Two weeks later…
Jason’s benefit concert was a huge hit.
And they made their goal and then some.
The locals in Autre and Bad were thrilled to have their native son back and Jason put on a hell of a show, Fletcher had to admit.
He had also been very gracious about everything he’d said to the press and on social media about their program and Jordan in particular.
It seemed that his fans, and more importantly, Jordan’s fans, had accepted the fact that Jason and Jordan were no longer in love, but they were still very good friends. And they were now all following the social media accounts Charlie had created for Jordan that were full of photos and facts about all the animals in the petting zoo. The alpacas got a lot of love.
Jason’s tour was going very well, with sold-out audiences everywhere, and his team had even been able to spin his trip home as him squeezing a hometown charity into his busy schedule because he was just that great of a guy.
They’d had the concert in downtown Autre rather than at the animal park. Griffin had insisted that the huge crowd and loud music would be disruptive to the animals. However, earlier in the day, the petting zoo had been busier than ever. And they hadn’t served any blue food.
As the Landry family clustered at the end of Main Street, watching the last of the crowd file out and Jason’s crew start to clean up the stage and instruments, Griffin approached.
Charlie frowned at her boyfriend’s expression. “What’s wrong?”
Griffin sighed. “Good thing we got the money raised.”
“Why? Did something happen?” Charlie asked.
“I just got off the phone with my friend Jillian, one of the vets from the Omaha zoo.”
“What’s going on?” Charlie pressed.
“Apparently she needs some help.”
“Okay. Do you need to go to Omaha?”
“No. She’s coming here.”
“Oh. Great,” Charlie said. “The more the merrier.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. Because she’s not coming alone,” Griffin said. He held up his phone. On it was a picture of penguins. “And she’s bringing eight penguins.”
No one responded for several seconds.
Zeke was the first to speak. “Penguins? Fuck, yeah. That’s cool as hell.” He chuckled and elbowed Zander. “Get it? Cool?”
“You’re hilarious, baby brother,” Zander said.
Charlie’s eyes were wide. “Penguins? Seriously?”
Griffin nodded. “Yeah, she is now the owner of these penguins and needs a place for them to live. She thought of me and Tori first.”
Charlie’s shocked expression was slowly spreading into one of delight.
Griffin noticed. And sighed.
“You told her yes, didn’t you?” Charlie asked.
“Penguins?” Griffin said. “Where are we going to put them?”
“We’ll build them a habitat,” Zeke said as if it was the most obvious thing. “This will be fun. I’ll research how to get ice and all that shit in there. It will be like a super AC system.”
Griffin shook his head. “Well, at least that’s good news. They’re Galapagos penguins.”
Zeke lifted a brow. “You know I have no idea what that means.”
“They’re tropical penguins. The warm temperatures here will be fine for them.”
“What?” Zeke looked crestfallen. “I don’t have to come up with a freezer system for the penguin habitat?”
“Nope,” Griffin said. Zeke sighed. Then perked up. “Could we get a polar bear?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Griffin was the only no. Jordan and Charlie were the yeses.
Fletcher just laughed. “So how does someone suddenly become the owner of eight penguins?”
Griffin shook his head. “It’s crazy. Apparently an eccentric millionaire left them to her in his will.”
They all took that in. Zeke was again the first to speak. “No fucking way. That’s cool.” He elbowed Zander. “Even if they are tropical penguins.”
Zander rolled his eyes. “Hilarious. Seriously.”
“Not sure Jill agrees with you on the cool part,” Griffin said. “She’s a little frazzled.”
Zeke nodded. “Well, she’s wrong. It’s cool. In fact, it’s flipping cool.” He paused and looked at them all. “Get it? Flipping? Penguins have flippers?”
They all just sighed and started for Ellie’s.
Jason and his crew were going to meet them there. They were crashing over in Bad tonight and flying out of New Orleans tomorrow to Tampa.
“Seriously. You guys, that’s funny,” Zeke insisted as he walked with Griffin, Charlie, and Zander ahead of Fletcher and Jordan. “It’s flipping funny. This will be so flipping fun. I’m very flipping excited.” He spread his arms wide. “I can go on all night.”
“We know,” Griffin said. He glanced at Zander. “Don’t you have a stun gun or something?”
Zander was just smirking. “I think he’s pretty flipping funny.”
Griffin groaned and Charlie laughed.
Fletcher looked down at Jordan. She was grinning and seemed almost choked up.
“What are you thinking?” he asked as they walked hand in hand toward Ellie’s bar down the main street of their hometown.
She looked up at him. “Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“I’m thinking I’m just so, so happy that Jason Young dumped me.”
Epilogue
A month later…
“I’m thinking that maybe I embezzled money from the church.”
Fletcher looked over at his mother. They were both leaning on Ellie’s bar waiting for their to-go coffee orders. “Is this one of your stories about stuff you must’ve done in a past life?” he asked with a grin.
Elizabeth nodded. “Being punished in this life for past sins is really the only explanation for the mental anguish you and your brothers have put me through over the years.” She looked up at him. “Less you than them. At least in the last few years.”
Fletcher snorted. “What did Zeke or Zander do this time?”
His mother’s gaze moved past him to something over his left shoulder. “Well, we’re going to have to ask him.”
Fletcher turned and straightened as Zeke stepped into Ellie’s.
Zeke was limping slightly, and his jeans were ripped along with one sleeve of his jacket. His clothes were also dirty and covered in dust. There was a bright red scrape on his cheek and he had a huge goose egg with the gash on his forehead, which was covered with a butterfly bandage.
Interestingly, however, Zeke was grinning widely.
“Well, what the hell happened to you?” Ellie asked as he limped over and slid up onto one of the barstools.
“I just woke up after having one of the best nights of my life,” he told her.
“Damn, boy, I’d hate to see the morning after a bad night,” Leo told him from two stools down.
Zeke grinned at his grandfather as Ellie slid in a cup of coffee across the bar. “Met a gorgeous woman last night and she made me feel all better.”