“Yeah, did you kiss your wife all the time?” Samuel asked.
“We…didn’t kiss in high school at all,” he told them. “We were just friends.”
They gasped, clearly horrified.
“But…you kiss now right?” Katie asked. She seemed desperate for a yes answer.
And, thank God, he could give her one. “Of course.”
But dammit, he couldn’t shake the little voice at the back of his head that kept saying you’ve missed so much. You put your hand in her panties for the first time just this morning and you’re MARRIED. You don’t know what kind of foreplay she likes, or what position is her favorite, or what kind of vibrator she uses…and you’re MARRIED.
He didn’t care if they had known each other for twenty years. They were jumping way ahead on the game board here.
“Can she come visit our class?” Samuel asked, breaking into Fletcher’s thoughts.
Which was great, because thinking about Jordan and her vibrator—or was it vibrators, plural?—while sitting in front of his class of eight-year-olds was not appropriate.
“You know what? She probably can,” Fletcher said. “She’s going to be working down at the petting zoo.”
He was shocked to see Sophia straighten slightly in her seat. She was still watching him and now she seemed even more interested.
“Who all has been down to the petting zoo?”
All hands in the room went up, including Sophia’s.
Over the summer, Fletcher had sent out an email to all of his past students as well as the ones coming into his class this fall, inviting them to a movie party that Charlie had thrown at the petting zoo. All the kids got dressed up in their pajamas and came to watch the movie with the goats. Who had also been wearing pajamas. Several of his students had attended. But not Sophia. Her father had been on hospice by then.
“That’s great, I’m glad you’ve been down there. There are some really interesting animals to learn more about.”
“I went to Dr. Foster’s class,” Cameron bragged. “I got my certification.”
Griffin had started a handling clinic out at the veterinary hospital. The goal was to have kids learn how to interact with and handle some of the smaller animals like the rabbits and hedgehogs before moving on to learn how to properly interact with the larger animals. He offered a certificate printed on fancy paper that the kids could bring to the petting zoo for special interactive events.
It was a fantastic idea really. It gave the kids experience and respect for the animals before they got up close and personal, it placed the right amount of seriousness on proper handling, and it gave over-protective Griffin some peace of mind.
Additionally, it gave the kids of Autre and the surrounding area a little something special that the general tourists didn’t get. The kids visiting from out of town could come and watch the animals and, at certain times of day, feed some of the goats and alpacas that were more used to human interaction, but only the local kids with those certificates could handle and hold the smaller animals.
A chorus of, “Me too!” rang out.
Fletcher noticed that Sophia did not chime in, however. Right, with her father in chemo and then a funeral and grief counseling since the petting zoo had officially opened, Sophia probably hadn’t had a chance to play with any hedgehogs.
“Is your wife a veterinarian?” Olivia asked.
Fletcher shook his head. “Nope. She’s a teacher. She teaches high school science. But she is going to be working at the petting zoo, putting together classes and projects down there now.”
“We can go to classes at the petting zoo?” Katie asked.
“Kind of. You know those talks I did this summer where I would tell you more about each of the animals?” Many of his students had attended those and had thought it was so cool that their teacher was on YouTube. Heads bobbed around the room. “She’s going to be doing those and then making them even bigger and better. And yeah, I think they hope to have all kinds of fun stuff going on there.”
“So she was on TV and now she’s going to be on the Internet?” Samuel asked.
Fletcher chuckled. He wasn’t going to get into how much Jordan had already been on the Internet. He was sure many of the mothers of the kids in this room had seen her all over already. “Yeah, I guess so. Pretty neat, right?”
“No wonder you married her,” Cameron said completely seriously.
Fletcher grinned at him. “Well, there’s lots of reasons besides that why I wanted to marry her.”
“Like what?” Kyrie asked.
So, Fletcher told them. He figured it was being a great role model to explain to the kids what made him love the woman he’d chosen to marry. And after about thirty more minutes of telling them about Jordan and answering their questions, Fletcher realized that he’d grown Jordan’s fan club.
They finally moved on to social studies, math, and spelling.
Over his lunch break, Fletcher texted Jordan.
Fletcher: My class wants to meet you.
Jordan: Oh really?
Fletcher: Their families have been talking about us in Vegas.
Jordan: LOL. I’m shocked.
Fletcher: I know. But you’re kind of a superstar now. Want to come up for lunch tomorrow?
Jordan: I could. Or you all could come down here and have lunch in a couple of days. I could practice my presentations.
Fletcher: Perfect. He thought about how much more engaged Sophia had seemed after he’d mentioned the petting zoo. I’ll have them all bring a sack lunch.
Jordan: Awesome. I’ll tell Charlie.
Fletcher: See you tonight. Might be a bit late. Mitch and Zeke need some help on the enclosures for some red pandas after school…I understand you know something about that.
Jordan sent him a wide grinning face. Best job ever and I’ve been here like three hours.
That was exactly what he needed to hear. Bringing her home to Autre had been the right move, for sure.
Jordan: And I met Fiona this morning.
Fletcher laughed: Autre is never going to be the same with you and Charlie and Fiona conspiring.
Jordan: *I’m* never going to be the same.
Fletcher’s heart kicked and he had to force air into his lungs.
Jordan: Thank you. For always knowing what I need.
His breath rushed out.
For twenty years he’d prided himself on that very thing. He was always the guy who came through for Jordan. No matter the circumstance.
But now this thing was twenty-four-seven.
Was he actually going to be able to pull that off?
She added a little heart emoji and Fletcher set his phone down with a smile. It was just a heart emoji. His mother often used those in her messages too. But this one was from Jordan and that made it different.
13
Jordan had agreed to take the job after only ten minutes of holding Slothcrates. It was amazing that she would get to do this every single day. That was even before she met the lemurs.
She and Charlie, and the rest of the Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild, which included everyone from Griffin and Tori as the veterinarians to the owners of Boys of the Bayou—Sawyer, Josh, Owen, Maddie, and Bennett—would discuss details over the next several days, but Jordan already had some pretty great ideas about what she’d like to do with the position.