Page 37 of Falling for the Enemy

“Buster?” she asked as she stroked him. “I guess that works. We need to go look for his mom. I don’t think he’s old enough to be weaned yet. She can’t be far. Food first—that way I can be sloth mommy for a little longer.”

“I’ll take care of the food while you babysit. What about Norm?”

“He’s resting, and he said he wasn’t hungry. Poor guy was so shaken after what happened.” She grew quiet for a second. “I haven’t had a chance to?—”

“Not necessary, Lo. You would have done the same for me.”

“I might have pulled us both in.” Her voice wavered. “You took a big chance.”

“You don’t weigh that much. Besides, may I remind you about this?” I waved my hands in front of myself. “I don’t spend all my waking hours at the gym, but I do take care of myself.”

“Yes, you do. Not bad for a science nerd.”

We sat down to something that the package claimed to be chili mac but was mostly plain noodles with a dash of chili powder. Ava cuddled the sloth and could barely eat her lunch for fear of disturbing the little guy. She was in heaven but also visibly worried that we wouldn’t be able to help the baby sloth. It desperately needed its mother.

“Never thought of you as the maternal type.” The second it left my mouth, I knew it was a mistake.

“That’s because you base your opinions on nothing more than air.”

“And I’ve stepped in it again. For a second, I thought we’d—” I stopped.

“What?”

“Never mind. Where should we start looking? If I think back to my zoology minor, sloths prefer the cecropia trees.”

“Yes, and I definitely saw some during our mushroom expeditions.” She smiled down at the sloth as it released a big, adorable yawn. “Sorry for snapping. I guess sometimes I worry that I don’t fit in well in the world with all its rules and generalizations. I’ve always been different, even amongst my sisters, and I think I’ve already made clear how close we are.”

“Yes, very clear, and that story of yours was a proper humiliation moment for me. Only it seems I haven’t quite learned my lesson. And I didn’t mean it in a negative way.” I turned my eyes up. “At least I don’t think I did. I guess we’re both always on defense when we’re near each other. I wish there could be a restart, but without a time machine, we’re stuck in this endless cycle.”

Ava looked up from the tiny sloth with a smile. “Who says we need a time machine?” She stuck out her hand. “How do you do, I’m Ava Lovely.”

I took her hand in mine. It was small and warm and, considering how hard she worked, amazingly soft. “How do you do, I’m Jack Sinclair.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Jack. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I take another bite of this weird food, I may never eat macaroni again, and that would be a shame because macaroni and cheese is my favorite food.”

I nodded. “Aha, I had you pegged as a pizza person, but I suppose mac and cheese usually tops people’s lists.” I carried the bowls to the trash and scraped out the remnants of the nearly inedible concoction. “I wonder if they’re all eating pizza right now.”

“Probably. When I spoke to Harold, he mentioned everyone was showered and dry and he was pulling some pizzas out of the oven.”

“Lucky punks.”

“Yes, but we’ve got little Buster to make up for not having pizza.” She cuddled him again. “I’m in love.”

I gazed at her. As she said it something inside of me jolted, and for the briefest second, I allowed myself to think something so ridiculous and crazy I wasn’t entirely sure why it popped into my head. I shook it free, reminding myself that it had been a wild day fraught with stress.

“Well, let’s go see if we can find mama sloth,” I said.

Ava sighed. “Gonna miss the little guy, but I sure hope we find her.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

AVA

As bad as the camp looked, it was like a five-star hotel compared to the rainforest behind it. I carried the precious cargo, so Jack walked ahead with a scythe, the only way to get through some of the tangled debris. His broad shoulders strained the white cotton shirt stretched across them as he swung the scythe back and forth.

“Watch for snakes,” I called to him.

“Yep, I think the last thing we need in this day of catastrophes is a snake bite.”

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