Page 53 of Pete and His Precious

Leo slaps his foot back down on the floor and says, “You know if you need any advice, you can take it from the expert.” He’s being sarcastic. I know he doesn’t think he’s an expert onlove or anything of the sort. I think he’s just trying to make me laugh.

I don’t.

“If you’re trying to win her heart,” Cal says, and I almost completely tune him out because what is Cal thinking? He doesn’t have a girl. And as far as I know, he never has. “You want to adopt an anteater in her name. You can do it anonymously. It’s not that hard. In fact I’ll facilitate it.”

Cal sounds sincere, and it’s all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes. I’ve already talked to my buddy at the force. His wife owns a flower shop, and I had to pull in a few favors, but she had that bouquet sent to the diner this morning before her shop even opened.

I’m pretty sure that Zoe prefers flowers over anteaters, but then I stop as we walk out to the gym, the guys talking about tomorrow’s game. It’s an away game, and Cal is leaving tomorrow morning. How do I know that Zoe would prefer flowers? I don’t really know her well at all. She might not like flowers. She could be allergic. Perhaps she loves anteaters.

“I’ll do that.”

The words are out of my mouth before I even realize what I’m saying. I just volunteered to adopt another anteater? I’ve already adopted one for Cal, who seems to be obsessed with the creatures, and now he somehow has talked me into two?

Okay. He didn’t talk me into anything. All he had to say was that Zoe might like them, and bam, I’m on it. What’s wrong with me?

“All right. I can do that. Just give me your credit card number.”

“That’s not exactly something I carry around in my head,” I say, sounding a little bit exasperated. But, I’m more exasperated with myself than I am with Cal. Who thinks it’s a romantic gesture to adopt an anteater in their crush’s name?

Still, she really loves her cat, and she seems to like my parakeet okay. And, I did arrest her at an animal-rights rally. So, I guess she likes animals okay. Although from what I understood, she was there with her friend. That all came out later when I wasn’t around. A female officer took over once I had gotten her subdued and cuffed.

Thinking about that reminds me of how we met, and I know I’m going to be the laughingstock of the entire town if I’m successful in my endeavor. Maybe I should just let it go. I sent the flowers as a friend, and maybe I should just brush it off, and try to downplay everything.

Or maybe I should go to the diner for breakfast.

Cal has not paid the slightest bit of attention to me, and he already has his phone out, and has punched in all the information that I need in order to adopt the anteater. Somehow he’s got me turned around, walking back to the locker room. I’m getting my wallet out of my pants in my locker, and I’m giving him the number.

It feels like an out of body experience. I have never done anything like this for a girl before in my life, and I feel a little bit like I’ve been bewitched.

“Maybe I should go to the diner to eat after we’re done here,” I say.

“No. She’ll think you’re stalking her. First an anteater, then you show up at her place.” Leo sounds sure about this. I didn’t even realize he came back into the locker room with us.

“She’s not going to know that he did the anteater. It’s anonymous,” Cal says, as he pushes the submit button, and I feel my phone ding with a notification. Zoe’s phone would have dinged with the same notification. Only she won’t know who did it for her.

I’ll get updates on her anteater, since I’m the one paying for it. Cal has explained that at some point. But I’ve been walking around in a fog.

I have fallen, and hard.

Chapter 18

Zoe

It’s Wednesday afternoon. I haven’t seen Pete since Sunday night when we had take-out in his apartment and his parakeet said Pete and his precious.

He sent flowers the next day, but I haven’t seen Pete. Not to thank him for the flowers, or to see my niece. I worked full shifts Monday and Tuesday, came home and recorded, then fell into bed, but today I’m going to go to my family’s home, and make sure that my niece is doing okay without her mom. And, Pete will be there, since he’s her security guard, and I’m going to be okay with that. It’s not going to be awkward, and I probably will barely even talk to him. I doubt that he and Bexley do much together. He probably just stands in the background while she sits in a chair and reads a book. She’s not exactly an active child.

I never know whether to knock on the door or not, once I get to my house. I grew up here for the most part. My dad lives here, but my step-mom is not my actual mom, and... I don’t know if I’m overstepping the bounds when I just walk in. Not that she answers the door. The maid does. Still, it always feels awkward to me, which I hate. After all, you have less tendency to visit places that make you feel awkward, and I want to spend as much time with my family as I can.

I compromise by knocking before I open up and calling out, “It’s Zoe!”

The house appears to be deserted. I know my dad is probably still at work. He typically doesn’t get home before seven or eight in the evening. My step-mom might be anywhere, and so that leaves Bexley and Pete. I walk through the rooms - the living room, the ornate library, the imposing dining room, and even the spacious, gorgeous kitchen, and they’re nowhere to be found.I wonder if they're down at the creek, but on the off possibility that they would be downstairs watching a movie, I head to the steps and open the door.

Immediately I can tell they’re playing ping-pong. I can hear the ball bouncing and there’s an occasional grunt. I smile a little to myself, imagining Pete, concentration on his face, possibly biting his lip, as he keeps his eye on the ball.

Bexley will be a little bit more relaxed. She is not quite as intense as Pete is, although she is probably serious when she plays ping-pong.

I start downstairs, and remind myself that I’m here to see Bexley, not Pete. I usually visit her a couple of times a week even when my sister is around. I want to have a good relationship with my niece. I might never have children of my own, probably shouldn’t, considering how my bank account looks. Then I remember what Connie said earlier. It’s not all about money. I may be making too big of a deal about that.

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