s what you said when you met John,” she
reminded me, taking a seat next to me, her watering chores finally done.

“I don’t think it’s the same feeling though,” I said. “John made my heart flutter. Sy just. . . I don’t know how to describe it. It’s a feeling as a whole, I guess.”

“Interesting.” She was silent for a moment, studying my face. “Do you like him?”

“Mom, I barely know him! Besides, I don’t think I’m ready for anything like that
. . . yet. I need more time.”

“Whatever you say, sweetie.” She patted my knee and stood, ready to do whatever her next chore was. “The heart isn’t so easy to control though.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked defensively.

“It means,” she said as she moved to the counter on the other side of the kitchen. “If you do end up liking him, it won’t be a bad thing. People weren’t meant to be alone,
Audrey.”

“John’s only been gone a year, Mom. It’s not enough time to move on, feelings or not,” I said softly, fighting the quiver in my voice.

“I know. It feels like he was here yesterday, telling me a bad history joke. I was only trying to say that you shouldn’t feel bad if you discover you have feelings for another man.” She smiled sadly as she leaned against the cupboards. “Your father has been gone for a long time. While I do still miss and love him, I know that it’s okay to move on. He wouldn’t have wanted me to be alone—just like John wouldn’t have wanted for you. The first time I felt something for someone else, I thought I was being unfaithful. That’s why I’m telling you this. About a year had gone by when it happened to me. I want you to be ready for it, because I don’t want you to miss the chance to have love in your life again. You do what you think is best for you though.”

“Mom,” I smiled and went to hug her. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,”
I wrapped my arms around her reassuringly. “And thank you.”

I breathed out a sigh as I shut the car door and headed for the stairs that would take me home. As always, the heat beat down mercilessly and I was thankful I’d worn shorts today. Rubbing the diamonds adorning my finger, I replayed the conversation I’d had with my mother.

I understood what Mom had been trying to tell me, even though at first it seemed she was telling me to get out there already. She wasn’t that callous though. The truth was I didn’t want to
be alone for the rest of my life. I also didn’t want to dishonor John by dating someone only a year after his death.

As I reached the top of the cement steps, I heard knocking and looked up to my door.

Sy was standing there, rocking back and forth, hands in the pocket of his jeans. That feeling I couldn’t quite pinpoint appeared and I smiled.

“Hey!”

He turned quickly, his blood red shirt clinging to his chest.

“Hey.” He smiled, staying where he was. “I was afraid you weren’t home.”

“Well, technically I’m not,” I said, chuckling nervously. “What’s going on?”

“I wanted to apologize for how I acted before,” he said, taking a step towards me. “I felt terrible for bringing it up, like I was making you relive the worst moment of yo
ur life. I didn’t know what to do or say and I’m pretty sure it ruined dinner.”

“It’s not a big deal,” I fibbed. There was no way I would tell him I’d been feeling crumby about it all week.

“I want to make it up to you.” Looking relieved he smiled, taking a few more steps towards there stairs where I stood.

“Oh yeah?” I suddenly felt breathless and my face warmed. Uh, oh. What if Mom had been right on track? I wasn’t ready for anything other than friendship.

“Would you come to dinner with me? I can’t cook, so we’ll have to go out. We can go where ever you’d like.” His pearly whites flashed at me again and hope filled his eyes.

“You mean like a
. . . date?” I choked the last word out, a touch of fear accompanying it.

“No! No,
no, no!” he said quickly. “I would never—I mean, your husband—just as friends. Totally just as friends.”

“Friends,” I said, relief washing through me. I could do friends. “Um. Yeah, I guess I could go out. Do you mind if I change first though?”

“I guess,” he said, somewhat taken aback. “What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?”

“Uh
. . .” What was wrong with my clothes? If we were going out as friends, why did it matter what I wore? “Nothing?” I said blankly.

“Okay,” he laughed. “Why don’t we just go then? You look fine, honestly.”

“All right,” I responded nervously. “I fed Talley before I went to my mom’s. Let me take her out to go to the bathroom real quick.”

“Good plan,”
he chuckled, moving out of my way as I came to open the door.

It only took a minute or two for Talley to finish her business and soon I was locking the door behind me again.

“I’m ready,” I announced, turning to face him.

“Great.” He smiled and completed the few steps he had left to the stairs. “Let’s get out of here.
I’m starving!”

“Does
Cheesecake Factory sound good to you? I don’t really know where to go. They were just talking about it on the radio before I got here.”

“That sounds divine.”

A few moments later we were in his Jeep, wind blowing through our hair as we sped down the freeway   

“The traffic here is nothing compared to California,” he laughed as he blew by a
minivan. “I feel like I could get anywhere within five minutes.”

“You obviously haven’t discovered rush hour yet
.” His assumption made me laugh, as I hoped he wouldn’t notice the death grip I had on my seat.

“I usually take surface streets home to avoid sitting in the heat.” He slapped his palm on the dash. “The air conditioning hasn’t worked in years.”

“Why didn’t you get it fixed?”

“Who knows,” he laughed. “I guess I just haven’t thought about it. I always drive with the soft top off.”

“You might want to fix it before monsoon season,” I inform him. “You won’t be able to keep the cover off then. We get pretty bad dust storms, too.”

“It’ll be fine,” he
assured me, waving a hand and gunning it past a truck with oversized wheels and a fin. “What an interesting design,” he remarked as we merged in front of them.

“That’s one way of seeing it,” I muttered, closing my eyes as we cut off another driver. He may not have been in The Golden State anymore, but he was driving like he’d never left.

In half the time it should have taken us to get there, we pulled into the parking lot of Chandler Fashion Mall and were seated for dinner.

“You didn’t tell me this was at a mall,” he said.

“Is that a bad thing?” I unrolled my napkin and placed it on my lap before scooting the chair in closer.

“No. I just seem to spend all my time at malls lately,” he laughed.

“Oh, that’s right! You work at the aquarium in Arizona Mills. How is that going?”

“It’s nice,” he
answered after pausing to let the waiter take our drink orders. “I mostly do behind the behind the scenes stuff, like cleaning the tanks and feedings. Every now and then I oversee the touch tanks.”

“Touch tanks? You mean like the sting ray exhibit at the zoo?” I took a sip of the water that had just been placed in front of me, nodding in thanks.

“Actually, it’s more starfish and crabs. Things like that anyway. The kids love it. I make sure they don’t harm the animals and that they wash their hands when they’re done. It’s not hard,” 

“Are we ready to order?” Our waiter stopped by our table again, a friendly smile on his face.

“Yes . . . Steve,” Sy said, looking up at his nametag.

“What can I get for you tonight?” Steve asked.

“Well, obviously I’m going to have to try some of your cheesecake before I leave,” Sy said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But I’ll take a burger and fries first, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a problem,” Steve said, scribbling on his notepad. He asked a few more questions before turning to me. “And for your lovely date?”

“Oh, no, I’m not,” I stuttered, blushing as my hand went straight to the band around my finger. “We’re just, um . . . I’ll take a salad, please.”

Sy was
stifling a laugh as Steve finished his scribbling and left.

“I’m sorry,” I
apologized, still blushing.

“Don’t be,” he said, lifting his glass. “He shouldn’t have assumed. I should have stepped in, but I like it when you blush.”

I stared at him, not sure what to say. The look on his face seemed to share the same mild shock as mine.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and took a sip. “Now I’m being
inappropriate.”

“It’s
. . . it’s okay,” I said after a moment.

“No, really. I’m sorry,
Audrey.” There was another moment of silence. “I’m messing this dinner up, too, aren’t I?”

“I’m fine, I promise.” I smiled at him, trying to think of an easy way to change the subject. “Lots of people have commented on how much I blush. I get embarrassed easily I guess.” I laughed, taking a sip of my own drink and crossing my legs.

“I don’t get embarrassed,” he proclaimed, laughing.

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true! That’s what happens when your brothers are constantly messing with you.”

“I didn’t know you had brothers,” I said, my curiosity stirring.

“Yeah, I have two brothers and three sisters. I don’t spend much time with the girls, but my brothers . . . Let’s just say that we’ve had some good brawls.”

“Tell me about them,” I
encouraged him, smiling.

“I’m the middle brother, to start with.
I always get caught in this type of turf war between the others.

“
Hades is . . . well, Hades. He’s the oldest of us boys, which means he can be a bully sometimes, but he has his good times as well. He’s given us a lot to deal with, usually things that have nothing to do with us. He likes to complain, too. I think he knows how much it bothers us and that’s why he does it.

“And then there’s Zeus. He’s the youngest out of everyone and used to be a real jerk. Everything had to be how he thought it should be. But then he got knocked down a few pegs and met this girl named Karly. She changed him from the inside out, something I never thought would happen. He wasn’t the kind of guy who really cared a
bout other people, you know? But when it comes to her . . . he would move Heaven and Earth for that woman.”

“He really loves her then,” I
surmised, remembering how I felt for John.

“Without a doubt.” Sy smiled, looking down at his plate before meeting my eyes again. “They’ve been married for a little over a year now. I hope that someday I can find
a love like that.”

“You will,” I said, reaching out and placing my hand on his arm. He grinned at me and I felt my cheeks warm again.

“Hades and Zeus, huh?” I said, pulling my hand away quickly. “Is Sy short for Poseidon then?”

“Yes.”

“I was just teasing, you don’t have to humor me,” I told him laughing.

“I’m serious, though.” He didn’t laugh
anymore, and the longer I looked at him the more I realized he really was telling the truth.

“Wow! That’s seriously what the three of you are named?”

“Yeah. It’s some family thing. Our ancestors were Greek.” He took another sip of his drink and smiled wolfishly.

“That’s cool!”

“No it’s not,” he disagreed, putting his cup down.

“It really is. What a cool piece of history for your family to celebrate. Have you ever been to Greece?” He was so enthralling to me, this man that I barely knew. For whatever reason, I felt drawn to him. It
must be pure luck that we’d managed to meet at all.

“I have been, it’s beautiful,” he said, his eyes sparkling.

Our food was delivered then and I slowly ate my greens, watching the expressions on his face as he recounted the land of his people between bites.

“And the oceans there are fantastic,” he said as he finished off his fries.

“I think you’re having a love affair with water,” I laughed. “It doesn’t sound like you need to find a relationship like your brother’s.”

“That’s what they say all the time,” he laughed. “They even named the water, so they could tell people I was out with someone.”

“What did they name it?” I asked, smiling as I wiped my mouth.

“Amphitrite, like the ancient Greeks did.”

“That’s awesome,” I chuckled in response. 

“Everyone thought I had married this girl for the longest time,” he said, laughing harder. “When in reality, I was just out swimming or surfing, minding my own
business.”

“What happened when they found out she wasn’t real?”

“I think some of them still don’t even know,” he replied, finally getting his mirth under control when the older woman at the table next to us gave him the stink eye.