Charlie covered her laugh with a cough. Zeke, Zander, and Fletcher did not. They laughed out loud.
“I’m gonna warn you right now,” Zeke told Knox. “You take her up on that invitation, and you’ll come back a changed man.”
Knox looked from Zeke to Fiona and back again. “You’ve been for a ride with her?” he asked Zeke.
Zeke shook his head. “No way, man. I tend to piss women off, and this one could literally feed me to the lions if I made her mad.”
Knox looked at Fiona again. “Literally?”
“I only have two lions, and they’re well-fed, so there’s not much risk. But for the right guy, I’d let them get hungry,” she said with a nod.
Knox clearly had no idea what to think of Fiona. “Your truck is taking up several parking spots.”
“Yeah. I like big things,” she agreed.
“It’s kind of in the way,” Knox told her. “You gonna move it?”
“It’s gonna be big no matter where I put it.”
Charlie didn’t know about anyone else, but she thought that sounded very dirty. She glanced at Knox. He was watching Fiona with a look that was part confusion and part interest.
But Fiona had a boyfriend, so she probably hadn’t meant it like that.
Though, looking at Fiona looking at Knox, Charlie wasn’t entirely sure about that.
Finally, Knox looked at Zander. “Can’t you do something?”
Zander shrugged and rolled his head to look at Fiona. “Hey, can you move your truck, so it doesn’t take up so many parking spots?”
She gave him a sweet smile. “No.”
Zander looked up at Knox. “I tried.”
“You’re a terrible town cop.”
“Or am I just a gentleman and good friend? What do you expect a chick with a trailer full of lemurs and sloths to drive, and where is she supposed to put it when she needs gumbo and bread pudding?”
Knox’s frown deepened. “A trailer full of what?”
“Fiona brought a sloth and some lemurs to add to the Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild,” Zeke informed him. Seemingly with glee.
“And hedgehogs,” Fiona added.
“A sloth?” Knox said. He looked at Tori, then Sawyer. “A sloth?” he repeated.
“His name is Slothcrates. He’s really cute,” Juliet chimed in.
Sawyer shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he said to Knox. “Sloths are really cute.”
Knox muttered something under his breath that sounded a little like pussy whipped.
Charlie grinned but ducked her head so he wouldn’t see it.
He focused on Zander. “If ya’ll keep adding animals, the traffic and parking are going to get even worse.”
“You really think so?” Charlie asked, perking up. “You think it will bring more people in?”
Knox looked at her with one brow up. “Is that not your goal?”
“Well, of course, but… you really think it will happen?”
He sighed. “Yeah. I do. And I think it’s going to be a pain in the ass.”
“Who are you?” Fiona asked. “You with the USDA or something?”
Charlie did know from her reading that the USDA oversaw the animal care in petting zoos and animal parks and zoos. At some point, she supposed they’d get a visit. But she was going to depend on Tori and Griffin, and now Fiona, to know what they needed to do.
“He’s our city planner,” Zander said with a grin. “And he gets his panties in a wad whenever something might muck up the traffic patterns in our great metropolis.”
Knox—and was that his first name or last?—didn’t look like a city planner. Or the type to get his panties in a wad about things like traffic patterns. That seemed a little… nerdy… for a big guy who looked like he could be on the line for the Saints or right at home knocking out drywall with Zeke or pouring cement with Mitch or even slinging hay bales for the goats and alpacas. He was brawny. He looked like a big, hot, blue-collar Cajun. Not a guy who sat behind a desk with perfectly sharpened pencils and schematics hanging on the wall behind him.
“I’m going to enjoy watching you have to actually get up and write a ticket or two when people start having fender benders all over our ‘great metropolis’ because our traffic lights and parking areas and roads aren’t up to an increase in traffic,” Knox returned. “Mayor Landry’s gonna love her first city council meeting after all of this.”
Okay, but he sounded like a nerdy city planner.
And right, Mayor Landry. Kennedy. Was this really going to be a mess for her now?
Charlie sighed. She tended to get ahead of herself in her mind and her overall plans, but she always had set parameters to work with. Here, it seemed that “sure, whatever” was going to be the motto. That sounded great, of course, but maybe it was dangerous.
She glanced at Fiona. Griffin had said they were going to probably cause him headaches together. It looked like others in Autre were going to need more ibuprofen too.
But Fiona just gave her a wink and then leaned in, resting her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. “Are you going to be here making a fuss every time I show up with new animals?” she asked Knox. Her voice was sweet, but her expression was mischievous.
Knox didn’t seem overly impressed with her batting eyes or her sweet tone. “You’re going to be showing up with new animals again?” he asked.
“Well, they can’t just go pick up an ostrich at Target, you know,” Fiona told him.
He looked at Zander. “An ostrich?”
Zander held up both hands. “Animal procurement is above my pay grade.”
“Is exerting some control over the crazy around here above your pay grade too?” Knox asked.
Zander nodded. “Waaaaay above.”
Knox sighed and looked at Fiona again. “Do I need to call the USDA?”
“Are you not-so-politely asking if these animals are legally obtained and well cared for and will be properly licensed?” Fiona asked, sitting back, apparently realizing that her flirting wasn’t getting her anywhere.
“I am,” Knox said simply.
“The answer to all of those are ‘of course,’” Fiona replied.
“You have a license for them all?”
“I do.”
“In Louisiana?”
That made her pause. And that pause was just a little too long.
“Get it taken care of.” Knox looked around at the group, including them all in the directive.
“Why does the city planner care about all of that so much?” Fiona asked. City planner could have been stinky pile of garbage with the way she said it.
“He really likes paperwork,” Zander said.
“He really likes not having to do extra paperwork,” Knox corrected. “Like the paperwork required to put in new stop signs and to fix potholes and to increase garbage pickup. And he really doesn’t like having city council meetings where he has to explain to the people of this town that we can’t do those things because the budget doesn’t allow for it.”
“Does he like having the area businesses thrilled with the uptick in customers stopping for gas and food and souvenirs?” Fiona asked.