“Maybe so, but I don’t know anyone down here.”
A giant sigh escaped as Ava braced her hands on her hips and looked down at Shay. “What do I look like, seagull droppings? Besides me, there’s Tory, Briana, Dana, Kat, Lexi, and Devin and we’re all meeting up at Tory’s house. No men. No kids. Some great food and sunset margaritas.”
“What are sunset margaritas?” Shay asked, sinking her hands into the sand to push herself up.
Ava held out a hand. “Midnight margaritas at sunset, of course, with the power to make you forget all about your troubles. Especially when they come dressed in tall, dark, and dreamy packages.”
Chapter 6
Saturday Colin had just finished feeding the cheetahs their evening meal and had sat down at his desk for the first time that day when he heard PJ call his name. Besides being one of his ghost hunting compadres, PJ was the Director of Operations for the zoo.
“How’s Maliha feeling today?” PJ stopped in front of the monitors showing all the areas of the leopards’ enclosure. “Is she still in sick bay?”
Sickbay was the nickname they’d given for the isolation enclosure, which is where they’d had to put their favorite snow leopard when she stopped eating, became extremely agitated, and wouldn’t stop pacing.
“Yep and back to her sweet self now. Tests results were normal, but we’ll keep a close eye on her for a few more days to make sure she doesn’t relapse before we release her into the general population.” Colin finished entering the data on the cats, closed out their folder, and brought up the next one. “What’s on your mind? Other than our sweet girl.”
“Anything new on the O’Malley case?”
“A shit ton of evidence” is what Colin wanted to say, but he’d made a promise and as much as he wanted, no needed, to hash out his findings with PJ and the guys, he couldn’t.
“Nothing yet.” Colin hated lying. “Still going through tapes though.”
“Strange. That place, the energy, and no evidence.”
Colin shifted in his chair. “Might find something on my recorder. Give me another week.”
“Okay, if you need a hand let me know. The wife is heading out of town with her sister so I’ll have lots of free time. Maybe we should set up another investigation? The full moon is coming up. You okay with that?” He’d turned from the monitors to meet Colin’s look.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll set it up with Mrs. O’Malley.”
“I’m not sure having the granddaughter there is a good idea. There seemed to be some extra tension between you two. What’s the story with you guys? Old girlfriend? Bar hookup?”
“More like the one that got away, but we’ve worked everything out and we’re good.” Colin glanced down at the clock on his computer and wondered what Shay was doing right that minute. It wasn’t the first time he’d thought of her that day, more like the thousandth.
“Hope not too good?” PJ turned back to the monitor, hit a few buttons, and had the camera zooming in on Maliha.
Colin sat back. PJ might be his boss and friend, but he was about to step over a line. His private life was no one else’s business but his own. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t spoken for years to the last person—namely his mother—to tell him Shay wasn’t good enough for him.
“Why’s that?”
PJ rocked back on his heels, with hands stuffed into his pockets, and chuckled. “It’s like that is it? Well, can’t say I blame you. Life with a woman like—Shay, is it?—will never be dull. But you better hope her loyalty to her grandmother doesn’t run so deep she’s not willing to move across country for you.”
“What are you talking about, PJ? I’m not moving anywhere.” Shit, was he about to get fired? He didn’t want to start over again. Plus, who would hire him as a senior zoologist if he got canned? There was always Plan B. But man, he hated Plan B.
“Someone from the Santa Barbara Zoo called asking questions about you.” He dropped into the chair in front of the desk. His voice held a hint of disappointment. “You know, job qualification type questions. Figured you’d applied for the job and hadn’t told me yet.”
He didn’t know what PJ was rambling on about. He hadn’t applied for any new positions anywhere, but SB Zoo would be a sweet gig.
“I’m not looking to going back to being an errand boy.”
“Rumor has it they’re looking for a new Animal Care Director so it’d be a step up. Can’t blame you if you did apply. More pay, more responsibility. Putting that brain of yours fully to work doing what it should be doing.”
“PJ, I didn’t apply for another job.”
“Well, thought I’d give you a heads-up on the inquiry. Not that we’d want to lose you. Let’s talk before you make a decision.” He headed back toward the exit, pausing one more time to look at Maliha. “Hey, let the team know when we can get back into the O’Malley place.”
Colin hit the Internet icon and typed in “Santa Barbara Zoo,” not that he was interested, just out of curiosity. Roger Williams was slightly bigger in size, but the California zoo had more big cats and a different variety of species on property. As Animal Care Director he wouldn’t be in charge of just a select group either, but of all the residents. PJ had nailed it when he said more money and responsibility. It was exactly what Colin had dreamed of doing. It was also three thousand miles from Shay.
Shay sat on the front steps of her house listening to the birds chirp and enjoying the sweet scent of lilacs. It was the first day in over a week that she hadn’t felt like a zombie, thanks largely in part to an amazing girls’ night out and some killer margaritas. The lull in today’s schedule helped too. They’d only had the staff’s kids to watch and everyone had been picked up by three, giving her time to come home and take a nap before Colin showed up for their date.
Between spring break, a trip to the zoo down in New Jersey for him to check on a possible transfer, and a wedding at the inn over the past weekend that ran late into the evening, they hadn’t been able to get their schedules to mesh so they could meet up. They had texted multiples times a day and talked every night. Sharing little bits and pieces of their day was great and all, but she missed the man. She wanted to see his smile, feel his strong arms around her, and taste his warm, soft lips.
Oh yeah, she had it bad.
History was repeating itself all over again.
She just hoped this version had a happier ending.
The crunch of tires on gravel, followed by the slam of a car door, alerted her to Colin’s arrival. He sauntered up the walkway with the ease and casualness of a man without a care in the world. He looked delicious in jeans and a button-down shirt. Sunlight glinted off his dark hair showcasing coppery highlights that gave away his Scottish ancestry.
Scots and Irish mixing, no wonder O’Malley had smacked him upside the head.
A smile broke out as soon as he saw her, sending little whirlwinds through her stomach. She’d been like this on their first date, all giddy, unsure, impatient, and twisted up inside. The man did things to her that she couldn’t explain, but she knew she hadn’t met another that made her feel alive like Colin Mackay.