“You’re the best.”
Cora gave him a sweet smile. “Wait till you see what kind of dreams you have when you use that powder before bed. Then you’ll really love me.”
He chuckled. Then focused on his grandmother. “You’ve seen Jill?”
Ellie looked over at him. “No.”
“Then how’d you get my sock?”
“It was hanging on the doorknob to the back door of this place,” Ellie said. “Had a note that said ‘Zeke’s’.”
Zeke shook his head. “I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t she just put it on my doorknob?”
“I suppose she thinks that you need someone else taking care of your socks.”
“Good Lord, she thinks I’m a dumb ass.”
Ellie shrugged. “It’s possible.”
Ellie Landry was never going to be awarded warm-and-fuzzy-grandmother-of-the-year.
“Hey, I built her a very nice penguin enclosure.”
“You can be a dumbass who can’t keep his socks together and still be a great builder,” Ellie said. “Lots of people are dumbasses in some areas and smart and talented in another. Have you ever met a lawyer?”
Zeke snorted. “This is what you’re going to say to me instead of assuring me that I’m not a dumbass and that no one would ever think that of me?” Zeke asked, amused in spite of himself.
“Didn’t you have to get her shoes the other day?”
“I borrowed some from Paige for her, yes.”
“Why?” Ellie asked.
“Because she got her shoes wet.”
“How?”
“Crawling into the penguin enclosure.” Zeke realized how that sounded as he said it out loud.
“Right. Maybe you and Jillian have a lot in common.”
“Being dumbasses?”
“Leaping before you look,” Ellie said with a smile. “By the way, it’s one of my favorite things about you. Sure, once in a while it ends up dislocating a joint, but some people just assume they can’t make it and never even try. You, on the other hand, are never afraid to make the jump. You sometimes fall, but you get help, and then know how to cross that distance next time.”
“And you think Jill and I have that in common?”
“She climbed over the gate instead of accepting she couldn’t get to what she wanted.”
Well, damn.
He really loved his grandmother.
And he was pretty sure he was falling for Jillian Morris as well.
“I like that spin on the dumbass angle.”
Ellie smiled at him affectionately. “You’re not a dumbass, Zeke. You just don’t worry about much. But then why would you? You’ve always had a huge safety net.” She looked around the room.
Zeke felt a little warmer in his chest. She was right about that. He had always had a number of people watching his back.
“Jill’s not a dumbass either.”
“Of course she’s not. She just does dumbass things sometimes. As we all do.”
Okay, he’d give Ellie that. But he couldn’t resist saying, “She’s passionate. And she puts the end goal in front of all the steps it’s going to take to get there. Like when she wanted to get inside the enclosure. She just climbed over the fence rather than waiting for someone to get there to help her.”
“But she can clean up and dry,” Ellie said simply.
Exactly. All of the steps in between the starting point and the end point were details. How a person got there didn’t always matter as long as they were willing to deal with the consequences of taking a different path.
“Thanks, Ellie.”
“For?”
“For making dumbass moments seem perfectly normal.”
She laughed. “Years of practice.”
He leaned across the bar and kissed her cheek. Then he tucked the cream and powder from Cora into his pocket and headed back to the table. Just in time, it seemed.
He got there just as Zander said, “Knox and I have good reason to go out there and look around.”
“What’s my reason?” Tori asked.
“You’re one of the owners of Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild?” Zander asked.
“Sure, but she owns everything out there, she even bought the land from us.”
Griffin looked at Zeke. “They’re all yours.”
“What’s going on?”
“Everyone’s trying to figure out a reason to head over to the penguin habitat. Their curiosity is killing them.”
Zeke’s eyebrows slammed together. “Nobody’s going over there.”
Charlie’s eyes widened. “You’re going to stop us?”
“If needed.” Zeke put his hands on his hips. “I’m bigger and way meaner than you, Charlie.”
“You think you’re meaner than me?”
“You might have some scathing retorts to throw at me,” Zeke told her. “But I’m mean enough to handcuff you in my shed in my workroom.”
Charlie seemed to be thinking about that. And she seemed to come up with the conclusion that he was being sincere.
“I just want to be sure she has everything she needs. She doesn’t need to be doing this alone. I’m perfectly qualified to help her with the penguins,” Tori turned her big brown eyes on Zeke.
Tori was absolutely the sweetest of the girls. She had those big eyes, long eyelashes, and a smattering of freckles. A very wholesome girl-next-door demeanor. And it was no act. Tori was absolutely kind and sweet and generous.
However, she had learned that Josh wasn’t the only Landry guy with a soft spot for sweet and kind and quirky and she wasn’t above using the fact that she had all of them at least slightly wrapped around her finger to get her way.
She was also a new mom to a beautiful baby girl they were all enamored with. Eleanor Coraline Landry was the first great-grandchild, and she was named for both Ellie and Cora, who were, obviously, everyone’s favorites.
And honestly, if it wasn’t Jill that Zeke was protecting, he would’ve totally given in.
But it was Jill. And the fact that he was willing to turn Tori down in order to preserve Jill’s peace said a lot about how much he liked the penguin veterinarian.
“Sorry, Victoria,” he said using her full name. “You’re going to have to wait too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jill has you and Griffin over first, but she made it very clear that the penguins need time to adjust in the peace and quiet.”
“We just want to look at them,” Zander said.
Zeke turned to his twin. “I realize that you’re not big on rules. And I realize that makes you being a cop incredibly ironic, but I will physically block you from going to the penguin habitat if I have to.”
Zander looked amused. “I just helped you pop your shoulder back into joint. You really think you can take me?”
“Okay,” Mitch interjected, literally stepping between the two. “Nobody’s taking anybody. We’re all excited to go see the penguins but, clearly, Zeke and I are the only ones who have a good reason, at this moment.”
Zeke frowned at him. “What’s your good reason?”
“I helped build the enclosure. It makes sense that I would stop by and make sure everything was all right. See if anything needs adjusted now that the birds have been there for a few days.”