19. Chapter Nineteen
“You’re finally back. I was starting to think you may never return.” Darla moves a checker across the board, taking her opponent’s final two pieces. “Ha! Better luck next time, Ed.”
He gets up from the table. “You can never take the throne from the queen.” He winks at her before walking away.
“Um, do you care to explain why Ed just winked at you, Ms. Queen?” I take his empty seat and shoot her a saucy grin.
“Oh, he’s just flirting with me now that I’m playing hard to get.”
“I thought you said you liked him because he was the only man who still has hair that comes to events?”
She places all the checkers back on the board. “He is, but I’m still going to make him chase me.”
“As he should.”
“Enough about me. I’ve been waiting weeks to see you and hear all the details.” Darla huffs.
I wasn’t actively avoiding Darla. I just didn’t have any events at Sunrise Springs that were on my normal working days. Though, I’m sure she would never believe that.
“Details about what?” I try to sound as serious as possible, even though I’m biting back a smile.
“Don’t play coy with me, dear.” She wiggles her finger at me. “Hearing the story from a man’s perspective isn’t enough. They leave all the good stuff out.” She pouts.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there’s nothing to miss out on.”
“There has to be something . All Tyler told me was that y’all are neighbors and that he thought you hated him until the date. He was evasive when I asked him if he wanted anything more with you.”
“Evasive?” Consider my interest piqued. “What do you mean?”
“It means he wants more than a neighbor-nanny relationship with you. But those are my words, not his.”
I don’t know whether to take Darla seriously or not. She’s known for her flare for the dramatics, but the no-nonsense look on her face right now makes it seem like she’s telling the truth. Well, at least her version of the truth.
Darla leans back and crosses her arms. “Now, please tell me your side of the story so I can finally put all the pieces of this puzzle together.”
“He’s… kinder than I first thought.”
“Right, because you told me that you worked for your hunky neighbor and that it was a lot of work living next to him.” Darla fills in the blanks in my story.
“Yeah, except I don’t think I’ve ever called him hunky.”
“Your eyes said it all, dear.”
I press my lips together and blow a slow breath out through my nose. “Fine, he’s not bad to look at, but I’m not looking for a relationship. I don’t know if I ever want to get married.”
She holds a hand to her chest. “Why not?”
“I have dreams I want to accomplish, and I don’t need any distractions.”
“Why can’t you have the man of your dreams by your side?”
“I don’t want anyone holding me back.” I pick at my plum nail polish.
Darla purses her lips. “If they’re your dream man, they should support and encourage you while you achieve that dream together, not hold you back.”
I sigh. I don’t like talking about my parents often, but I feel like my answers don’t make sense without bringing them up. “My parents divorced when I was young and never remarried. I guess I’ve never seen a lasting love—one that sticks around when things get hard and aren’t picture-perfect anymore. They never supported each other or encouraged the other to chase their dreams. All they did was argue. Even through the divorce process, they continued to fight for custody of me.”
“I’m so sorry. No child should have to endure that.” She reaches her hand across the table, gently patting mine. “Do you still see them?”
I shake my head. “Whenever I do, they just ask about what the other person is up to.” I don’t bother mentioning how my mother typically asks me for money and that I haven’t heard from my father in years. “It’s exhausting.”
“That’s horrible. You’re a wonderful young woman despite everything you dealt with growing up. That’s a true testament to your character.” Darla squeezes my hand. “And I’m so sorry you’ve never had an example of true, sacrificial love to look up to, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
I’m not sure if I’m more surprised that Darla is having a deep conversation with me or because of the fact she thinks true love exists. I mean, she’s the lady who asked me if I could bring in a dance instructor to teach a twerking lesson. Either way, I feel like I need to hear what she has to say, so I try to keep an open heart.
Darla gets a dreamy, far-off look in her eyes. “When you’re with the right person, they should make everything in your life easier. You know you have someone who always has your back and is willing to fight all your battles with you and for you. They should encourage you in your dreams and help you make them a reality. Don’t swear off love quite yet. Keep your heart open to the possibility. Love might find you, even if you aren’t looking for it.”
I fight back the tears dangerously close to streaming down my cheeks. Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, years of pain and avoidance can’t all be fixed in one conversation. But I do feel like Darla’s words helped heal a small part of me. Or maybe she just awakened a small ounce of hope for a future I never dreamed of having from deep within my childhood fairytale-believing heart.
I swallow down my emotion and offer her as much of a smile as I can muster. “Thank you. I’m not promising anything, but I’ll try my best.”
Darla pats my hand. “That’s all you’re expected to do, dear.” She clears her throat. “Now, can we get back to the juicy details? There has to be at least a steamy front porch kiss you can tell me about.”
She slips from deep conversation back into her saucy attitude so effortlessly that I can’t help but laugh.
“I’m sorry to disappoint. There wasn’t a front porch kiss.” I smirk. “But there was some pumpkin mistletoe.”
She leans in, grinning devilishly. “Tell. Me. Everything.”
Earlier this week, Evie confided to me that she was missing her mom, so I wanted to do something special for her today while she’s out of school for fall break.
We’re lucky to find a close spot in the packed parking lot. I open the back door for her and motion to the large welcome sign. “Ta-da! What do you think?”
“I love the zoo.” She smiles and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the entrance. “I need to see the giraffes.”
“You know what’s even better than seeing the giraffes?” Evie shakes her head. “Getting to feed them.”
“A giraffe will eat from my hand?” Her eyes are wide, her voice filled with unbridled excitement. I nod. “This is the best day ever ,” she exclaims with a twirl.
I give our tickets to the attendant at the entrance, and we walk inside. After looking at the map, we head to the left. The zoo has multiple zones based on different regions of the world, and I brought Evie here today with one sole purpose in mind: taking her to the zone dedicated to animals from Africa.
“I know it’s not the same thing as actually seeing your mom, but I thought we could see some animals from Africa,” I say as we approach the lemur exhibit. When I planned this field trip for Evie, my only hope was for her to leave today feeling more connected to her mom. “You could tell her about them the next time you talk to her. Maybe she’s seen some of the animals out in the wild.”
Evie squeezes my hand. “I can’t wait to tell her.”
Her words make my heart overflow. I know she’s not my family, but over the last month and a half, I’ve come to love her like she is, and seeing her so joyful after a hard week fills my soul.
We reach the first set of animal exhibits, seeing lemurs, warthogs, and rhinos. Evie never wants to leave the animals, so I have her say goodbye to each one so we can move on to the next exhibit.
By the time we approach the giraffe house, she’s bouncing with excitement. I’m not keeping track of the time, but we have to be standing here for at least thirty minutes just staring at the animals and listening to the zookeepers share facts about them. Evie’s captivated by every little bit of information about her favorite animal.
I pat her shoulder. “We should go see the other animals.” When she pouts, I say, “We’ll come back and see them later for the feeding.”
Evie sighs, but she waves goodbye to the closest giraffe. “Don’t worry, I’ll feed you soon, buddy.”
We visit the elephants next, but they aren’t super active, so Evie quickly says goodbye and dances down the path.
“Are you still enjoying your dance classes?”
She nods and squeezes my hand. “I got the solo in our recital.”
I stop walking and hold both hands up for a double high-five. She jumps, hitting my hands with hers.
“I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait to see it.”
“You’ll come?” The grin she’s wearing is contagious.
“I wouldn’t miss it.” We continue on the path until we reach another enclosure. “They have a petting zoo. Do you want to pet the goats?”
She nods, wide-eyed like a kid in a candy store.
A teenage worker lets us in, pointing out the food for the animals along with the hand-washing station. Evie grabs a cup of food and heads off to feed a baby goat. I follow behind, staying close but not enough to make her feel smothered.
A goat walks over to me with a swagger I didn’t know goats could have. He’s very obviously male from the way his unmentionables sway with each over-the-top step, like he’s trying to show off how dominant he is. While I love dogs, I’m not sure goats are really my thing, especially after this little display, but I squat and pat the goat’s back anyway, not wanting to offend his masculinity.
One minute, I’m petting the goat while keeping an eye on Evie. The next, I feel his horn in my pocket.
I panic.
The goat bleats.
He stomps his little hooves anxiously, trying to free himself. I carefully attempt to get his horn loose, not wanting to hurt him or myself. When the goat deems my attempts not good enough or fast enough, he pulls away. Hard.
I hear a ripping sound and pinch my eyes shut, not wanting to see whatever this stupid goat just tore open for all to see. When I work up the courage to look down, I gasp, horrified.
The goat didn’t just rip a little hole in my pants…he ripped my pants off . I glance around until I find him prancing around the enclosed space with my tan fabric pants attached to his horn, flowing in the breeze behind him like a flag declaring him king of the petting zoo.
This is what I get for wearing loose-fitting fabric pants instead of my tried-and-true leggings. I don’t want any stupid pockets where a goat can put its horn in and rip my outfit right off my body.
It’s like my childhood nightmare come to life of being in front of my class and realizing I don’t have pants on. Except, I’m a grown woman in her underwear in the middle of a children’s petting zoo. I’m not sure which is worse, but since this is my only pants-less occurrence in front of a crowd, I’m gonna go with this one.
I stand, pulling my sweater down, attempting to cover as much of myself as possible. With as much dignity as I can have under the circumstances, I rush over to Evie.
She’s looking past me as she says, “Ms. Kelsey.”
“Yeah?”
“Why is that goat wearing your pants?” She points at the devious little pants burglar.
“His horn got caught in them when I was petting him.”
“Did he ask before he took them away?”
I bite back a laugh, shaking my head. “Goats can’t talk, unfortunately.” Although, I’m not sure I’d want to hear what he’s saying now as he prances around triumphantly gloating.
He’s probably a very baaa-d boy.
Evie frowns. “Mama and Uncle Ty always tell me to share. That’s not very nice if he can’t even ask if he can borrow them.” She’s quiet for a moment, her brows furrowed in concentration. “Goats don’t even wear pants.”
“You’re one hundred percent right, Evie girl.” I try my best to smile at her despite my current situation. “What do you say we get me some new pants so you can feed the giraffes?”
She nods enthusiastically. I do a weird waddle-slash-speed walk back to the entrance, where the teenage worker stares at me in horror. She glances over my shoulder, covering her mouth when she sees the goat still wearing my ripped pants as his badge of honor.
She holds up a finger. “Let me run to the gift shop and see if I can find you some…” She gulps. “New pants.” The angel of a worker returns a few minutes later, but with a frown. “Unfortunately, they only sell pajama bottoms.” She hands me cheetah print pajama bottoms, which I gratefully accept and immediately pull on.
Placing my hands on my hips, I say, “It’s a lot better than walking around with nothing. Thank you. How much do I owe you?”
She waves me off. “Nothing. Once I told the cashier your situation, they threw them at me and told me to hurry.”
I laugh. “So this isn’t something you see every day, then?”
The worker shakes her head, wearing a teasing smile. “Definitely not. Although, Snowball has always been a bit of a ladies man, always peacocking around.”
“Someone needs to tell Snowball that’s not the way to a lady’s heart.” I snort. “Thanks again.” We wave goodbye and head to the next area, looking at the meerkats and naked mole rats.
“Why are those called naked? Aren’t all animals naked?”
I squeeze Evie’s hand. “You know what, that’s a great question. You should ask your uncle when we get home.”
“Okay.” She shrugs.
We move onto the pygmy hippo and gorilla exhibits before making our way to the lions and camels.
After she’s said goodbye to them, we walk to the giraffe feeding area. I purchase our tickets, and we walk in right at the allotted time.
A zookeeper greets us and kneels in front of Evie. “What’s your name?”
“Evie. I love giraffes.”
The zookeeper laughs. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Evie. Can I let you in on a little secret?” Evie nods. “I love giraffes, too.” They giggle together. “Are you ready to feed one?”
She lets go of my hand and nods, bouncing on the balls of her feet like she can barely contain her excitement.
The zookeeper leads us in and introduces us to the giraffes.
When we get to the final one, Evie squeals. “I saw him earlier today.”
She smiles. “This is Jabali. His name means ‘strong as a rock’ in Swahili.” The zookeeper hands Evie a small bowl of food and motions for me to join them. “You can hold her now and feed Jabali.”
I extend my phone her way. “Do you mind taking a video?”
“Of course.” She takes it, holding it up, ready to record the moment.
I lift Evie onto my hip, and she raises the food to Jabali. He leans his head toward us, and his abnormally long tongue comes down, bringing the food from the bowl to his mouth. Evie laughs when part of his tongue grazes along her hand, leaving behind a trail of slobber. When all the food is gone, I set her back down.
The zookeeper hands back my phone before smiling at Evie. “You did a great job. He must like you.”
“I love him.” Evie hugs my leg and looks up at me with the sweetest eyes. “Can we get a mini Jabali to take home?”
“Sure.” Before we leave the zoo, I buy her a stuffed giraffe because I could never say no to a face as cute as Evie’s. We stop by Chipotle on the way home, grabbing dinner to-go for us and Tyler because I’m in a generous mood after my conversation with Darla yesterday.
By the time we make it back, Tyler is getting out of his car, likely having just gotten home from work. I would be lying if I didn’t admit how good he looks in his scrubs.
“Uncle Ty, look at what Ms. Kelsey got me.” Evie gets out of the car and runs to him, holding her newest prized possession up in the air.
“Wow, that’s cute. What’s its name?”
“Jabali. Just like the giraffe I fed at the zoo.”
He raises an eyebrow, turning at me. “She got to feed one?”
I nod. “I got it on video so you can send it to Tess.”
His whole demeanor softens. “That was really thoughtful.”
Evie tugs on the bottom of his scrubs top. “I got to see all the animals in Africa. I can’t wait to talk to Mom and see if she’s seen any of them in the wild.”
Tyler looks at me while Evie hugs his pant leg. He mouths thank you . I know he’s thanking me for more than taking her to the zoo. If she was off around me all week, missing her mama, I’m sure she was even more sad around her uncle.
When Evie pulls back, he glances down like he’s just now seeing my outfit. “Why are you wearing”—Tyler stares at my bottoms—“pajama pants?”
“A goat stole her pants without asking.” Evie sighs. “It wasn’t very nice.”
His mouth falls open. “A—A goat?” He rubs the back of his neck. “Do I even want to know how that happened?”
My face heats. “It’s a story for another day. But know that if you ever meet a goat named Snowball…just run.”
“Noted.” He laughs. Tyler picks up Evie and hugs her. “I guess we should figure out what we’re doing for dinner.”
“Ms. Kelsey got us Chipotle.”
I grab the brown bag from the car and lock the doors. “Here.” I pull out my bowl and chips, handing him the rest of the bag.
He pulls out his wallet. “How much do I—”
“Don’t worry about it.” I reach up and squeeze Evie’s arm. “I had fun today. I’ll see you next week.”
She giggles. “Me too.”
I walk toward my house, ready to put on some real pants.
When I reach my porch, I hear Evie ask Tyler, “Uncle Ty, why are all animals naked?”
I press my lips together to suppress my laughter. This day just got even better.
The following day, I drive to pick up a breakfast burrito since I’m too lazy to make breakfast on a Saturday morning.
I’m jamming to my current favorite Taylor Swift song on the way home when I hear a weird chirping noise.
What the heck?
I turn my car speakers down and listen closely for a few minutes, but I don’t hear it again. “I’m going crazy,” I mutter.
Cranking the volume back up, I get back to my car solo. It’s a sold-out show. Crowd of one.
The next song in the album starts to play, and I hear the random chirping again. I turn down the music and scratch my head. Maybe a cricket jumped into my car to escape the cooling temperatures yesterday when Evie and I went to the zoo.
When I get home, I eat my breakfast burrito and make a maple latte. Once I’ve finished, I return to my car with a cordless vacuum, ready to find whatever chirping thing is hiding in my car.
I search for hours . I move the car seats all the way up and back, grimacing at the number of crumbs, coins, and other odd objects I find underneath them. I vacuum under the seats, but there’s still no cricket in sight.
I remove everything from the glove box and center console, again cleaning out a lot of random things as I go, but still not finding whatever insect is making all the noise in my car. The chirping happens multiple times as I clean, so I know I’m not going crazy. But the little dude is good at playing hide-and-seek.
With a shudder, I even check in the zone where things go to be lost forever—my trunk. I pull out an array of items from a first aid kit to dirty towels used to wipe off muddy dog paws, and my favorite sweater that I’ve been missing since last winter. When I can finally see the bottom of the trunk again, I vacuum, but I still can’t find the source of the sound.
The only other place I can think to look is the pocket on the back of my passenger seat, so I climb into the car and send up a prayer for whatever my fingers might come into contact with. The first thing to hit my hand is cold metal, and I yank my fingers out. Carefully, I reach back in and pull out a little metal strip that can’t be bigger than two inches. I flip it over and see an on/off switch. I turn it off and then back on, and I immediately hear the chirp sound again.
That little—
I stalk over to Tyler’s front door and pound on it. “Tyler!” When he doesn’t answer, I knock even louder. “Your car is here; I know you’re in there.”
He opens the door, and I shove the little device straight into Tyler’s chest.
His very bare chest.
My eyes trail down of their own accord, stopping to peer at his six—no, eight—pack. It’s unfair how good he looks. A crime against society that anyone can wake up looking this good. Though, I suppose he works out every morning and eats super healthy. But I’d much rather eat cookies than have abs.
Under my fingertips, I feel every contour of his muscles and his racing heart.
No .
We’re mad at Tyler.
No muscles or hearts allowed.
I double down on my angry face, hoping I don’t look absolutely ridiculous.
He places his hand around mine, and my breath catches as the warmth of his strong, masculine hand warms my own. Tyler turns my hand around, and I’m wondering if he’s about to interlock our fingers or pull me closer. Nope. He only takes the sound device from my palm.
His lips tilt up in a cocky grin when my eyes shoot up to his. “Do you like what you see?”
“No, I just destroyed my car looking for a nonexistent cricket.”
“You say it’s destroyed; I say it’s the cleanest it’s ever been.”
I roll my eyes. “I hope you’re happy now. Because you won’t be when I get you back.”
He steps closer, forcing me to look up at him, my chest nearly touching his abs. “I’d like to see you try, Anderson.”
I stalk back to my car, shutting the doors and my trunk.
“What? You’re not going to wish me a wonderful day?” he yells from his porch.
“I would, but my mom told me it’s not nice to lie.”
His laughter is the last thing I hear before his door clicks shut.
“You know what this calls for?” I whisper to myself. “Double or nothing.”
I walk back into my house, smiling like a fool.