Page 29 of Tiger Queen

“I… I’ve taken photos of them too.”

“Let me see.”

The camera wouldn’t fit through the fence, so I stuck my arms through to hold it on his side. I flipped the switch to look at the photos taken. The first ones that appeared were of me, of course. To my relief he had only taken tasteful photos of me maneuvering the weed-whacker, and moving the cats to the temporary pen, and mucking out the chimpanzee cage. There weren’t any photos of me bending over or anything, even though I had done that plenty of times. Then my image on the screen was replaced with Jake’s sweaty body. The muscles in his arms and chest rippled as he held the shovel. The next one showed him with one of the female tigers leaning up on him, his hand on her chest and a wry smile on his face.

I realized I was staring at Jake’s photos too long, so I quickly scrolled faster. Sure enough, some photos of David appeared next, running the weed-whacker in the wolf enclosure.

“Okay,” I said, handing the camera back to Anthony. “Sorry if I overreacted.”

“No sweat. I probably should’ve told you ahead of time.” He ran a hand through his messy chestnut hair. “I told David, and I assumed he would tell you, but if not I can see why it would be creepy. Heh. You photograph well, by the way!”

“I do?”

“Sure. It helps that we’re in the golden hour right now, the ideal lighting conditions to take photos. The light contrasts well in your hair and skin. I won’t have to tweak these or add a filter or anything. You’re a natural.”

He said it confidently, but his cheeks reddened a touch as if he was embarrassed to compliment me. It was adorable.

“The photos you took of Jake and David look great, too,” I said.

He nodded. “Jake’s a handsome guy. Out of the three of us, the women always loved him the most.”

“I bet.” I gave a start. “Wait. That’s not what I meant. I was trying to say that you are a gifted photographer.”

“No need to be weird about it. My brothers are good-looking dudes. That’s just a fact. They get ogled by all the ladies. It’s been that way my whole life.” He winked at me. “I’ll leave you to it.”

He began to walk away.

“Hey,” I called.

He turned around.

“You’re not too shabby yourself,” I said. “You’re much cuter than either of them. I’d ogle you any day.”

“I appreciate your attempt at flattery,” he said, but based on the way his cheeks reddened and how he grinned it was clear my attempt had succeeded.

I worked until the sun went down and I could barely see. Even then it felt like I had barely made a dent in my to-do list. There were so many things that still needed to be done around here.

“We should hire someone,” I told David back at the house. He was seated in a leather chair in the foyer, going over a stack of financial documents.

“I’m not sure that’s feasible.”

“We could use the help. This zoo is too big to be managed by just four people.”

“It seems like we are getting by okay.”

“For now, sure,” I said. “But what happens if an animal gets wounded, or sick? That will occupy most of my time. Can you, Jake, and Anthony pick up the rest of the duties without me?”

David rubbed his hard jaw. “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. But I hear your concern.”

I went upstairs and took a shower. On the way back to my bedroom I passed Jake’s closed door. The sound of shouting drifted into the hallway, only slightly muffled by the door.

“It’s the plan I came up with,” David insisted. “We’re sticking to it.”

“Dad would have hated it!” Jake shouted. “You’ve been here a few days and you’re already dismantling everything he built.”

“This place is bankrupt! What do you expect us to do?”

“I expect you to try harder,” Jake growled. “Not just give up like this. Is this her plan?”

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