Gabe and Logan Trahan were there with their wives and kids, along with two or three extra kids that belonged to other friends. Zeke recognized Caleb Moreau’s son and daughter for sure.
But it wasn’t Gabe or Logan who was surrounded by the ten kids from New Orleans.
Chuckling, Zeke leaned over to Naomi who was at the next table. “What’s Donovan doing with the kids?”
Some were in chairs right next to him, some were standing behind him, some were on his lap. They were all watching the laptop screen in front of him, clearly enthralled by what they were seeing and what he was telling them.
Getting those kids all together and quiet at once—relatively anyway—was a damned miracle. Zeke was impressed.
Naomi was sitting back and watching Donovan with almost as much interest as Stella Trahan was giving him. Which was you-are-the-most-fascinating-person-I’ve-ever-met level interest.
It was clear that Naomi had a thing for the wildlife activist. Zeke wouldn’t quite call it a crush. Naomi LeClaire wasn’t really the type to “crush on” someone. But she clearly admired Donovan and the guy could rattle her when he flirted with her. Something Zeke had never seen another human do. Not the flirting thing. Plenty of men flirted with Naomi. But the flustered thing was definitely a Donovan-Foster-only phenomenon.
She smiled. “He’s showing them some episodes of his show and telling them behind the scenes stories. Stella is particularly into the ones with him and the alligators.”
Zeke chuckled. Of course she was. Stella had been five when she’d first come to Autre and taken a swamp boat tour with Sawyer. She’d been captivated with everything about the bayou ever since. But particularly the alligators. She’d maintained ever since that day that she was going to take over Boys of the Bayou when she was old enough.
None of the Landrys had contradicted the plan.
The details had changed a bit over time though. She’d gone from believing she’d marry Sawyer to proposing that she just take it over when he was “too old anymore”. According to Stella, that should happen about the time Sawyer was forty-five. And yes, she knew when his birthday was and reminded him each year about his retirement plan.
She had, however, promised him that he could take a few tours out once in a while even when he was old and that he could have a chair in the front office where he could sit and tell people stories about working on the bayou while they waited for their tours.
“I think Sawyer’s a little jealous, in fact,” Naomi said, nodding at the eldest Landry cousin.
Zeke looked in Sawyer’s direction. He was watching Donovan with the kids too. And he did look grumpy. Well, grumpier than usual. Sawyer wasn’t the sunniest of the Landrys on his best day.
“Oh yeah?”
“He’s pretty used to being the object of Stella’s affection and admiration. But she’s been sitting and talking to Donovan for nearly an hour.”
“How did he just happen to pull out his laptop to show off his videos?” Zeke asked.
“I might have had something to do with that.” Naomi smiled. “Hey, he loves to talk about himself and the kids needed something to keep them occupied and not begging every two minutes to go see the otters and lemurs.”
“Good thinking.”
“He’s really good with them,” Naomi said. Her eyes were back on Donovan.
Uh huh. She was crushing. Just Naomi style. “He is,” Zeke said. “He’s good with most people.”
“Yeah. And animals. And he can bring plants back to life.”
Zeke laughed. “What?”
“Yep. Maddie said there were a bunch of plants up at the Boys of the Bayou office that had been sorely neglected and were basically dead. Donovan took one look, gathered them all up, took them home, and a week later brought back these thriving green plants.”
“Come on. He went and bought new ones, right?”
“I don’t think so. I think he’s…Father Nature.”
Zeke snorted and Naomi laughed.
“But seriously, he and Cora and Paige can go on and on about plants and herbs and natural remedies.”
“No. He’s into that stuff too?” Zeke asked.
“Yep. Traveling the world and being up close to different cultures, he’s tried all kinds of things. He’s eaten bugs too.”
Zeke shook his head. “Weird.”
“Hot.”
“Eating bugs is hot?”
“No. Not even a little. And he’s still hot. In spite of eating bugs.” Naomi sighed.
Zeke chuckled. “He’s so not what I would have pegged for your type.”
“He really isn’t,” she agreed.
Yeah, Naomi loved to keep a low profile and hated big crowds. Even this group was a lot of people for her. Zeke knew it helped that she knew everyone here. But she’d be the first one to leave.
“You could make him love quiet time at home,” Zeke told her, nudging her shoulder.
“Ha, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m just fine,” she told him. “I know who I am and what I need. And that man”—She shook her head—“is too much.”
“So when are you two going to get married?”
Zeke tuned back into the conversation on his other side just in time to hear Maddie ask Jill the question.
He felt Jill stiffen.
He’d been expecting the topic to come up though and he was ready. He’d been around the kids from New Orleans enough to know exactly what to do to create a diversion.
“Hey, Stella?” he called to Gabe’s oldest daughter.
She looked over. “Yeah?”
“Did Sawyer tell you about the flamingos?”
Stella’s eyes widened. “No!” But instead of asking Zeke for more information, she spun to face Sawyer. “We have flamingos?”
No one missed her use of the word “we”.
Sawyer sat up a little straighter. “Uh, yeah. Three of them.”
“Right now? Can we see them?” Grace, Stella’s cousin, asked.
Sawyer looked to Gabe and Logan, the girls’ dads.
They just shrugged as if to say it was up to Sawyer.
“Sure.”
“But, Stell,” Zeke called. “It gets even better.”
She whipped around. “What?”
“Sawyer said he’s gonna let you name them.”
Her gasp was loud enough the entire room could hear it.
Stella looked back at Sawyer. “Are. You. Serious?”
Sawyer was clearly completely caught off guard. Because of course he hadn’t decided to let Stella name the flamingos. It was possible he hadn’t given the flamingos more than two minutes’ thought. Zeke was certain Sawyer didn’t care what they called the birds.
Until now.
Because this was the way back to Stella’s number one spot.
“Of course you get to name the flamingos, Stell,” Sawyer told her. “And the camels and donkeys.”
“Hey!” Cooper interjected as his sister’s mouth hung open in amazement. “What about the rest of us?”
“Well, it’s my animal park,” Stella told him.
“But you promised I could be the CFO,” Cooper said. He looked at Sawyer. “That’s Chief Financial Officer. I’m way better at math than Stella.”