Caroline laughed and the first parrot repeated, “You’re a motherfucker!”
“Shut the fuck up!” the second responded.
Donovan rolled his eyes. “Zander said that you were interested in seeing the lion.”
“I'd love to, if that's okay?” Caroline asked.
“It's more than okay. I'm gonna need some help naming him and thought you'd be the perfect person to consult.”
Caroline felt a little flip in her stomach. “Really?”
It was so easy to get caught up in all of the good vibes and excitement and craziness around here.
“Of course.” Just then a phone started ringing.
Donovan groaned, and Tori laughed as she reached for Ella.
“But first, Donovan needs to deal with the Goat Phone,” Tori said.
Caroline frowned. “The what phone?”
Donovan pulled a phone from his pocket. The phone case had an up-close photo of a goat's face on it.
“The Goat Phone,” Tori said. “We have a herd of goats at the petting zoo that gets out on a regular basis. Our border collie, Benny, rounds them up and herds them but she hasn't quite figured out how to herd them back to the barnyard. She'll just herd them into the nearest building or structure. It’s now become a game around town. When you see the goats, you mark the location on your Goat BINGO card. When you get BINGO, you bring the card into Ellie’s for free fried pickles.”
“Oh my God. That’s…hilarious,” Caroline said, still trying to process it all.
“Except for the guy who carries the Goat Phone and has to go up and actually retrieve the goats from wherever they are.” Donovan lifted the phone to his ear. “Yeah.”
He listened for a moment, frowned, and started laughing. “Yeah, I'll be right there.” He disconnected. “Well, this is a new one.”
Tori gave a little groan. “That's never a good phrase around here.”
“Oh, this is pretty great. Caroline, how would you feel about making a stop with me on the way to see our lion cub? We just need to swing by and pick up a unicorn.”
Caroline looked at him, then at Tori, then back at him. “A unicorn? You're not serious, right?”
Donovan laughed. “It's Autre. Never ask that question.”
8
Zander wasn't sleeping well.
That wasn't unusual. Being a worrier made deep, peaceful sleep hard to come by many nights. Being a secret keeper in a family that kept no secrets and had no filters added another layer of guilt and pressure that often made sleeping deeply even more difficult. So fully relaxing anywhere other than in his fishing boat out on the bayou alone was unusual.
But with Caroline Holland in town, and just a few blocks away, Zander had found it completely impossible to not lie awake for hours every one of the past four nights.
He was annoyed that she was still in town.
He was annoyed that he’d actually made almost no progress on the issue of the lion cub that was keeping her in town.
He was annoyed by the case that was keeping Spencer too busy to come down and give him a hand.
And he was especially annoyed by the regular Caroline reports he’d been getting from everyone. Every day. All day. They made it impossible to forget, even for an hour, that she was in town.
She’d not only helped Donovan name the lion cub,—Mwanzo, which apparently meant “new beginnings” in Swahili—she’d also helped him retrieve an escaped pony that had been dressed up like a unicorn for a birthday party. Then she’d put on her horrible-huge-gaudy-what-the-hell wedding dress and tiara, of course, and pretended to be the princess who owned the unicorn to bring it back to the party. Charlie and Jordan would not shut up about how amazing that was.
She’d also attended two otter yoga classes with Paige, been out on a swamp boat tour with Maddie, and had, of course, eaten and drank at Ellie’s several times. So, basically, she’d completely charmed his entire family.
Which meant he was avoiding Ellie’s.
Even if she wasn’t there, everyone who was there at any given time—including Ellie herself, who was always there—couldn’t wait to tell him all about Caroline and what she’d been up to. So not only was he annoyed and sleepless, he was also pretty hungry. He was definitely gumbo-deprived. He could fend for himself when needed, but his gumbo sucked.
It seemed clear from the gossip, however, that while Caroline had learned a few stories about him after all—mostly from Jordan and Naomi, who had grown up with him and his brothers—she hadn’t spilled much about herself other than the fact that she’d decided she couldn’t marry her fiancé and had bolted in a panic.
He appreciated that his family and friends had no idea that her family rubbed elbows with white collar criminals or that she was actually hanging out in Autre because she was insisting he investigate alleged crimes against animals. That alone would have riled up his animal-loving family.
He’d even thanked her for that when he’d brought her coffee from Bad Habit Sunday morning.
He hadn’t done that to be nice. Or to start his day with one of her smiles. Or because showing up as yoga was ending just happened to coincide with seeing her stretching in yoga pants. He’d done it, both Sunday morning and today, to keep from having to put up with her chattering, and long legs, and blue eyes in the cab of his truck for the trip to Bad.
Yeah, so she’d discovered the cappuccino/espresso machine in Charlie and Jordan’s office mere hours after he’d dropped her off at the sloth enclosure. Still, he’d had to touch base with her, didn’t he? He was obligated to ask if her brother or fiancé had tried to contact her. Or if she needed a ride to the airport to use the five grand she now had on a ticket to somewhere far away. Or if she had plans to ever leave his town. And his life.
She’d simply asked if he had plans to ever put anyone in jail for ripping a baby lion away from his mother or to help free the other animals that were being bought and sold as playthings and trophies for rich, entitled assholes who didn’t care about anything or anyone but themselves.
Since he was waiting on Spencer to get his ass to Autre and actually help him with that very issue he’d simply sighed and walked back to his truck.
Which was all why he wasn’t sleeping tonight. Again.
Which was why he was upright on the edge of his bed with his phone to his ear before it even rang a second time.
“Zander.”
“It's Beau.”
Zander's heart slammed against his rib cage. It wasn't completely uncommon for Beau Hebert to call him. It was, however, fully out of the ordinary for him to hear from Beau at two a.m.
“What?” Zander was already on his feet and pulling the blue jeans he'd kicked toward the chair in the corner of his bedroom up over the boxers he slept in.
“There’s someone here who wants to talk to Caroline.”
A sharp coldness swept through Zander. “Where is she?”
“Upstairs. Asleep as far as I know. He didn't get that far.”
“Who is he?” Zander swore if it was her brother again, this time he was going to punch the guy.
Hell, he was going to punch whoever it was. It was two a.m. No one was there to see Caroline for a friendly chat.