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Keeping It Cool

"Alright," Venti said as he finished the last of his appetizer, "you're reacquainted with your best friend, Dad. Sam, you've been forgiven for vanishing after all those years. Great! Art and I are leaving." He started to get up from his chair. "I'm sure the two of you want to catch up on old times."

"That's not why I'm here, son," Sam said.

"I'm going to say this as nicely as possible, Sam. Please don't call me son. Dad here can say it, even though right now I hope he doesn't either."

"Venti..." Art said, still seated.

Venti looked at his boyfriend, then back at the two older men. "Right. Sorry, but I'm still feeling upset, Dad. We'll talk about it later because I definitely need to cool off some. As for you, Sam, I know you're here to get to know me." He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath holding it for a second before releasing it slowly. "But somehow I wonder if you're not here to scam some money out of me."

He opened his eyes to see Sam staring at him, then at Earl, who looked away. "I'm sorry, Sam, but the timing is just too coincidental. Maybe you're here with the best of intentions, so let me reassure you about one thing."

"What's that?" Sam asked calmly. He's really keeping his cool, Venti thought. Then again, so am I.

"I can't afford to give you any money. I'm not exactly the wealthy type. That cover was a one shot deal, and they never called me back. Guess I was the flavor of the month, but you know what? I don't mind. I'm happy where I live, because I live with my boyfriend."

"I'm glad to hear that, Reginald."

Venti couldn't tell if Sam was being sincere or not, but decided a moment later he simply didn't care. "Maybe I can eventually believe you do regret giving me up at birth. You lost your wife, but I lost a mom and a dad."

Venti looked over at Earl. "At the risk of sounding sappy, I'm glad you had the sense to let your best friend adopt me. I'm leaving now." He glanced at Art. "Let's go home." He turned to Earl. "Thanks for lunch, Dad. See you when you get back to my place."

"I'm sorry again for never telling you."

Venti sighed. "It's okay, Dad. You were just trying to protect me, right?"

Earl nodded. "At least I thought I was," he said.

As Venti and Art left the restaurant, the jackal said "Did I manage to not make a fool of myself?"

"I think you handled it as well as you could, given all those surprises they hit you with."

Venti draped an arm around the lion's shoulders, squeezing him. "Thanks for being there, sweetie."

Art leaned into the hug, patting Venti's midsection. "So what now?"

"Let's talk about your surprise when we get home. I think there's a lot of stuff we've got to do."