Flipping Love You by Erin Nicholas

15

Jill was relieved that Zeke led her around to the back of the building and in through the kitchen door. It meant she had a little more time to gather her wits and prepare to step out into the main part of the bar where everyone was gathered.

She could hear the noise even from the back door. There were a lot of people out there, and it sounded as if they were all talking at once. Of course, the conversation was also accentuated by bursts of laughter and lots of clinking silverware and glassware. The place also smelled amazing. Spices of all kinds mingling in the air with the scent of beer and bourbon.

The kitchen was especially hot. There were two huge stoves and every burner was covered, along with three ovens going all at once. Cora stood at one of the stoves, stirring two pots simultaneously.

She looked over and immediately brightened. “Zeke!”

“Hey, Cora.” He crossed to her and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

Jill couldn’t deny that she enjoyed watching Zeke with the people he loved. It was obvious that displays of affection were quite common with this group.

“Hello, Jill. Welcome.” Cora greeted her with a cheerful, sincere smile as well.

“Hi, Cora. We’re hoping for a little help before we join the party.” Jill gestured to Zeke’s hand.

Cora stopped stirring and turned, wiping her hands on her apron. “What did you do?”

“Um…” He glanced at Jill. “I was welding. Touched the metal before it was cool.”

Jill snorted at his lie. But she didn’t tell on him.

Cora clucked her tongue. “You should know better.”

“If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that in my life I’d be…still not quite as rich as Jill but a hell of a lot closer,” Zeke quipped.

Cora bustled around him and past Jill, stepping into a tiny closet that opened off the kitchen. She flipped on a light, illuminating the room that was a pantry with shelves that extended well above Cora’s ability to reach them. Cora scanned the shelves that were full of bottles and jars. She located what she was looking for and pulled a three-step stool over, climbing up and taking down a mason jar.

Coming back into the kitchen, she handed the jar to Jill. “This should take some of the pain away and also help start the healing. But he should also keep it wrapped up as well.”

“Why are you giving it to her? I can take care of it.”

Cora shook her head. “This cream works best when someone who loves you puts it on.” She gave Zeke a smile.

Jill felt surprise zip through her. Love? Why would Cora say that?

Okay, Jill would go so far as to admit that she loved things about him. And they were things that extended beyond his big hands, his skillful tongue, his charming smile, and his huge cock. Which was saying something. She really loved those things.

She loved his unexpected sweetness. She loved when he tried to take care of her even when it failed. She maybe loved that even more.

That thought wouldn’t leave her alone. There was something about him making her grilled cheese and knowing that it probably wouldn’t work out, but being willing to try anyway on the off chance it did. That was possibly even sweeter than making her a five-course meal that was perfection.

Zeke chuckled. “Good thing we’re heading up front then, lots of people out there love me.”

Yeah, she also loved his confidence and his joking. Zeke didn’t take things too seriously and while she was having a baby with him and that seemed about as serious as it could get, and a guy who didn’t really do laundry and couldn’t cook and constantly hurt himself didn’t seem like the responsible adult she should be looking for, Jill thought Zeke was maybe exactly the type of guy she should be having a baby with.

She’d always thought she should go for a guy who was her opposite. Someone who would be extra careful and extra organized and could take care of all the things she would drop.

But having someone laid back, who simply put a pair of shoes in his truck for her rather than be annoyed that she’d forgotten a good pair, suddenly seemed like a much better idea. Kids forgot stuff, right? And they were picky eaters. Well, it wasn’t that she was picky, but her eating habits left something to be desired, she knew. But instead of trying to change her or reprimanding her, Zeke just rolled with it.

The more she thought about it, Zeke had a lot of really great traits that would carry over wonderfully into being a dad. He wouldn’t get upset about a kid coming home muddy from playing with his friends. He’d just dump the laundry in the washing machine with everything else. If the kid would only eat yogurt and peanut butter and jelly, Zeke would simply stock up on both. And if the kid made a major mistake—like ending up pregnant even when she’d used a condom—Zeke would roll with that too. He would never make her feel stupid or irresponsible or, most importantly, alone.

“Jill?”

She blinked and looked at Zeke. It seemed that he had said her name at least once before. “Yeah?”

“Should we go up front?”

She shook her head. “Let me put the cream on you first.”

“But…” Then it seemed to sink in for him.

Cora just stood looking at them, smiling knowingly.

Yes, Jill was offering to put the cream on for him. That was supposedly best applied by someone who loved him. Would he get it?

He extended his hand, palm up.

Yeah, he got it. Zeke Landry was turning out to be one of the easiest people in her life. Sure, he—and the hot sex and the condoms that hadn’t done their job—had complicated her life in a way no one else ever had, and yet, compared to so many things, including her current professional endeavor, he was so much easier.

He held the jar with his uninjured hand while she unscrewed the top, then looked at Cora.

“You can just apply it with your fingers,” Cora told her.

“Should I wash my hands or something?”

Cora shrugged. “That stuff will kill anything that’s on your skin or his.”

Jill dipped her fingers into the light pink cream and then smoothed it over the burned area on Zeke’s hand. He sucked in a quick breath, then let it out.

She looked up. “Okay?”

He met her gaze directly. “Very okay.”

Cora handed Jill some gauze that had come from Jill had no idea where and Jill wrapped it around his hand, securing it with tape that Cora also handed to her.

“Okay, good to go.” She let go of his hand and recapped the jar.

“Yeah, we’re really good to go,” Zeke agreed, his voice a little husky.

They shared a little smile, and for the first time since he’d suggested them coming to tell his family the news, Jill actually did feel ready.

She had no idea what was ahead of them, for sure. However, she was quickly learning that whatever it was, Zeke would handle it. Sure, sometimes he needed some help, but he wasn’t afraid to ask for it and he knew exactly where to turn to get what he needed.

Maybe Jill had just never had that. Maybe she’d just never had people she knew would be there no matter what. Maybe she’d never had people who would always know exactly what to do in any circumstance.

More, maybe her mother hadn’t had that. Maybe her mom had been burdened by everything because she really was the only one doing it all. Jill knew that her allergy to the idea of a home life and family came from what she had witnessed with her mom. But her mom’s situation wasn’t hers. The people who surrounded her mom were not the same people surrounding Jill now.

Zeke held out his uninjured hand to her and she slipped her fingers in between his without hesitation. Then they walked through the door that led to the front of Ellie’s bar together.

* * *

The place was loud, even by Landry family standards. Ellie’s bar got nice and loud and rowdy on a regular basis. But today everything had been turned up several notches.

The gang from New Orleans was here and that always meant an even bigger good time and definitely more laughter and noise.

Zeke hesitated just on the other side of the swinging door from the kitchen. He took just a moment to absorb the room. His whole family was there. He immediately located his mom and dad and his two brothers. In addition, all of his cousins were present as well as the LeClaire family, including Naomi and Michael. Their grandfather, Armand, was sitting at the bar with Leo.

And then there was the New Orleans gang.

“Wow,” Jill said.

He looked down at her. “Yeah.” But he couldn’t help his smile.

He squeezed her hand, trying to be reassuring. He knew this wasn’t her kind of scene. She liked things quiet and actually fairly solitary. She seemed perfectly happy spending most of her time alone. It had kind of been killing him. Especially after she’d started sharing his bed more often and being in his house on a regular basis. She seriously was the best he’d ever had and he was addicted to her body, but more, he enjoyed her. They’d laughed over his burnt grilled cheese. They’d laughed over sneaking into Jordan and Fletcher’s kitchen and stealing food after he’d burned that grilled cheese. They shared stories about their families. She’d taught him about penguins. He’d let her help him repair her back screen door. They’d laughed through a lot of all of that too.

And she was having his baby.

He honestly didn’t care if she only visited the kid on the weekends. He was looking forward to being a dad. And, caveman-ish or not, he was loving the idea of having something that tied Jill to him.

He didn’t think Jill was really going anywhere with her penguins here. It wasn’t like relocating Galápagos penguins would be an easy task. But now with the baby in the picture, she would be next door for at least the next eighteen years.

He could definitely think of worse things.

He knew that his family would be expecting and asking if he’d proposed. And with any other woman, he would have by now. But this was Jill. She was special. Unique. She definitely looked at the world differently than anyone else he knew. She was also incredibly independent and upfront. He truly thought that if she believed getting married was the right step, she would’ve brought it up.

Because she hadn’t, he was keeping that to himself. It wasn’t that he thought he would never bring it up, but they were working through a lot of other things first. Hell, getting her to come to Ellie’s and see his whole family had been a big step.

He flexed his left hand. But she had put cream on his hand. Cora had been partially teasing about having it applied by someone who loved you. Well, maybe ten percent kidding. Cora really did believe that not only did nature’s remedies work better than anything from a pharmacy, but she also definitely believed that positive energy and emotions had a lot to do with healing.

But even if Jill had thought Cora was kidding, she’d still taken that jar of cream and treated his hand. That had to mean something.

Zeke knew Jill liked him. She definitely enjoyed spending time with him. And not just naked time. That was something. They seemed to have very little in common on the surface, but the more time they spent together, the more alike they clearly were.

They both liked things simple, neither of them got worked up about things like separating laundry, and they both would’ve been fine with that grilled cheese for dinner.

“Get over here and tell us your news!” Kennedy, another of his cousins, called. “I have a meeting in a little bit.”

But she had a twinkle in her eyes. It was clear that she was expecting big news, and was mostly teasing him.

“Yeah, I’ve got to remake a pan of brownies for Fletcher’s class tomorrow,” Jordan said.

The pan of brownies she was replacing was the pan he and Jill had eaten out of last night.

He gave her a grin. Jordan would absolutely forgive him when she found out what kind of news he had.

“Okay, okay,” he said, lifting his hands.

“What happened to your hand?” His mother was suddenly in front of them.

Zeke sighed. “It’s nothing.”

Elizabeth looked at Jill. “What happened?”

“He burned it.”

She left out how he’d burned it and he wanted to kiss her.

“How bad is it?”

“It looks pretty ugly, but he doesn’t seem to be in a lot of pain.”

Elizabeth looked at the ceiling. “Maybe I robbed a bank or something,”

Zeke shook his head. “There you are stealing stuff again. And this is nothing. I’m fine.”

“You have to learn to be more careful, Ezekiel. I worry enough with Alexander out there as a cop.”

“Zander was a detective in New Orleans and basically retired down here. He goes fishing more than he does anything else. He’s writing traffic tickets and dealing with kids drinking underage down by the bayou.”

“Ironic that, isn’t it?” his mother asked. “How many times did you all talk your way out of tickets?”

“It was training. Now he knows what to expect.”

“And if you think I didn’t lose years off my life while he was a detective in New Orleans, you are craz—”

“We’re having a baby.”

Elizabeth snapped her mouth shut and she and Zeke both turned to look at Jill.

Zeke couldn’t believe that she had blurted that out.

Jill gave his mother a small smile. “Sorry. Turns out, I can’t work up to it. That’s what we came here to tell everyone. Zeke’s going to be a dad.”

Zeke squeezed her hand again, but quickly looked at his mother. Was this going to make her think she’d burned down a small village or something in a past life?

Elizabeth’s face slowly brightened as the news sunk in. Her hand came up to cover her heart. “Maybe I started a huge children’s charity that helped millions out of poverty.”

Zeke stared at her. “Wait, what?”

Elizabeth gave him a huge, beaming smile. “I must’ve done something really good in one of my lives.”

“So you’re happy about this?”

“Of course I’m happy about this.”

“And you think this makes up for all the bad things I’ve done? You think maybe you were a really good person in a past life?”

“I’m sure I’ve had more than one past life. A couple where I was rotten, certainly.” Then she reached to pull Jill into a hug. “But I must’ve done something good as well,” she said to him over Jill’s shoulder.

Zeke shook his head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

Elizabeth winked at him. “It’s what attracted me to your dad. I needed someone with a high tolerance for crazy. Growing up Landry meant he was the guy for me.” Elizabeth let Jill go. Then she turned to the room, put her fingers to her mouth, and gave a shrill, loud whistle.

It shut the room up and had everyone turning to face her immediately.

“Zeke and Jill are having a baby!” she announced to the group.

Well so much for telling them the news himself.

There was a beat, while the news sunk in, then the room seemed to explode.

There were cheers, there were a few “no shits!” Leo yelled, “Way to go, boy!” and there was lots of laughing and talking.

Suddenly the crowd surrounded him and Jill. Zeke immediately wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against his side under his arm.

“Okay, back off a little bit,” he told his family and friends. “Give the girl some space.”

He looked down at her. Jill did seem overwhelmed, but she offered him a small smile.

He kept her tucked against his side as he pushed his way through the crowd, making his way to the table. He deposited her in a chair with her back to the wall and took the chair right next to her where he could spread out and protect the space around her a bit. Everyone else filed back to their chairs, dropping into their seats.

Conversation continued for the next fifteen or twenty minutes with lots of jokes about how Zeke had welcomed the newcomer to town, how you could come to Autre and get all kinds of permanent souvenirs, and some sincere questions about how Jill was feeling, how far along she was, and if she’d told her family yet or not.

She hadn’t yet, and Zeke wasn’t sure what her plans were there.

After the initial wave of jokes and questions had quieted, Zeke sat back and took a deep, contented breath.

God, he loved these people. Every single one of them.

He took inventory of the room. The Landrys were gathered around their usual tables at the back of the bar. Leo and his friends were occupying the mismatched stools along the bar. The tables at the front of the restaurant were mostly filled with people from Autre, with only two seating tourists, while the tables in the middle of the room had been pulled together and were surrounded by the New Orleans crew.

Gabe and Logan Trahan were there with their wives and kids, along with two or three extra kids that belonged to other friends. Zeke recognized Caleb Moreau’s son and daughter for sure.

But it wasn’t Gabe or Logan who was surrounded by the ten kids from New Orleans.

Chuckling, Zeke leaned over to Naomi who was at the next table. “What’s Donovan doing with the kids?”

Some were in chairs right next to him, some were standing behind him, some were on his lap. They were all watching the laptop screen in front of him, clearly enthralled by what they were seeing and what he was telling them.

Getting those kids all together and quiet at once—relatively anyway—was a damned miracle. Zeke was impressed.

Naomi was sitting back and watching Donovan with almost as much interest as Stella Trahan was giving him. Which was you-are-the-most-fascinating-person-I’ve-ever-met level interest.

It was clear that Naomi had a thing for the wildlife activist. Zeke wouldn’t quite call it a crush. Naomi LeClaire wasn’t really the type to “crush on” someone. But she clearly admired Donovan and the guy could rattle her when he flirted with her. Something Zeke had never seen another human do. Not the flirting thing. Plenty of men flirted with Naomi. But the flustered thing was definitely a Donovan-Foster-only phenomenon.

She smiled. “He’s showing them some episodes of his show and telling them behind the scenes stories. Stella is particularly into the ones with him and the alligators.”

Zeke chuckled. Of course she was. Stella had been five when she’d first come to Autre and taken a swamp boat tour with Sawyer. She’d been captivated with everything about the bayou ever since. But particularly the alligators. She’d maintained ever since that day that she was going to take over Boys of the Bayou when she was old enough.

None of the Landrys had contradicted the plan.

The details had changed a bit over time though. She’d gone from believing she’d marry Sawyer to proposing that she just take it over when he was “too old anymore”. According to Stella, that should happen about the time Sawyer was forty-five. And yes, she knew when his birthday was and reminded him each year about his retirement plan.

She had, however, promised him that he could take a few tours out once in a while even when he was old and that he could have a chair in the front office where he could sit and tell people stories about working on the bayou while they waited for their tours.

“I think Sawyer’s a little jealous, in fact,” Naomi said, nodding at the eldest Landry cousin.

Zeke looked in Sawyer’s direction. He was watching Donovan with the kids too. And he did look grumpy. Well, grumpier than usual. Sawyer wasn’t the sunniest of the Landrys on his best day.

“Oh yeah?”

“He’s pretty used to being the object of Stella’s affection and admiration. But she’s been sitting and talking to Donovan for nearly an hour.”

“How did he just happen to pull out his laptop to show off his videos?” Zeke asked.

“I might have had something to do with that.” Naomi smiled. “Hey, he loves to talk about himself and the kids needed something to keep them occupied and not begging every two minutes to go see the otters and lemurs.”

“Good thinking.”

“He’s really good with them,” Naomi said. Her eyes were back on Donovan.

Uh huh. She was crushing. Just Naomi style. “He is,” Zeke said. “He’s good with most people.”

“Yeah. And animals. And he can bring plants back to life.”

Zeke laughed. “What?”

“Yep. Maddie said there were a bunch of plants up at the Boys of the Bayou office that had been sorely neglected and were basically dead. Donovan took one look, gathered them all up, took them home, and a week later brought back these thriving green plants.”

“Come on. He went and bought new ones, right?”

“I don’t think so. I think he’s…Father Nature.”

Zeke snorted and Naomi laughed.

“But seriously, he and Cora and Paige can go on and on about plants and herbs and natural remedies.”

“No. He’s into that stuff too?” Zeke asked.

“Yep. Traveling the world and being up close to different cultures, he’s tried all kinds of things. He’s eaten bugs too.”

Zeke shook his head. “Weird.”

“Hot.”

“Eating bugs is hot?”

“No. Not even a little. And he’s still hot. In spite of eating bugs.” Naomi sighed.

Zeke chuckled. “He’s so not what I would have pegged for your type.”

“He really isn’t,” she agreed.

Yeah, Naomi loved to keep a low profile and hated big crowds. Even this group was a lot of people for her. Zeke knew it helped that she knew everyone here. But she’d be the first one to leave.

“You could make him love quiet time at home,” Zeke told her, nudging her shoulder.

“Ha, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m just fine,” she told him. “I know who I am and what I need. And that man”—She shook her head—“is too much.”

“So when are you two going to get married?”

Zeke tuned back into the conversation on his other side just in time to hear Maddie ask Jill the question.

He felt Jill stiffen.

He’d been expecting the topic to come up though and he was ready. He’d been around the kids from New Orleans enough to know exactly what to do to create a diversion.

“Hey, Stella?” he called to Gabe’s oldest daughter.

She looked over. “Yeah?”

“Did Sawyer tell you about the flamingos?”

Stella’s eyes widened. “No!” But instead of asking Zeke for more information, she spun to face Sawyer. “We have flamingos?”

No one missed her use of the word “we”.

Sawyer sat up a little straighter. “Uh, yeah. Three of them.”

“Right now? Can we see them?” Grace, Stella’s cousin, asked.

Sawyer looked to Gabe and Logan, the girls’ dads.

They just shrugged as if to say it was up to Sawyer.

“Sure.”

“But, Stell,” Zeke called. “It gets even better.”

She whipped around. “What?”

“Sawyer said he’s gonna let you name them.”

Her gasp was loud enough the entire room could hear it.

Stella looked back at Sawyer. “Are. You. Serious?”

Sawyer was clearly completely caught off guard. Because of course he hadn’t decided to let Stella name the flamingos. It was possible he hadn’t given the flamingos more than two minutes’ thought. Zeke was certain Sawyer didn’t care what they called the birds.

Until now.

Because this was the way back to Stella’s number one spot.

“Of course you get to name the flamingos, Stell,” Sawyer told her. “And the camels and donkeys.”

“Hey!” Cooper interjected as his sister’s mouth hung open in amazement. “What about the rest of us?”

“Well, it’s my animal park,” Stella told him.

“But you promised I could be the CFO,” Cooper said. He looked at Sawyer. “That’s Chief Financial Officer. I’m way better at math than Stella.”

“You will be the CFO. But that’s money, not animals,” Stella said, planting a hand on one hip.

“If you’re not nice, I won’t let you buy things. Like when you want a new airboat, I’ll say no.”

Stella sighed as if already regretting hiring family. Zeke grinned.

“Fine,” Stella told Cooper. “Do you want to name the camels? You can name all of them.”

“Yes! How many are there?”

“Two,” Sawyer said. “But there are a bunch of donkeys, and two horses, too.”

“And we’ll have a baby alpaca soon!” Charlie called.

“I want to take care of your flamingos when I grow up!” Grace told Stella, hopping up from her chair. “I’m going to be a vet and then we can work together every dayforever.”

Stella, Grace, and Cooper were all the same age and were the three musketeers. Always together. Stella was definitely the leader, but Zeke wouldn’t be surprised at all if the three of them really did end up living in Autre and running…well, everything.

“So, about nine more years,” Zeke heard Logan, Grace’s dad, say to Sawyer. “Then they’re all yours. All the noise, all the bossiness, all the crazy plans, all the ghost sightings.”

“Grace still seeing ghosts?” Sawyer asked.

“All the time,” Logan said.

Grace’s connection with the “other side” had become a well-accepted fact around this group.

“They’ll all blend in just fine down here,” Sawyer told him. “Noise, bossiness, and big plans won’t even faze us.”

“What about the ghosts?”

“Who better to do the haunted swamp tours?” Maddie asked. “Those things happen late at night. We’re all gonna be too old to stay up for those soon.” She gave Logan a wink and they all laughed.

“I want to name a flamingo!” Jolie, Stella and Cooper’s five-year-old sister said from Donovan’s lap.

“Okay,” Stella said, clearly taking control again.

Zeke sat back. He was a freaking hero.

Sawyer was the coolest again and this had successfully derailed all conversation about him and Jill getting married.

“Okay, Cooper names the camels,” Stella said. “Chloe, do you want to name the new alpaca?”

“Um, sure.” The thirteen-year-old tried to seem cool about it, but it was clear she thought that was exciting.

“Grace and Jolie can each name a flamingo, and I’ll name the third one,” Stella decided. “Then everybody else can name the donkeys.”

“A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance,” Cooper told them all.

“No way,” Stella said.

“Yep.”

“That is a fabulous word,” Stella decided.

Grace agreed. “We need bright and fabulous names!”

“Ms. Fluffypants!” Jolie said.

They laughed.

“Then we have to have Ms. Frillybottoms,” Grace said.

“And Ms…” Stella trailed off, thinking.

“Featherbutt,” Donovan suggested.

“Yes,” Stella agreed, delightedly.

Everyone heard Griffin’s groan.

And saw Donovan’s sly grin.

Griffin hated most of the names for the animals at the Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild. Like the alpaca, Alpacino. Or the ducks named after the Brady Bunch. Or the goats named after the Seven Dwarves.

In part, because he hated telling people what the names were.

Zeke couldn’t wait to hear Griffin introducing the flamingos to visitors now.

“Thank goodness we got that all straightened out,” Stella said, slumping back onto her chair, clearly exhausted. “We definitely needed that figured out before the zebras show up. I can’t handle all of this at once.”

Zeke chuckled and leaned back in his chair, draping an arm across the back of Jill’s chair.

“Zebras?” Sawyer asked.

Stella looked at him. “I heard we were getting zebras. Is that not true?”

“Well…” Sawyer said.

Donovan leaned over and said something quietly to Stella.

She gasped again and bounced up from her seat. “We can put pink bricks down leading up to the flamingo pond?” she asked.

“Pink bricks?” Sawyer asked. He looked over at Zeke.

“I’m sure we can find pink bricks,” Zeke said.

“Oh,” Stella breathed. “We’ll call it the Posh Palace of Flamboyance.” She looked at everyone proudly. “That will be fabulous.”

“That’s amazing,” Donovan told her. “And I’m envisioning pink feathered boas in the gift shop, and pink gummy shrimp at the concession stand.”

Stella, Grace, and Jolie all turned wide eyes on him.

Even Chloe looked a little impressed.

“That’s brilliant,” Stella told him, setting her hand on his shoulder.

Zeke glanced at Sawyer. Who was now frowning.

Damn. Donovan was getting cool again.

“I do think we’re probably getting zebras,” Sawyer said.

Stella looked at him. “Probably?”

Sawyer looked at Griffin. “I mean…”

Griffin rolled his eyes.

“Sure. I think zebras are great,” Sawyer said.

“Lord,” Jill said quietly beside Zeke. “Do all Landry men cave so easily to sassy little girls?”

Zeke leaned in. “Yes. Especially the ones that love animals. And not just little girls.”

She shook her head. Zeke chuckled.

Then raised his voice to help his cousin out one more time. “Hey, Sawyer, you were thinking we should put a big pink archway over the flamingo area to go with the pink bricks, right?” Zeke asked him. “Do you want Posh Palace of Flamboyance in glitter letters?”

Stella’s eyes got wide.

Sawyer noticed and, of course, nodded. “Yes. Definitely glitter letters.”

“I hope we have a boy,” Jill muttered. “This is just embarrassing.”

Zeke laughed, feeling pretty damned good about everything in general.

Fifteen minutes later, the noise level had dropped about twenty decibels.

The New Orleans kids had headed out to look at all the animals, especially the flamingos, camels, and donkeys. Their dads had obviously gone along and Griffin had accompanied them. Everyone knew he wanted to make sure they behaved around the animals, particularly the new additions.

Zeke knew it was no coincidence that Naomi had gotten Donovan talking about something over by the bar so he’d missed tagging along.

That was nice. Sawyer deserved to be the star to that group.

Besides, Donovan got Naomi as a fan. That was no small thing.

And Zeke thought maybe Donovan realized it.