AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Being with someone like you couldn’t have been easy, Livvy. There’s no wonder he strayed. Who would want to marry, well, someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” I did it again. Glutton for punishment.
“Let me be straight. No man wants a pudgy princess. They want slim and lean. Someone they can wrap their arms around. You know what I mean.”
Jason had never complained about my weight. I wouldn’t have cared if he did. I liked my curves and the fact I ate like a normal person.
I whirled on my expensive heels and left.
I’d made plenty of mistakes in my life but I never made them twice.
Leaving the pride was my only option.
I didn’t know where to go or what to do, but I had to leave. Humans weren’t my favorite but, in order to survive outside the group of my kind, I would have to live with them. Get a job. Find an apartment.
New things all around.
Scary, but my autonomy was worth it.
Now, for another Oreo.
Chapter Two
Sloan
Koby’s wails pierced my ears. Again. I rushed up the stairs to his room, pausing only to unfasten the gate at the top, anxious to show him while his mama might be gone, his daddies were not going anywhere. The healer insisted that a toddler would not be having separation issues six months after his mother passed away, but I could not be convinced of that.
Angela was not our fated, but with a handful of pandas in the whole country, we were grateful to have met her at all. And we’d grown to love her. We had three years together before she gave birth to our cub, and two after that before a heart defect she’d never even known she had, took her from us in the middle of one stormy night. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to hear the crack of thunder again without thinking of her.
Koby seemed fine, most of the time…but when he woke from his afternoon nap, or any sleep, he did it like this. A screwed-up red face, tears shining on his cheeks, and his whole body tensed. He sat on the floor by his little bed, and I scooped him up and swung him into my arms.
“Hey, big guy, why the tears? Are you afraid I forgot about the animal crackers for your snack?”
He sniffed, but at the mention of his favorite cookies, his gaze shot to mine. “Crackers?”
“Well, sure! Remember, we bought them at the store this morning? You picked them out.” We tried to give him more healthful food and keep sugar to a minimum, but this brand was whole grain and sweetened with honey, so we thought it a win for an occasional treat.
I checked him for accidents, but he was dry. Almost potty trained, our cub had rare accidents while sleeping, nothing we made a fuss about. His shirt was soaked with sweat, though, probably from all the crying. When Angela was alive, he’d woken from naps with smiles and baby dimples.
I’d give anything for that to be the case again.
Passing the open gate, I closed it behind me and marched down the stairs counting, “One, two, three, four…” all the way to sixteen. He sometimes counted with me, but today he didn’t.
Justice came in as I finished settling Koby in his booster seat at the table. “Hey, cubby! Did I get home just in time for snack?” He ruffled the little boy’s hair and dropped into the chair beside him. “I could use something, too.”
I held up the box with its string handle and the sippy cup I’d filled and left in the fridge a bit earlier. “Animal crackers and milk?”
He tilted his head as if considering before shaking it. “Actually I skipped lunch to get away earlier, and I think I’ll make a sandwich.” He started to rise, but I waved him back down.
“Relax.” We were not mates to one another, both drawn only to females in that way, but we were family, since we had Koby, and good friends who had one another’s backs in all things. “Ham and cheese or”—I checked the fridge again— “tuna salad?”
“Umm…didn’t we make that tuna last week?”
I took the bowl out and lifted the lid, grimacing so hard, Koby’s giggles rang out. “Well, I’m glad to hear that, but not sure it was worth the assault on my nose.”
“’mell again!” our cub shouted, banging his sippy on the table. “’mell bad!”
“Yes.” I poured the fish down the sink and turned on the garbage disposal. “Smells very bad.”
