The whole family had known, or at least assumed, and it seemed they thought it was natural that’s where she would be.
But she needed to be alone right now. And being alone in Autre was extremely hard to do.
Which was why, when she pulled up in front of Ellie’s, she only paused for three seconds before she put her car back into drive and pointed toward the bayou.
There were a few nooks and crannies along the bank where the ground was solid enough to park a car and walk on without sinking into the marshy ground. It wasn’t that no one would be able to find her, but it would take them a while to look for her there.
She needed to think about what happened and what she was going to do to fix it.
“Where is she?” Griffin strode into Ellie’s bar five hours later.
He hadn’t seen Charlie since she’d left the clinic. He’d been unable to go after her until he was certain Snickers was stable. He tried calling her cell, but she wasn’t answering. He’d called Mitch and Fletcher and Maddie, but none of them had seen her in the last two hours.
He’d been hoping she’d come back to the clinic after she had a few minutes to breathe and think. But she hadn’t. She wasn’t at his house, she wasn’t at the petting zoo, and she wasn’t at Ellie’s.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Sawyer said. “What the hell’s going on?”
Griffin stopped by the family table at the back of the bar and planted his hands on his hips. “We had a problem with one of the otters. She was pretty shaken up and left to get some air. Five hours ago. I haven’t seen her since.”
“Oh my God, do you think she’s all right?” Tori asked.
“Well, she’s been around,” Sawyer said, seeming exasperated. “There are signs all over the petting zoo and the otter enclosure that say we’re closed until further notice.”
“What?” Tori asked. She looked up at Griffin. “What kind of issue was it with the otter?”
“Snickers got a hold of a toothpick, had an intestinal perforation. He’s still in serious condition, but I think he’ll be okay.”
Tori looked a little pale. “A toothpick? Oh crap.”
Griffin nodded. “Obviously, he got a hold of it because a human tossed it in there. And I’m sure Charlie is blaming herself.”
He knew that was exactly what was going on in his girlfriend’s mind. He’d seen the distraught look on her face and recognized the guilt immediately. She’d pushed to have more human interaction with the animals, and the interactive feeding activities, in particular, had been a pet project.
He was angry too. And worried. And he wanted to lash out at the humans who had been reckless. But the last couple of weeks had shown him something very important. Humans didn’t know how to act around animals unless they were taught.
Working with the little kids in the handling techniques clinic he’d started doing twice a week in the afternoons had shown him that they needed to be taught but also that they were eager to learn.
It wasn’t just the kids who had been attentive students. The adults who brought them to the clinic had all hung around and listened as well. Hunter’s father had brought him to the second session, and the man had been clearly excited to get to handle the hedgehogs as well when Griffin offered.
There were horrible human beings in the world. That was just a fact. They hurt people and animals and the environment around them without any thought and without any remorse. Sometimes on purpose.
But that was not the majority of people. The majority could be taught and wanted to learn. And Griffin had found incredible reward in being the person to instruct them and to answer their questions, and be a resource they felt they could come back to.
No one had hurt Snickers on purpose. He knew that. Did they need to do a better job of instructing people during the feeding times? Yes. Did they need to be more careful with using things like toothpicks? Yes, absolutely. But that could be done.
Yes, this was Charlie’s fault. But he wasn’t angry with her. He hadn’t supervised the feedings as well as he should have, and he knew that her intentions had been nothing but good.
“What the hell is going on?” Maddie came marching across the bar just then. She was holding onto a piece of paper that she waved at them all as she stopped by the table. “Where’s Charlie?”
“Question of the hour,” Sawyer said. “She shut down the petting zoo and the rest of the animal encounters.”
“Where’s Charlie?” Paige came through the kitchen door, stopping at the table. “I’ve been getting phone calls for the past two hours telling me that otter yoga and the kids’ otter exercise classes have all been canceled indefinitely. What’s going on?”
Griffin sighed. “She canceled otter yoga?”
“And she sent out an email to everyone who went to Sloth Storytime and Lunch with the Lemurs telling them that someone had been careless and dropped a toothpick and might’ve killed an otter and there were to be no more activities because the people of this town can’t handle the responsibility.”
Maddie waved the paper she held again.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Sawyer said. “She said that?”
“Practically,” Maddie said. “She basically said that because people can’t be more responsible around the animals that we are no longer going to be offering encounters.”
Griffin shoved a hand through his hair. Yeah, clearly, she was feeling responsible. And clearly, she was taking this very seriously.
But, in typical Charlie fashion, she was doing this big and passionately as well.
“That’s it,” Sawyer said, shoving back from the table and standing. “We need to find her. This is ridiculous.”
“Well, one of the otters being harmed by a feeding encounter is kind of a big deal,” Tori said, frowning at Sawyer.
“Fine. Then we’ll have people look at the otters and hear presentations about them without feeding them,” Maddie said. “But we can’t shut it all down. It’s going so well.”
“You weren’t even that excited about expanding the petting zoo in the beginning,” Tori said.
Maddie frowned at her. “I was fine with the idea. Charlie talked me into it easily.”
“Okay, okay,” Griffin said. Now Tori and Maddie were going to argue? This wasn’t good.
Tori pushed back from the table and stood as well. “The animals and their safety have to be our first priority. I’m glad it’s going well and that the business is making more money, but that can’t be our only focus.”
Maddie gasped and squared off, facing Tori directly. “I can’t believe you said that to me. I’m not only worried about the money.”
“The increased revenue is really great though,” Sawyer inserted firmly. “Charlie came and talked us into this idea. We went along with it, trusting her to lead the way, and everything’s been great. She can’t just pull the plug like this all of a sudden.”
“If people can’t be trusted around animals, then pulling the plug all at once is maybe the best way to go,” Tori said. “I realize this is an extension of Boys of the Bayou, but these are my animals.”