Chapter 3
3
G eena couldn’t believe it. She knew she shouldn’t have agreed to come on this little field trip with Taylor.
Maybe she hadn’t seen this exact scenario coming, but she’d had a bad feeling about it.
“You.”
It was all she could think of to say.
Cody laughed. “Wow. You hated our date that much, huh?”
“Wait.” Taylor looked back and forth between them. “Cody was sports bar guy?”
This time, he whistled. “Guess it was that bad. Did I smell like the zoo? I thought I showered before we met up.” He shrugged. “Maybe I forgot. Sorry.”
The woman next to him in khaki shorts and a matching green polo put a fist to her mouth as she stifled a laugh. Once she got herself under control, she stuck a hand out in front of Taylor. “Hi. Lauren. Primate keeper.”
“I’m Taylor. This is my sister, Geena. She’s the photographer. I’m just here to assess the bird’s health. Although, you all must know what you’re doing with him better than I do.”
Geena shook Lauren’s hand when she shifted her attention from Taylor. “Hi, I’m Geena.”
Lauren nodded at her coworker. “I guess you already know Cody.”
“You didn’t tell me you went out with Cody,” Taylor said, refusing to drop the subject.
“I didn’t know you knew him.” Geena snapped her head to Cody, suddenly remembering a snippet of their conversation the other night. “I thought you were a dog trainer.”
“No,” he said. “Animal behaviorist. I said I do some training. And I never said dog.”
“You also didn’t say at the zoo.”
He shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Partly because he was right. She’d made an incorrect assumption.
But she was more embarrassed that she hadn’t asked more about him.
Even if she’d known from the start that there wouldn’t be a second date for them, she didn’t have to be rude. She should have asked more questions. At least appeared interested.
She was way more out of practice with dating than she’d anticipated. This whole mess of a divorce was sapping the manners right out of her. Even if she wasn’t the one who’d been dripping wing sauce all night.
“Sorry.” She decided it was better to steer the conversation away from their date and back to the reason she was there. “We don’t want to keep you all from your work. Is this the parrot?”
She and Taylor approached the cage together, while Cody stood beside her. He smelled like earth and sunshine. Not a hint of body wash or cologne, which she imagined the animals might have a problem with if he loaded himself up with those.
But contrary to his suspicion earlier in this conversation, it wasn’t an unpleasant smell. He just smelled like… nature.
She kind of liked it.
And Taylor and Liz had been right. He was attractive. Especially in those zookeeper shorts. She’d never been particularly attracted to men’s legs, but he did have really nice calves.
Didn’t matter.
She maintained her stance that appearances don’t matter to the success of a relationship.
Her ex was conventionally attractive. Look where that had gotten her.
She didn’t plan on making that mistake again.
“This is Gary the Grey.”
Gary bobbed his head up and down at the mention of his name.
Geena smiled at the title. It made him sound like royalty.
Taylor leaned closer to get a better look at the bird. She tilted her head, this way and that, as she assessed him. Gary mimicked her movements in silence.
Geena wasn’t sure what her sister was looking for. It just looked like a bird to her. Taylor had always been the animal lover in the family, while Geena never had much use for them. Too much clean-up and too much responsibility. So she avoided getting emotionally attached to whatever creatures Taylor brought into their house when they were growing up.
“He looks healthy to me,” Taylor said. “But I’m no bird expert. I know enough about their anatomy, but experience-wise, I’ve dealt almost exclusively with mammals.”
Cody nodded. “No worries. I’ve been monitoring the birds here for a couple of years, and he looked really good coming in. His owner apparently took good care of him. Plus, we had him in quarantine for two weeks, and nothing came up. So he should be good to go once you find a foster.”
That was going to be the tough part, from what Geena understood. The rescue was just beginning to build its foster program, and no one so far had any experience with or desire to care for birds. They’d put out the word, though, and Geena’s photos today would be used for a social media call for help.
Geena set her bags on a nearby table and began pulling out camera gear. She took a few random shots to test the lighting in the room, which was somehow worse than the lighting back at the shelter. This room didn’t have any windows at all, so she’d have to make do. She hadn’t even brought her portable lamps in from the car because she didn’t think she’d have space to set them up. And she’d been right about that.
“We can let him out so he can relax, and you won’t have to aim through the bars..” Cody scooted in front of her. “Lauren, lock the door so no one comes through while he’s out.”
The other zookeeper walked to the door and locked it, while Cody put a hand on the cage.
“Hang on just a sec.” Geena took a couple more test shots, this time of the bird on his perch. His coloring really was gorgeous, all that gray and white with a pop of bright red, but the lighting in this room did nothing for him. “I’m assuming there isn’t anywhere we can take him that has better natural lighting.”
Cody scratched at the back of his neck. “I mean, the aviary. But he’s not allowed in there anymore. Kind of the whole reason we need your help.”
“Not allowed?” Geena lowered the camera to see if Cody was joking.
He was not.
Taylor laughed beside them. “Does he not play nice on the playground?” Then her expression turned sour. “Is he aggressive? Because we’ll have to be even more careful with choosing a foster and an adopter if he is.”
“Let’s just say he’s got a bit of a potty mouth,” Cody said. “And he likes to share his vocabulary with his friends.”
Geena pressed her lips together to stifle a giggle. “That doesn’t sound so terrible.”
“It is when the whole aviary lets their swearing rip in front of a field trip full of first graders. Then they all get excited by our visitors’ reactions. It’s a whole thing.”
“Oh, damn,” Geena muttered under her breath.
“Damn bird!”
Cody shook his head. “See?”
“And that’s him being nice,” Lauren added. “I’m surprised he’s been so quiet up until now.”
“Yeah,” Cody said. “It’s like he’s being polite for y’all.”
Gary fluffed his feathers and puffed himself up as if he was proud of himself.
“I thought you were the behavioral guy,” Geena said. “Can’t you train that out of them?”
“Tried,” he said. “I can make traction pretty easily with the others on their own, but this little ringleader here has a five-year lifetime of this to untangle. I don’t want to keep him in here for that long. He’d be better off in a home environment like he was in before he was surrendered to our care.”
Geena realized they were standing close to one another in front of the cage again. So close now that their forearms were touching, and his clean, earthy scent lingered in the air around him. The combination of touch and smell did things to her brain and body that Geena definitely did not want to deal with right then.
“So,” she said, taking a step back and clearing her throat. She held up her camera again. “Let’s take these photos, so we can get him that home.”
C ody watched as Geena adjusted the settings on her camera. Her moves were swift but methodical. The ease with which she handled that camera indicated years of practice and honing her craft. A kind of dedication Cody couldn’t even begin to imagine.
Not that he didn’t have passions or didn’t care about his work. Just not like that.
He loved caring for and training animals, but it wasn’t as if he worked with one animal all the time. There was variety in what he did, what he worked with, and even where he worked.
And he liked watching sports in his free time. Mostly football and basketball. But again, the experience was always different. He watched different teams in different places with different people around him.
He figured he’d be miserable if he did the same thing all the time.
But watching Geena and marveling at the dedication she had for her own passion… it was kind of a turn-on.
Along with the back of those tight jeans with the T-shirt tucked in.
“You can take him out now.”
Panic gripped him as the sound of Geena’s voice cut through his mental chatter. He’d gotten so lost in his own thoughts he hadn’t been paying attention to whatever they’d been discussing. He’d been so focused on her precision with that camera. It was definitely sexy. And when something went sexy, his thoughts and focus blew in that direction.
“What?”
“The bird,” she repeated, holding up her camera in one hand. “You can take him out of the cage now.”
“Oh. Right.” Cody shook his head and pushed the sexy camera and jeans thoughts away. He opened the door and stepped back, giving the bird a clear exit. “Hey, buddy. Ready to show off?”
“ Squawk . Bet your ass!”
“Great,” Taylor said. “So we not only have to find someone who knows how to take care of this thing but also someone without a delicate ear?”
“Or delicate skin,” Lauren added. “He’s not a random nipper—we’d never have let him loose in the aviary if he was aggressive—but he’s very firm about his boundaries.”
Taylor nodded admiringly at the bird. “I like that in a guy.”
Cody wondered if Geena did as well. Or if that was a deal-breaker for her. Because as respectful as he was of other people’s boundaries, Cody didn’t have a lot of those for himself. Not in a tread-on-other-people kind of way, but in a go-with-the-flow way.
Boundaries were walls. He didn’t much see the need for walls. He was an open book for whoever wanted his story.
Not that any of that mattered. Geena had clearly been unimpressed by him.
No worries.
It wasn’t like he was looking for a long-term relationship right now. In fact, he was one phone call away from his next adventure. No point starting something serious when he was leaving.
Besides, while he didn’t have a type, Geena probably wouldn’t mesh with his life, anyway.
She seemed a little… uptight? No, that wasn’t fair. Tidy?
Whatever Geena was or wasn’t, she didn’t have a good time with him. And what was the point if everyone wasn’t having fun?
The thought that she didn’t like Cody weirdly bugged him. He normally couldn’t care less what anyone thought about him. But he’d kind of liked her, despite how different they obviously were. Their differences made things interesting. He liked interesting.
But Lauren had been right about one thing. The last thing he wanted was to turn out like his dad. Better to end something long before anyone got attached.
And Geena definitely seemed like an attachment person.
Gary peered his head out of the cage, looking around at the familiar faces and pausing his scan on the two new visitors. When he was convinced it was safe, he flew out of the opening and landed on a tall cabinet across the room.
“Bitches get stitches!”
Lauren laughed, which only made Gary repeat the phrase.
“His owner sounds delightful,” Geena said.
“His owner is in jail,” Cody said.
Geena lowered her camera. “What for?”
Her curiosity and the slight crinkle of her angular nose softened the severity of her features. Curious Geena was pretty darn cute.
“Don’t know,” Cody said.
“You didn’t find out?” Geena sounded shocked.
Taylor asked, “How could you not want to know that? I mean, zoo life is probably interesting, but an owner surrendering a sweary parrot because he’s in jail? That’s too interesting to just shrug off.”
Cody shrugged again. “Not my circus.”
“Someone else dropped him off,” Lauren added. “I’m sure it’s in the paperwork somewhere, but we didn’t meet the owner.”
Cody had enough on his plate around here without needing to dig through paperwork just to find a name that wouldn’t mean anything to him.
A buzz sounded from the nearby counter. As Geena refocused on taking photos of Gary, Cody checked his messages.
It wasn’t a text. It was an email.
An email wasn’t a phone call.
An email meant no new adventure.
That was a dramatic assumption. Maybe he was wrong.
Cody swiped the notification to open the mail app and only had to read the first line for confirmation of his assumption.
“Damn,” he muttered under his breath.
“Damn bird!”
“Something wrong?” Geena lowered the camera again and turned away from Gary on his improvised perch. “Do you need to get him down or something?”
“No, you’re fine. Sorry.” He held up his phone to wave it in the air, then placed it back on the table face down. “Just not the news I’d been waiting for.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Lauren said.
Cody shrugged again. “I’ll read it later.”
He’d had a good feeling about his interview with the Phoenix Zoo. He’d let himself get used to the idea of that being his next destination.
But the formality of that first line squashed those good vibes.
He’d look at the reason later. If there was one.
Gary stared at him with a tilted head and his own curious expression. Almost like he knew something was going on with Cody.
Beep beep boop beep
That was new.
He hadn’t heard Gary make those noises before, and it reminded him of phone dialing noises. Probably mimicking someone the owner called a lot on speaker phone, Cody figured.
“I think I’ve got enough for now.” Geena studied the screen on the back of the camera. “The lighting’s not great in here, but I think I can edit them to look good enough for social media posts. He really is gorgeous.”
The bird puffed up as if he understood he was being complimented.
“Yeah, he is.” Cody realized they were about to leave, and a strange wave of uneasiness washed over him. It had been great to see Taylor again, but the unexpected surprise of Geena had also been nice. Maybe too nice. He scratched at the back of his neck, and said, “If you need more or those don’t turn out as great as you thought, you’re more than welcome to come back for more.”
Come back for more.
That sounded like he wanted something else.
Did he?
“These should be good,” she said. “But thank you.”
Their eyes met, and Cody couldn’t pull his gaze from her bright hazel irises as she brushed back the bangs of her short, blonde hair.
“Bye, Gary,” Taylor said, smiling at the bird still on his perch. Then she turned to Cody and Lauren, who were both near the cage now. “We’ll let you know as soon as we find a foster for him.”
“Thanks,” Lauren said. “Fingers crossed someone steps up to help.”
Cody let out a specific whistle, Gary’s cue, and motioned a hand to the open door. Gary flew right in, and Cody wanted to puff up with pride, just like the bird had earlier.
“He really is amazing,” Geena said in a breathy tone.
Cody shut the cage door. When he turned around again, Geena’s gaze was fixed on Gary, and he felt a ping of jealousy.
Great.
He was jealous of a bird.