She knew Griffin. She knew Donovan’s reputation. She’d also met Griffin’s friend Fiona who ran a large animal park in Florida. She knew they were all passionate about wildlife and conservation efforts. If she was going to immerse herself in this penguin project, she was going to need like-minded people around her. Who wouldn’t think she was entirely crazy.
She glanced at the hot tattooed guy next to her, who had already gotten her off track and had her sitting in a rundown restaurant by the bayou waiting for a brunch she didn’t want instead of talking about her new penguin habitat. And she realized that perhaps he wasn’t someone she should spend a lot of time with.
That was too bad. He was not just hot, but funny, charming, and sweet. He’d kept her from panicking about the alligator in her yard, and he’d remodeled her bathroom and bedroom in the old house even when she hadn’t returned his emails.
“Come on, let’s just rock-paper-scissors this thing and get it over with,” Bailey said. “If it ends up being my job today, I need to get the goats back home so I can get out and check on the alligator nuisance call from yesterday.”
“You do alligator nuisance calls?” Jill asked.
“I’m the one people call if there’s an alligator some place they shouldn’t be.”
“There was an alligator in my backyard this morning,” Jill said. “Zeke took care of it, but I’d love to have your phone number for next time.”
“Your backyard?” Bailey said.
“She’s the one I’m remodeling Mary’s house for.”
Bailey’s eyes went round. “So you two are neighbors now.”
Jill nodded. “Evidently. Who’s Mary?” she asked Zeke.
“Mary was one of my grandfather’s sisters. That was her house until she passed a few years back.”
“So I’m living in one of your family homes?” Jill asked. “Are you sure that’s all right?”
“There are still a couple houses available for anyone else who needs one. But everybody’s pretty taken care of right now. And you saw the place. It was definitely the one that needed the most work.”
Jill rolled her eyes. “I’m going to need to have a talk with my realtor.”
Zeke laughed. “We told Stuart that he’d get free bread pudding for the next two months if he talked you into the house.”
“You knew you had to bribe the realtor to sell that place?”
“We honestly did not think that he would manage it.” Zander said. “Then again, we expected most people to check the house out before they bought it.”
“Guess we didn’t expect the new penguin veterinarian to be quite so low maintenance,” Zeke agreed.
She didn’t really have a response to that. After all, it was her fault she’d ended up with a house that needed renovation from basement to attic.
“Anyway, I’m happy to give you my number if you ever need anything,” Bailey said. “But I have to warn you, your backyard isn’t officially a place we would remove an alligator from.”
“What do you mean?” Jill asked, suddenly concerned.
“Your backyard is basically part of the bayou. The alligators are protected there. That’s their natural habitat.”
“So you’re saying that when people in other parts of town call you to remove an alligator, you technically bring it to my backyard,” Jill said.
“Kind of,” Bailey admitted. “Not actually, of course. All of that land is private Landry property, so the state wouldn’t be able to relocate an animal there. However, it is protected land and while the Landry family can do most anything they want with it, there are a few rules they have to follow.”
Zeke’s hand moved from the back of her chair to the spot on Jill’s upper back between her shoulder blades.
His big palm covered the entire space and she immediately felt the heat soaking in through her shirt. The heavy, warm touch was actually comforting. She took a deep breath and looked at him.
“Bailey can’t, in her official capacity, come and remove your alligators. But I’m right next door and I’m happy to take care of anything you need.”
Zander laughed and Michael gave a short cough.
Jill rolled her eyes. “I’m going to remember that, and I assume that comes with a twenty-four seven offer. So even if there’s a need at three a.m., you’re happy to answer my call.”
Zeke’s grin grew. “I’ll give you a key. You don’t even have to call.”
“I’ll have the Bat phone, you know,” Donovan inserted. “Well, the goat phone. You can call me too.”
“You’re taking the phone?” Knox said. “I didn’t agree to any online marketing budget for your Wildlife on Main Street show.”
“Wildlife on Main Street,” Donovan repeated. Then he said, “Or Going Wild on Main Street. Ties in with Gone Wild.”
“Anyway, I didn’t agree to that,” Knox said.
“Yet,” Donovan added.
“You sure about that yet?” Knox asked.
“There is a Methodist church full of goats right now that you are either going to have to take care of or put up with Zander bitching about having to take care of,” Donovan said. “And those goats have definitely pooped by those pews by now.”
“Puts a whole new spin on ‘holy shit’,” Bailey quipped. The guys groaned as she got up from her chair with a little laugh. “Okay, I seriously have to get to work. I would certainly assume that the town cop, fire chief, and city manager would also have more to do.” She looked at each of the men pointedly.
“Fine. Go. Leave us with the goat shit,” Zander grumped. “Seems about right that this is what my career has been reduced to.”
“You left the force in New Orleans,” Michael pointed out. “You knew what being the sheriff in this part of the world would be like.”
Bailey took a couple of steps but grimaced and limped on her one foot as she rounded the edge of the table.
“I take it you saw Chase this past weekend?” Zeke asked.
“Good thing he’s in medical school,” Bailey said with a nod.
Jill sent Zeke a questioning look. Then regretted it. She didn’t care who Chase was. Well, she shouldn’t. He was one more person in this huge list of people that seemed to interact on a regular basis around here.
But she was curious, she had to admit.
“Chase is Bailey’s fiancé. He’s at medical school in D.C. They are both perfectly normal, successful, competent people. When they’re apart. But whenever they’re together, they are accident-prone, klutzy, and one or both of them ends up bruised, bleeding, or limping.”
Jill’s eyes widened and she looked at Bailey. In spite of not wanting to be interested in the stories that seemed to be swirling just under the surface with this group she was.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
Bailey nodded. “Since falling in love with Chase, I’ve gotten very used to staying in and taking ibuprofen.”
Jill didn’t press for more details, but dammit she kind of wanted to.
She was amused to watch the men, including Donovan, all make a fist, pump their arms three times, and then choose a sign for rock, paper, or scissors.