“You will be the CFO. But that’s money, not animals,” Stella said, planting a hand on one hip.
“If you’re not nice, I won’t let you buy things. Like when you want a new airboat, I’ll say no.”
Stella sighed as if already regretting hiring family. Zeke grinned.
“Fine,” Stella told Cooper. “Do you want to name the camels? You can name all of them.”
“Yes! How many are there?”
“Two,” Sawyer said. “But there are a bunch of donkeys, and two horses, too.”
“And we’ll have a baby alpaca soon!” Charlie called.
“I want to take care of your flamingos when I grow up!” Grace told Stella, hopping up from her chair. “I’m going to be a vet and then we can work together every day forever.”
Stella, Grace, and Cooper were all the same age and were the three musketeers. Always together. Stella was definitely the leader, but Zeke wouldn’t be surprised at all if the three of them really did end up living in Autre and running…well, everything.
“So, about nine more years,” Zeke heard Logan, Grace’s dad, say to Sawyer. “Then they’re all yours. All the noise, all the bossiness, all the crazy plans, all the ghost sightings.”
“Grace still seeing ghosts?” Sawyer asked.
“All the time,” Logan said.
Grace’s connection with the “other side” had become a well-accepted fact around this group.
“They’ll all blend in just fine down here,” Sawyer told him. “Noise, bossiness, and big plans won’t even faze us.”
“What about the ghosts?”
“Who better to do the haunted swamp tours?” Maddie asked. “Those things happen late at night. We’re all gonna be too old to stay up for those soon.” She gave Logan a wink and they all laughed.
“I want to name a flamingo!” Jolie, Stella and Cooper’s five-year-old sister said from Donovan’s lap.
“Okay,” Stella said, clearly taking control again.
Zeke sat back. He was a freaking hero.
Sawyer was the coolest again and this had successfully derailed all conversation about him and Jill getting married.
“Okay, Cooper names the camels,” Stella said. “Chloe, do you want to name the new alpaca?”
“Um, sure.” The thirteen-year-old tried to seem cool about it, but it was clear she thought that was exciting.
“Grace and Jolie can each name a flamingo, and I’ll name the third one,” Stella decided. “Then everybody else can name the donkeys.”
“A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance,” Cooper told them all.
“No way,” Stella said.
“Yep.”
“That is a fabulous word,” Stella decided.
Grace agreed. “We need bright and fabulous names!”
“Ms. Fluffypants!” Jolie said.
They laughed.
“Then we have to have Ms. Frillybottoms,” Grace said.
“And Ms…” Stella trailed off, thinking.
“Featherbutt,” Donovan suggested.
“Yes,” Stella agreed, delightedly.
Everyone heard Griffin’s groan.
And saw Donovan’s sly grin.
Griffin hated most of the names for the animals at the Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild. Like the alpaca, Alpacino. Or the ducks named after the Brady Bunch. Or the goats named after the Seven Dwarves.
In part, because he hated telling people what the names were.
Zeke couldn’t wait to hear Griffin introducing the flamingos to visitors now.
“Thank goodness we got that all straightened out,” Stella said, slumping back onto her chair, clearly exhausted. “We definitely needed that figured out before the zebras show up. I can’t handle all of this at once.”
Zeke chuckled and leaned back in his chair, draping an arm across the back of Jill’s chair.
“Zebras?” Sawyer asked.
Stella looked at him. “I heard we were getting zebras. Is that not true?”
“Well…” Sawyer said.
Donovan leaned over and said something quietly to Stella.
She gasped again and bounced up from her seat. “We can put pink bricks down leading up to the flamingo pond?” she asked.
“Pink bricks?” Sawyer asked. He looked over at Zeke.
“I’m sure we can find pink bricks,” Zeke said.
“Oh,” Stella breathed. “We’ll call it the Posh Palace of Flamboyance.” She looked at everyone proudly. “That will be fabulous.”
“That’s amazing,” Donovan told her. “And I’m envisioning pink feathered boas in the gift shop, and pink gummy shrimp at the concession stand.”
Stella, Grace, and Jolie all turned wide eyes on him.
Even Chloe looked a little impressed.
“That’s brilliant,” Stella told him, setting her hand on his shoulder.
Zeke glanced at Sawyer. Who was now frowning.
Damn. Donovan was getting cool again.
“I do think we’re probably getting zebras,” Sawyer said.
Stella looked at him. “Probably?”
Sawyer looked at Griffin. “I mean…”
Griffin rolled his eyes.
“Sure. I think zebras are great,” Sawyer said.
“Lord,” Jill said quietly beside Zeke. “Do all Landry men cave so easily to sassy little girls?”
Zeke leaned in. “Yes. Especially the ones that love animals. And not just little girls.”
She shook her head. Zeke chuckled.
Then raised his voice to help his cousin out one more time. “Hey, Sawyer, you were thinking we should put a big pink archway over the flamingo area to go with the pink bricks, right?” Zeke asked him. “Do you want Posh Palace of Flamboyance in glitter letters?”
Stella’s eyes got wide.
Sawyer noticed and, of course, nodded. “Yes. Definitely glitter letters.”
“I hope we have a boy,” Jill muttered. “This is just embarrassing.”
Zeke laughed, feeling pretty damned good about everything in general.
Fifteen minutes later, the noise level had dropped about twenty decibels.
The New Orleans kids had headed out to look at all the animals, especially the flamingos, camels, and donkeys. Their dads had obviously gone along and Griffin had accompanied them. Everyone knew he wanted to make sure they behaved around the animals, particularly the new additions.
Zeke knew it was no coincidence that Naomi had gotten Donovan talking about something over by the bar so he’d missed tagging along.
That was nice. Sawyer deserved to be the star to that group.
Besides, Donovan got Naomi as a fan. That was no small thing.
And Zeke thought maybe Donovan realized it.
16
“Here you go, honey.”
Jill looked up to find Ellie at her side. She was still next to Zeke, but he was having fun talking to the group. The whole group. Okay, minus the kids and their dads now, but there were still a lot of people in here.
Jill had been mostly sitting back and letting the conversation roll around her. She had actually been surprised by, but appreciative of the way the Landrys were able to include her in a conversation by making eye contact and directing comments toward her without putting her on the spot and asking her anything specific.