Chapter 9
9
C ody played a head-bobbing mimic game with Gary, which served two purposes. One, it gave Cody something to do while he waited for Geena to finish her call. Idle time was his nemesis. Normally, he’d end up doing some light snooping, but he was pretty sure Geena would take offense at that. So games with Gary it was.
This little game also served to keep Gary distracted and quiet.
Geena had seemed pretty upset about the message she’d gotten. Sounded like she was implying it was from her ex. The way it upset her made a protective urge swell inside Cody.
He rarely felt this way about people. Animals, yes. But people? Almost never.
He shook off the protective urge and the rabbit hole of thinking that could drag him to nowhere good. So he returned his attention to Gary and their game.
Cody found he actually missed his feathered friend. Gary was the most interactive grey he’d run across, and it was challenging but fun teaching him new words and phrases to replace the saltier ones he’d shown up with. That last part hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, but Cody had enjoyed the training time, even if it wasn’t a complete success.
Geena’s voice rose from the other end of the house. Cody couldn’t make out words, but she was definitely agitated about something.
“Bitches get stitches!”
It only took a moment of Cody’s attention being elsewhere for that bird to take advantage of the silence and fill it.
Cody put a finger to his lips. “Shh.”
Gary had seemed to understand that gesture from the start. Whether or not he complied with the request was another matter.
Just then, he received his own text. It was Lauren.
How’s that second date going?
He shook his head at the phone screen. He’d made that joke earlier with Geena, but he’d known it was just a joke. Lauren’s text, on the other hand, had the tone of a joke, but Cody knew there was sincerity beneath it.
Lauren was rooting for them to get together, even though Cody had made it clear that wasn’t good for either of them.
Still, Geena had seemed to be warming up to him this evening. Her icy exterior melted along with the hot cheese on their pizzas.
But there was no point even entertaining the idea of a relationship with her.
She wanted a commitment. A long-term companion. Someone to stick around and enjoy the pleasantness of her company and build a comfortable life together.
Cody was the last thing she wanted.
His original plan might have fallen through, but Cody was still on the hunt for a position at another zoo. He needed the adventure to continue.
No matter how comfortable it felt to be around her—just being together, eating pizza and hanging out—he and Geena weren’t compatible.
“Sorry about that.” Geena placed her phone on the coffee table. Her smile from earlier was long gone.
Cody wanted to have a talk with the guy who made that smile disappear. She seemed the type who didn’t smile like that very often. Definitely not often enough. She deserved to enjoy it for as long as she could.
“Everything okay?”
She shrugged. “It is now. Or at least I’m done with him for now.”
“Good.” Cody nodded at the cage. “Ready to get better acquainted with Gary?”
Her smile returned, but this one seemed a bit forced and laced with trepidation. Her voice faltered as she said, “Suuure.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Cody set to work explaining how much food and how often she would need to feed Gary and change his water. It really wasn’t complicated. Maybe a little intimidating for someone who’d never been around even a parakeet before. But the instructions themselves weren’t difficult.
He showed her the pellets and explained what to put in his cup each morning. Emphasizing to clean out the old food from the bowl first. Then he showed her the chop bags.
“What is that ?” she asked with her nose scrunched.
“Precooked and portioned grains and vegetables. He gets one a day. I’m hoping you have enough room in your freezer. Otherwise, I can drop off more whenever you need.”
She stared wide-eyed at all the plastic bags. “How long do you expect him here?”
“Depends on how soon Taylor and the shelter people can find another foster or adopter. I just want to make sure you have enough.”
Geena still looked hesitant but managed to mutter, “Thanks.”
He figured he’d better move things along before she changed her mind about all of this.
“See these?” Cody pointed at the two feeder doors. “You can refill food and water through these. Just make sure they’re securely latched when you’re done.”
“I won’t forget that part. I promise.”
He believed her. Even if he hadn’t spent any time with her, he could hear the earnestness ringing through her voice. In fact, he was pretty sure the harder part would be getting her to open any of the doors at all.
“Why don’t you give it a go,” he said. “Open the food window, then unscrew and pull out the bowl to empty it. Then you can fill it. It’ll give you practice while I’m here. It’ll also give Gary a chance to know you’re where his food is coming from now.”
Geena looked like she wanted to throw up, but she followed his instructions meticulously, only requiring guidance as reassurance. She cleaned out and replaced both his food and water and made sure both doors were securely latched when she was done.
The sight of Geena taking such care with Gary made Cody feel even more at ease leaving the parrot with her. He knew this was way out of her comfort zone, and her earnestness, despite that, was impressive. The comfort he’d had sharing dinner with her was growing into something a bit more. Something stronger.
Something completely unacceptable.
“You’re a natural,” Cody said. “Sure you never did this before?”
“I assure you, I haven’t. But I appreciate the cheerleading.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, what’s next?”
He showed her how to remove and replace the liner at the bottom of the tray. “Newspaper works just fine, but no one has that around anymore. You should have plenty of these liners in the box to last awhile.”
“This isn’t too bad.” She eyed him curiously. “You never told me why he can’t stay at the zoo.”
Cody rocked back and forth on his heels. He’d been dreading this part.
“Someone broke into the zoo. We think they might have been trying to steal Gary.”
“I’m sorry… what ?”
“Bullshit!” Gary shouted.
Geena put her hands on her hips. “What he said.”
“Sorry, but this is the safest place for him. And there’s no reason anyone would know to look for him here, so you’re safe, too.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why would someone want to steal him?”
“Not sure. I mean, these birds are expensive, but not break-into-a-zoo level of expensive. It would probably be easier to snatch one from a pet store.”
“Didn’t you say the owner was in jail? Could they want him back?”
“The guy’s still in jail. Maybe when he got out, I’d wonder that. But the timing isn’t right.”
“What’s he in jail for, anyway?”
Cody thought back to what his boss had told him. “His name was Tony something. I think. He was convicted of… laundering? Tax evasion? Something with money. Not my circus, so I forgot.”
“Could he be buying birds as a money laundering thing?”
Cody shrugged. “No idea. But it was just Gary they needed to re-home. I got the impression he didn’t have any other birds.”
“Weird.” Geena stared at Gary, puzzling over the mystery like he had done yesterday. She seemed as if she’d latched onto something out of place, and she had to figure it out to make the world make sense again. “Was it a big case? The owner’s, I mean. Like, could someone else have heard about it and want to hold the bird ransom or something like that?”
“I don’t remember it, but that doesn’t mean much,” Cody said. “I don’t pay attention to the news.”
“I was just thinking,” Geena said. “If it was personal, like revenge or bird extortion?—”
“Bird extortion?”
“—then maybe it would be worth it to them to hunt Gary down.” She took a long pause before adding, “Here. What if they hunt him down here?”
“Highly unlikely.”
“But what if they did?”
There was a glimmer of fear in her eyes. She was going to back out.
More than the hassle it would cause him, he hated seeing her afraid. He wished he could take care of the bird on his own, but that wasn’t an option. Lauren couldn’t take him in either. Not even Taylor. No one could, and he felt like crap having to drop this on her.
“I don’t think they could track him here. There’s no paper trail to tie him to you.” Cody gave her a pleading look. “You’re his only option for now. I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”
Geena looked at Gary for a good long while, then she turned back to Cody. “I get it. I’m just… nervous. That’s all.”
“Well, if it helps, you’re doing great with him so far. And I really appreciate your help.”
She held his gaze for longer than he expected. He was able to get a good look at her hazel eyes and how they glimmered against the light from a nearby lamp. Her sharp pixie cut highlighted sharp features, and he liked the way she looked like she could tackle anything.
Even this.
“So is that it?” she asked. “I think I can handle this.”
Cody cleared his throat. “One more thing.”
“Oh, no. This doesn’t sound good. What did you wait until now to tell me? Is it that horrible?”
He laughed at her barrage of questions. “Not that bad.”
With narrowed eyes, she said, “What then?”
Cody held his breath. This was the make-or-break moment. She was either going to be all in, or he would end up leaving with this bird.
And lose his excuse to see Geena again.
“Ready to let him out of the cage?”
G eena’s breath caught in her throat. She forced it down and tried to quell the panic building inside.
She must have misheard.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?”
He looked almost as terrified as she felt. Although she wasn’t sure why. He was the expert here.
“I asked if you were ready to let him out for a bit.”
She’d heard correctly.
Absolutely not. She couldn’t have a bird flying around in the living room.
“Isn’t that why he has a cage? To keep him inside it?”
Cody looked amused at that. “Yes, but he needs to exercise. You’ll have to let him out for one to two hours a day.”
“One to two hours? Every day?” Even she heard the shriek in her voice. She was trying to maintain her cool, but this was too much. “Isn’t he going to poop everywhere?”
“Yes, every day,” Cody said with a smile. “But you won’t have to worry about poop. His owner might have been a criminal, but he was an excellent bird owner. He trained Gary to use a potty spot when he’s out of the cage.”
“A potty spot,” she repeated.
This was getting too weird.
“Yeah, we discovered that nifty little trick when we left some tray liner out one day. After a few minutes outside the cage, he landed on the paper and pooped right on it before continuing his exploration of the room.”
Geena couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“So you’re telling me this bird is potty trained?”
“Mostly,” Cody said with a finger in the air. “I can’t guarantee he’ll never have an accident. But if you leave some paper out, he’ll use it. And any rare accident elsewhere should be pretty easy to clean up. Bird poop isn’t as messy as you’d think.”
“I don’t think you know what I’m thinking.”
His grin grew wider. “You’re thinking you should send me and Gary packing.”
“So now you can read my mind?”
She tried to sound stern, but she couldn’t help smiling herself. Cody’s smile was infectious.
Diseases were infectious, she reminded herself.
With a heavy sigh, she said, “Okay. Let’s give this a try.”
Cody nodded in acknowledgment and didn’t waste a second reaching for the door. She was pretty sure he was trying to get the bird out before she could change her mind.
Gary sidled over to the open door, peering out hesitantly. Geena didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t trepidation. Not from the brash bird she’d spent the last day with.
But Gary was as tentative as she would be. He took in his surroundings, even though he’d been examining the room from inside the cage all day.
Finally, he used his beak to help clamber onto the wire bottom of the doorway. A moment later, he was flying through the living room.
He landed on top of her TV, which was perched on a stand along the wall opposite his cage. She hoped he wouldn’t poop on anything electronic.
Cody waved a sheet of tray liner in the air, making sure Gary saw it, then handed it to Geena. “Put this where you want him to use it. Make it somewhere he can see it from wherever he is.”
Geena held the liner in the air like Cody had done, then she laid it on the coffee table. Gary tilted his head one way and then the other, studying the paper and the human who had placed it there.
He flew to another location. This time to one of the fan blades sitting idle above them.
As worried as she was about poop and feathers and getting pecked on the head, Geena felt bad for the guy. He’d spent his entire time here so far trapped in that cage, and once he got out, he was just allowed the illusion of freedom in the larger cage of her townhouse.
Geena could relate. A little, at least. She’d broken free of a bad marriage only to be trapped beneath paperwork and emails. Her ex was still holding back information, and he would until everything was finalized and she never had to hear or speak his name again.
But what would she do with that freedom?
Probably nothing different with her life.
Geena liked her apartment. She liked her job. And now she had this volunteer gig at the shelter with her sister and the rest of the staff there.
Still… something felt missing.
Or maybe it was that something else was just out of reach. Out of sight.
“These are cool.”
Geena broke out of her daydream and realized Cody was staring at a framed photograph on her wall above her couch. There were three hung in a row. Black and white shots of people enjoying a local festival. The one place Geena enjoyed more than her apartment. She liked the anonymity of being invisible in a crowd, everyone collectively lost in the music.
“Wait,” Cody said, turning his gaze from the photo to Geena, who now stood beside him. “Did you take these?”
She nodded sheepishly.
“These are really good,” he said.
“Thanks.”
She wasn’t sure what else to say. She never knew how to respond when someone complimented her creative efforts. Because they didn’t require much effort at all. It was almost like she didn’t do anything. The images appeared before her, and she merely captured them. The moments were art of their own. She was just a recorder, like someone taking minutes during a meeting.
He looked around the room. “Do you have any others?”
“Blown up like this? No.”
Truth was, she only framed these because they reminded her of the festival during the rest of the year. It wasn’t as if she wanted to show them off to herself. And no one else came around to view them. It seemed silly to go to that trouble with any of her other photographs.
He looked back at the three on the wall. “You have an eye for people.”
She turned to look at him, waiting for a sign that he was teasing her or just being polite. But everything about his expression displayed sincerity.
Sincerity from him was unexpected. As unexpected as his thoughtful choice of pizza.
This side of Cody was shattering all of those first impressions she had. She was so lost in this new side of him that all she could manage in reply was a small, “Thanks.”
Cody turned from the wall to face her, and they were now just inches apart.
She felt seen. By the man she never thought she’d see again after their disastrous date.
Yet, here he was. Seeing her.
Sure, he’d dropped a foul-mouthed parrot in her lap, but he’d also brought her favorite pizza. And he liked her photos. It was almost as if he liked her .
But that couldn’t be.
They had nothing in common.
Still, she felt a connection to him that she couldn’t explain. And that connection grew stronger with every second he was in her home.
Now, as they stared at each other, she was physically drawn to him.
Were they inching towards one another?
“Bet your asses!”
The pull was broken, and Geena wasn’t sure if she felt disappointment or relief at Gary’s interruption.
They both smiled as they looked up in unison at Gary, still perched on the fan blade.
“All right, knucklehead,” Cody said. “You gonna poop or what? Don’t make me a liar.”
As if he understood every word, Gary spread his wings to fly in a circle around the room, gliding in descent until he reached the coffee table. Almost immediately upon landing, he relieved himself on the paper.
“That’s kind of amazing,” Geena whispered, hoping not to startle the bird mid-poop.
“I know, right?” Cody nodded at Gary. “Wish I could take credit for that, but it was all his previous owner.”
Suddenly, Geena realized the glaring flaw in all of this amazingness. “Um, how do I get him back in the cage?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Cody said. “Berries.”
“Berries?”
“Yup. He can’t resist them.” Cody pulled a small container out of the box he brought and handed it to her. “He can’t have too many, so save them just for when you want him to go back inside. It’ll work like a charm every time.”
Geena opened the plastic container and pulled out a handful of raspberries. She placed them in his food dish, and as promised, Gary flew back into his cage to snack on them.
“See? Any berries will do.” Cody shut the metal door. “These are his favorite, but blackberries, blueberries, or cut-up strawberries will work. Just a little though, or his fun poop-on-the-paper trick won’t be so reliable.”
“Ah. Gotcha.”
“Well, I think that’s it. I’d better get going and let you have the rest of your night.”
Geena fought the urge to tell him it was fine. He could stay as long as he liked.
That was not a good idea.
She didn’t know what was getting into her.
“Yeah, Gary and I have a big night of partying planned,” she said, following him out.
Cody stopped in the doorway and turned to smile at her, then scratched nervously at the back of his head. “Again, I appreciate all of this. I’m sorry I can’t take him myself.”
It was a sincere statement filled with genuine remorse.
Could she have misjudged him so badly from the start?
Maybe.
But it didn’t matter. They’d already established that this was not a date. They wanted very different things in life.
But they both wanted one thing in common.
“Don’t worry.” She smiled at him. “I’ll take good care of your pain-in-the-butt bird.”