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“I hope that if I have kids someday, they are all just like Zeke,” Lucy declared.
Although when I have kids, it’s going to be on my terms. I won’t be pushed into it by someone else.
The lunch rush soon followed, and Lucy was dead on her feet by the time they cleaned up afterward.
Clara handed Lucy a sweet iced tea and took one for herself.
“Is it like that all the time?”
“Even busier in the spring, summer, and early fall when the tourists are in town,” Clara said.
“Time goes by fast, though, when you’re constantly hopping like that,” Lucy said.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute and then Lucy asked, “What do you think of arranged marriages?”
“Well,” Clara said, trying to choose her words very carefully. “I’ve had some friends from other countries where it is a common practice. The women were okay with the situation, so who am I to judge?”
“That is a very politically correct answer.” Lucy laughed.
“I don’t judge other people’s beliefs or cultures, but I do think that it should be agreed upon by two consenting adults. I don’t agree with marrying a twelve-year-old to a thirty-year-old man,” Clara said. “Why do you ask?”
“Would you believe that my family had me go through a betrothal ceremony when I was five? Now, the man is going to be getting a big promotion and both of our families are expecting me to go through with it.”
“That is not okay,” Clara said. “You were barely old enough to know which doll you wanted to play with, let alone which man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.”
“I agree. I love the man in question as a friend, but nothing more,” Lucy said.
“Your family should be ashamed of itself.”
“If I don’t go through with the marriage, then my entire family will turn its back on me and disown me.”
A customer came in, interrupting the conversation.
“Alexis,” Clara said, her voice cold and distant. “What can I get for you?”
“I just wanted to come in and meet your new employee. I heard that you hired a new girl from out of town.”
“There is no need. I don’t need your approval to hire new people, and I don’t need you harassing my employees,” Clara said.
“Tsk, tsk. You’re a bit touchy, aren’t you?”
Clara just stared at her.
“Fine, I’ll go,” Alexis said.
Lucy was shocked at the difference in attitude. Clara had treated everyone else with respect and sweetness.
Clara smiled and said, “I guess I should explain. Alexis Faison, along with her three brothers are the billionaire family that owns the Forest Resort. Do you know what shifters are?”
“I do,” Lucy said.
“A long time ago, regular people and shifters lived in the area in relative peace until an ancestor of the current Faisons, a billionaire, decided that he hated them. It didn’t help that his daughter fell in love with a dragon shifter, the son of the dragon shifter king. The old man declared war on the shifters. Instead of decimating the human population, they created a shifter world and a lot of the shifters moved there. The portal can only be perceived by shifters. The billionaire’s daughter, who was pregnant with the dragon shifter’s child, went with them. Ever since then, there has been a war going on between the billionaires and the shifter community. The Faisons often hire hunters to track down and kill shifters. My friend and manager had to leave for the shifter world after the Faisons found out that she was a bear shifter,” Clara explained.
Lucy was stunned. She had heard of the shifter world, but she had always thought that it was a myth. She also wondered what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into by coming to this town.
“I’m surprised all the shifters don’t just leave,” Lucy said.
“A lot of them have. Some of them have made their lives here and don’t want to be forced out.”
