Althea
III
"I'm going to drop you off at the monorail stop before I pick up the consultant," Claire says and I smile gratefully. "It'll take you to the gyrospheres, sorry it's the closest thing out here."
"Anything will work."
"Althea," Luciana murmurs and looks back at me with that 'you can talk to us' expression.
"What can I say, Lucy? I don't wanna see him, I can't see him. We broke up because I'm too much of a child to understand love."
My words are harshly quoted directly from the man himself.
"I'll hate him every day for saying that," Lucy grumbles and turns back to the front.
"He didn't mean that, he had stars in his eyes for you, he couldn't mean that," Claire points out and my frown deepens.
"If I think that way then I'll wonder what really happened for the rest of my life," I huff and cross my arms.
Talking about Owen stings, he broke my heart worse than anyone else ever has.
"Look I'm fine I promise. Let's just not talk about it."
III
Persephone
III
"Gentle Giants Petting Zoo?" Zach scoffs and I roll my eyes.
Gray is jumping around, snapping pictures, and admiring everything. Zara is utterly ignoring us and talking on her phone.
"Lift me up. I can't see!" Gray exclaims as he bounces behind a crowd of people all gawking at a baby dinosaur.
"I'm not Dad. And you're not five," Zack retorts and I elbow him.
"I got you buddy," I say and lift him up by his waist. Gray cheers and snaps about ten pictures in a row.
"I can still ride the Triceratops. I'm 47 and a half inches," Gray remarks excitedly as I set him back down.
"This place is for little kids," Zack grumbles and Gray frowns. The pessimism seems to be getting to him.
"Like you're such an adult," I snark and Zach rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, I know." His expression evokes downcast, but before I can punch Zach for being a dick Gray lights back up. "Wanna go on the spinning dinosaur eggs?"
"Nope." Zach looks down at Grays fanny pack and snorts. "Cover up your dork pouch."
"But I would love too!" I say pointedly and make a violent hand expression at Zach.
Gray tugs his shirt down to cover the fanny pack in shame and I punch Zach in the shoulder.
"Play nice or I steal your girl don't think I can't," I hiss to him. It's a playful threat but his eyes bug out. I chuckle and pat his cheek in a patronizing manner. Zach glances behind me and suddenly his face lights up with a plan. Glancing back I spy Zara on the phone arguing with someone.
"No! Alex cannot have a bachelorette party!" she insists. "Why? Because her friends are animals!"
"Scatter," Zach orders in a low voice.
"What?" Gray and I reply cluelessly.
"Go. Run. Go!" he urges and grabs Gray's hand and mine, pulling us away. Giving in, Gray and I run with Zach, abandoning the petting zoo behind us.
III
We run into the hub of shops and restaurants, relatively far from the petting zoo, and then we slow down and stop.
"What are we doing?" I question and Zach shrugs. He and Gray are grinning like idiots and so am I, somewhat.
"The next T-Rex feeding will begin in 10 minutes," an automated voice informs over the parks intercom system.
"That! We're doing that! T-Rex! Come on, man! Come on!" Gray exclaims and begins jumping up and down excitedly.
"Okay. Let's go!" Zach agrees and I smile gratefully to him. Gray takes my hand and we take off running to a thrilling new destination.
III
"Parents be aware, this show may be disturbing for smaller children."
Nervously I look down at the enthused Gray as he tries to get a spot up front.
"Perry, could you lift me again?" Gray requests and I bite my lip. He won't be too grievously scarred if he sees this right?
"Sure." Once again I lift Gray only this time I put him on my shoulders so he can see above the tallest of the spectators.
There's a flare dropped in, a goat bleats, a mass of scales lunges, and then it's over. I barely saw it, but I imagine it was gruesome.
"Was is cool buddy?" I ask as I let Gray down and he nods avidly. "Do you think you'll have nightmares? Because if you do, I'm pretty sure your mom will fire me."
"She'd never Perry," Gray assures and I smile. If only he knew, after the divorce I'm not sure where I'll go.
As the crowd dissipates Gray weasels his way to the front to snap pictures of the enclosure while I hang back with Zach. He was texting the entire show instead of watching.
"Has your mom called?" I inquire and just as the words come out of my mouth his phone rings and Karen's picture pops up. Zach gives me an odd look and I wink at him.
"Hey, Mom," he greets after picking up. His gaze remains on me despite speaking to her. Zach steps closer and I lean into her what she says, sometimes on good days Zach and I can communicate without words.
"You were supposed to call me when you landed and don't you dare say Perry already called because I wanted two calls," Karen huffs but continues speaking before Zach can respond. "Are you having fun?"
"Yeah, I guess. Aunt Claire gave us passes, so we don't have to wait in line," he replies, uninterested already.
"Wait, she's not with you? Oh my God, of course. I'm going to call her right now. You say hi to Gray and Perry for me and I love you," Karen rushes out and hangs up abruptly.
"Dude you just snitched on your aunt," I gasp in a teasing manner and Zach rolls his eyes.
"Come on guys there's gonna be a mosasaurus show!"
III
Luciana
III
After dropping Althea at the monorail stop Claire and I continue on our way towards Owen Grady's bungalow.
Only minutes pass until the car's screen lights up and ringing sounds through the vehicle.
"Incoming call from your sister," I inform and Karen sighs. "Want me to answer on speaker or you can take it on your earpiece?"
"Speaker is fine," Claire grumbles and I smirk at her.
I press answer on the dash and then lean back silently. I'll pretend I'm not hearing a private conversation between Claire and her sister.
"Hey, Karen!" Claire greets with faux excitement.
"Hi, Claire. How's it going?" Karen replies but her voice sounds strained.
"Yeah, everything's great. The boys are having fun. Everyone is...Yeah, everyone's good," Claire lies and bites her lip sheepishly.
"Really? Because I just hung up with Zach, and he said that you weren't even with them," Karen counters angrily. Claire groans and I pat her hand in a small move of comfort.
"Yeah, look. Today turned out to be a really bad day for me. They're in great hands. They're with my assistant. She's British and they practically invented nannies," Claire says, rattling off excuses for her sister.
It's almost quiet on the other end except for sniffling and labored breathing.
"She's crying!" I mouth to Claire and her eyes widen with guilty.
"Wait, are you crying?" Claire gasps.
"This was supposed to be a family weekend, Claire. You haven't seen the boys in forever. And I know how Zach will treat Gray if they're by themselves. And he can just be so mean," Karen rambles forlornly.
"They're not alone they have their nanny and my-" I give Claire a 'shut it down' hand gesture and she stops attempting to justify. "Okay, I'm sorry. Tomorrow, I'm gonna spend the entire day with them. I'm going to take off work, and I will not leave their side. I promise."
"Well, a promise tomorrow is worth a lot less than trying today," Karen retorts and Claire huffs.
"Ew! You're using Mom's lines now?"
"My God. I am using Mom's lines. I'm sorry, but you know, I have to tell you, they work," Karen answers and sniffles. "You'll see when you have kids."
"Yeah, if," Claire responds shortly. I look away hastily and out of nervous habit tug on my ear. Claire and I haven't discussed having kids, we have limited options.
"When. It's worth it," Karen persists.
"Bye, Mom," Claire deadpans.
"Bye." Karen hangs up and Claire breathes in deeply.
"Sorry Lucy," she murmurs.
"For what?"
"For being so focused on my work that I abandon my nephews and lie to my sister, you deserve someone who shows they care more about everything."
"Claire I know you care and I understand your work. You don't have to apologize to me for anything," I promise and lean over to kiss her cheek. "Besides I love you so I can overlook a few flaws."
Claire breaks out laughing and I giggle along with her. We've always been on the same page.
Our laughter gets cut short as Claire pulls up to the bungalow and parks the car.
Owen Grady is outside tinkering with his bike with a raptor by his side.
