He looked amazing.
He was dressed in jeans and work boots, as always, but he was also wearing sunglasses and a Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild t-shirt. The black cotton clung to his chest and shoulders, and made the ink on his tanned arms stand out. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and the sun glinted off the gold hoop in his ear.
He looked sexy and happy and suddenly she couldn’t wait to get back to Autre.
He was herding two penguins in front of him. They, of course, seemed to want to go in two different directions. Because the camera kept panning from Jordan to the penguins and because the penguins were scattered in different directions, it was difficult to see them all at once. At the moment she could only see five. The most she’d seen on screen at one time was seven. But she knew that Donovan, Zeke, Griffin, and Zander were all helping with the penguin herding. Jordan was also there and she knew that not only was Naomi behind the camera, but Charlie would be keeping a close watch over the entire proceeding.
“This is amazing,” her mother said. “It looks like a lot of fun. It seems much more laid back and casual than things were at the zoo.”
“Oh, it’s definitely that.”
“Do you like that?” her mother asked.
“Because I want two beaks!”
“No! You have to share!”
“I don’t want any flippers!”
They all pivoted to look to where the little girls were sitting as cake flippers went flying.
Cori shook her head. “Ruby, you have to share the beaks.” She dropped her voice to a mutter for the adults only. “The effing things those girls find to fight about is insane.”
Jill grinned. “They’re insane or they’re driving you insane?”
“Honestly? I’d be insane if I wasn’t doing this with Ava and Brynn. And the guys. I realize it’s hilarious and ridiculous that it takes six adults to raise three little girls but, I can’t imagine doing it any other way.”
Jill felt the urge to say, “Aw.” But caught herself just before saying it out loud. Evan and Cori would think she’d lost it. “Aw” was definitely not a Jill word.
At least it hadn’t been before. But she also wanted to tell them about the games I Love Them, But… and Mine’s Bigger Than Yours. Cori and Evan had a built-in support group here and Jill knew they’d love it.
She smiled, thinking about her support group waiting back home.
Yes, home.
In Louisiana.
One of the girls suddenly shrieked loudly and grabbed another’s penguin cake. That one—Jill thought it was Cara—shrieked even louder and then yelled, “You’re yucky!”
“Oh my gosh!” Evan exclaimed. “Cori, did you see what that penguin just did?”
Cori gave Jill a look. “Sometimes you just have to be even louder than they are.” Then she pivoted on her chair. “Wow, yes! These penguins are so cool!” Cori pulled her phone from her pocket and typed in the web address of the live stream. She took it over to her daughter and nieces. “Look, you guys! Penguins!” The little girls all leaned in to look.
“I like that one!” One of the girls pointed at the screen. As if she hadn’t just been screaming about cake.
“No, I like that one!” the cake-grabber yelled.
“Well, I certainly don’t like all the very loud talking,” Parker informed them all. Loudly.
One of the little girls sighed heavily at that. Jill pressed her lips together. In that moment, it was clear that was Ava’s daughter, Michaela.
“Oh, my goodness,” Holly said. “I can barely hear myself think.”
Which was funny. Three months ago, Jill would have thought this was all incredibly, annoyingly loud as well. Now it seemed…well, still loud. But tolerable.
Hanging out with the Landrys was training her for motherhood in many ways.
“I think we should all get even louder,” Noah announced, scooping one of the girls up, making her gasp and giggle as he propped her on one shoulder, then grabbed another, putting her up on his other shoulder. “But we should go outside to be loud. Let’s go be loud penguins outside. We’ll have our own parade.” Which was also funny. Noah was easily the quietest of these three guys.
“Yes!” all three girls said at once.
Loudly.
The girls and their dads exited the building with Brynn tagging along with the Autre penguin parade still on Cori’s phone.
Cori turned her attention on a customer who’d just come in and Ava headed to answer the bakery’s phone.
“Do you like it?” Holly asked again.
Jill focused on her mom.
“Do I like what?”
“The animal park.”
“Oh. Yes. I actually like it a lot. It’s nice to have free rein. And to be able to do whatever I want.”
Her dad, who’d been very quiet up to this point, looked at her thoughtfully. “Is that really true?”
“Of course. You know that I didn’t always agree with the zoo director and the Board of Directors in Omaha.”
“But it’s a lot to do all alone.”
It was.
Her gaze flickered back to the laptop screen.
But she wasn’t alone.
“I have something to tell you both,” Jill said. She took a deep breath. “I’m going to have a baby.”
Her parents both jerked back slightly and stared. They said nothing for several long seconds.
Her mother seemed to recover first. “I see.”
Jill noted her look of disappointment. “I know you think this is going to derail everything.”
“Of course it will.” Holly shook her head. “But there’s nothing to do about it now. Will you be turning the penguins over to someone else? Will you be coming back here?”
“No.” Jill shook her head. “I’m staying in Louisiana. With the penguins. And with the baby’s father.”
Her mother frowned. Disapprovingly.
Jill knew what she was thinking. Now that Jill was pregnant and wouldn’t be able to focus everything on her career, she was going to have to focus fully on being a mom.
“That was fast,” her father said.
“I know.” It had all happened very fast. “But I’m in love with him. And he loves me too. We are definitely going to raise the baby together.” Jill reached for the laptop and turned it to face her parents more fully. She pointed at Zeke. “That’s him. Zeke. Ezekiel Landry. He owns his own construction business and he’s an accountant. And obviously, he helps me whenever I need anything.”
She smiled, watching him. He was talking to a man she didn’t recognize. He actually looked a little upset at the moment. She frowned. What was going on? No one else was supposed to be in the park right now, but it was possible someone had wandered in. In Autre, people would generally assume putting up a “We’re Closed” sign would suffice in keeping people out.
Maybe the guy had come in uninvited and gotten a little close to the penguins. It would be like Zeke to be protective. Possibly overly so. But that also made her smile.
“So you’re going to keep working with the penguins?” her mother asked.
Jill felt the knot that had been in her stomach for a week, tighten. “Yes. But not in the same way.” She swallowed. “I’m going to keep them in the animal park, but I’m pulling them out of the endangered penguins program. They’re just going to be penguins. No propagation program. No research. Just a group of penguins living a happy, protected life.”