She laughed.
“And don’t forget… you’re still trying to talk me into an elephant.”
* * *
Two months later…
* * *
“This kettle corn is terrible,” Sawyer declared. “Again.”
“Shh!” Charlie told him sharply. They couldn’t let Ellie or Cora, her best friend and head cook at the bar, overhear.
They were standing outside of the new snack shack that Zeke had just finished building two days before. This was the grand opening, and Ellie and Cora had insisted on making much of the food themselves. The mini beignets, meat pies, and fried alligator balls had all turned out great. It was nice to have some authentic Louisiana food alongside the typical snow cones, ice cream sandwiches, nachos, and pizza slices. They’d even been discussing how to do gumbo in easy-to-handle containers.
Unfortunately, the one snafu was the kettle corn. For some reason.
“But how can it keep getting worse?” Mitch asked in a loud whisper.
“Seriously, how is it possible that the two best cooks I know can’t make kettle corn?” Fletcher asked.
“Yeah, someone needs to tell her that we’re going to start buying the kettle corn from somewhere else,” Owen said.
“Not it!” Zeke was quick to exclaim.
“Definitely not fucking it,” Zander agreed.
“No fucking way,” Fletcher said. Then he looked around quickly. Spending more time at the animal park with his family had come with the added pressure of constantly running into kids from school. He was struggling to keep up his good-influence vibe when he was with his cousins and brothers. That wasn’t anything new, of course, but being surrounded by little kids all the time was.
“Fine,” Charlie finally said with a sigh. “I’ll handle it with Ellie.”
“You sure you want to do that?” Sawyer asked.
What, was she stupid? Of course, she didn’t want to do that. But she was in charge of making sure everything at the animal park was as good as it could be.
She’d given up on the idea of perfection. Well, she was working on giving up on the idea of perfection. She was also trying to give up the idea that her ideas were always the best ones. But, when it came right down to it, she took responsibility for making the park everything that she and Griffin had dreamed of.
With a lot of help from her family.
And Fiona, of course.
“Wow,” Fiona said, joining them from where she’d just picked up her own kettle corn. “This really sucks,” she said around the first few kernels.
“What really sucks?”
Charlie grimaced as she heard her grandmother’s voice.
Zeke suddenly said, “Gotta go,” and headed in the opposite direction.
“Yeah, just got a call,” Zander said, holding up his phone and backing away.
“I’ve got to—” Fletcher started.
“Don’t even think about it,” Charlie said, catching the sleeve of his shirt.
She turned with a bright smile for her grandmother. Which instantly morphed into a very real grin when Charlie saw Griffin was with Ellie.
“What really sucks?” Ellie repeated as they stopped near Charlie, Fiona, Fletcher, and Sawyer.
Except, when she looked again, Sawyer was gone too. He just hadn’t announced his departure. Smart guy.
“This kettle corn,” Fiona said, holding up her bag. “You all need a new vendor.”
Ellie’s eyes rounded as Griffin and Charlie both groaned.
“You don’t like the kettle corn?” Ellie asked.
“No. It tastes burnt. Even though it doesn’t look it.” Fiona held her bag out. “Here, try it.”
Ellie reached out and took three kernels. She tasted them, frowned, and said, “It really does suck.”
Fiona nodded. “Told you.”
Charlie looked at her grandmother. “You agree it’s not good?”
“Of course, that’s not good,” Ellie said. “No one would think that was good.”
“So, we were thinking that with everything else you and Cora are doing, maybe we should look to someone else for the kettle corn.”
Ellie waved that away. “We’ll try again. We’ll try a new recipe. It will be fine.”
Charlie sighed and looked at Griffin. He lifted a shoulder.
She didn’t want her grandmother’s feelings hurt, for sure, but looking at Griffin reminded her of all their plans and dreams, as it always did. Plans and dreams she was willing to do anything for.
Even insult her grandmother.
She took a breath. “Ellie, I love you, and I so appreciate everything that you’re doing for the snack shack. Most of it is amazing. And I know it’s a lot of extra work. But, we’re going to find a new vendor for the kettle corn. You’ve tried a few times now, and it’s just not working. Everything here has to be as good as it can possibly be.”
Ellie regarded her with one eye narrowed. She crossed her arms. Then, after nearly thirty full seconds, during which Charlie shifted her weight from one foot to the other, twice, Ellie said, “It’s about time.”
Charlie frowned. “About time? What do you mean?”
“I’ve been waiting for you to say something. I wanted to know that even the kettle corn was important to you. Figured if it were, you’d say something eventually.”
Charlie stared at her grandmother. “You’ve been ruining the kettle corn on purpose, waiting for me to say something? You were testing me?”
Ellie chuckled. “I wasn’t ruining it on purpose. But I knew it sucked. Still, no one was saying anything. Hell yes, it was a test. If you can confront me about my cooking, then you can handle anything that comes up in the park.”
Charlie let her eyes slide shut, and she took a deep breath. A deep breath full of hot, humid air that smelled like goats. And burnt kettle corn.
She could be working in a sleek, modern, air-conditioned office with other marketing experts and beautiful online slideshow presentations talking about the latest makeup trends and how they were going to support programs that got single moms successfully into the workforce.
But when she opened her eyes, Griffin was watching her with a combination of amusement and affection that told her she was never not going to be by his side taking care of goats. Of course, now she had three beavers to also help take care of.
“Okay then,” she told her grandmother. “You are officially fired as the kettle corn maker for Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild.”
Ellie laughed. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
“The idea of it sent three grown men running,” Charlie told her with a grin.
“Good,” Ellie said. “I want to keep my grandsons scared of me.”
“Speaking of grandsons who are scared of you and if the questionable mental health in our family is genetic, I’m going to go find somewhere else to be,” Fletcher said.
“Oh,” Ellie said, “you’re the reason I came over here.”
Fletcher sighed. “Why is that?”
“Jason Young is performing live tonight, and there is a rumor that he’s going to do something big and exciting on stage,” Ellie said.