Page 81 of The Dating Game

Some of the other chaperones thought we should just pack up and leave early, but our return charter bus isn’t scheduled to pick us back up until Saturday. I called the company, but they can’t send anyone this last minute. Furthermore, we’re surrounded by devastation. It would feel wrong to up and leave without doing something to help.

Unfortunately finding lodging for so many people on such short notice is proving near impossible. I feel like Joseph and Mary when they arrived in Bethlehem.

In fact, at this point I’d be happy to hear someone say they have a stable large enough to house all of us for the night—that’s how desperate I am.

I’ve just hung up with my eighth hotel in a thirty mile radius—which is how far the driver of the school bus we’ve been using for transportation this week is willing to take us—when Brooke pops up in front of me.

“I found a place for us to stay,” she announces with a wide smile.

“You did?” Hope surges through me.

“I did,” she says with a nod of her head. “So long as we’re not opposed to some roommates.”

“Roommates? Of course not. We’ve all been each other's roommates all week.” I eye her, noting her shifty expression. “Wait. What do you mean by roommates?”

“Unusual roommates,” Brooke replies carefully.

“Brooke, if the next words out of your mouth are penitentiary, we’ll sleep outside.”

“Oh no, nothing like that! None of our roommates will be criminals. They’re just…of the feathered and furry variety.”

“Feathered and furry,” I echo in bewilderment. Then it clicks. “The zoo? We’re sleeping at a zoo?”

“Yes.” She beams at me, and it’s strange how suddenly the zoo seems like an excellent place to sleep. “My niece Ellie’s Heritage Girls troop spent the night at the zoo recently,” she goes on. It’s an outing they offer. That’s where I got the idea. Anyway, Jill really didn’t want to go because she’s weird and thinks zoo animals stink, so I offered to go and it was so fun. We slept in the penguin emporium.” She’srambling, clearly nervous that I’m going to hate the idea. “Admittedly Jill was right— it didn’t smell the greatest, but you get used to it after awhile. And the zoo I called said they’d put the boys in the reptile house. There’s a pretty big lobby there. It probably won’t smell too bad.”

“You want us to sleep with a bunch of crocodiles?” I clarify, inwardly laughing at how this isn’t all that far off from being sent to a stable full of farm animals.

Brooke, however, appears to misinterpret the intent of my question. Color rises to her cheeks. “I mean they’d be in their tanks, of course,” she hurries to tell me. “This isn’t some sort of Daniel situation where we throw up a prayer that God will shut their mouths for the n–”

“Brooke, honey.” I hold up a hand to cut her off. “I think sleeping with the crocodiles sounds great.”

“You do?”

“Yup.” I nod. “Sounds like quite the adventure.”

“Adventure?” Brooke smiles around the word. “You think so? Because I’ve done it before and I’m not really the adventurous type.”

If I hadn’t been in that parking lot with her and Grant I may have missed the vulnerability behind her words, but I was. So I hear her insecurity loud and clear.

“Very adventurous” I confirm. “And I would know since my family owns an adventure business,” I add with a wink. Brooke tries to hide it, but I see the pleasure this answer gives her. It unsettles me that she puts so much stock in this particular character trait. On impulse I reach forward and grab her by the belt loops, tugging her to me until we’re pressed together, my fingers holding her in place by those thin pieces of denim fabric. “All of that to say, I like you just the way you are—every cautious part of you. In fact, I have found that you are exactly the right amount of adventurous for me.”

I gaze down at her, watching the way she takes hold of these words. Her amber eyes search my face for signs that I’m only placating her, but she won’t find any. I meant every word. She must see this, because her shoulders set and one corner of her mouth tilts up.

Longing clenches in my stomach. Back in Simon’s office, when Brooke was so concerned for me, I didn’t know what to make of it. Is it too much to hope that what started as a bet for her has turned into real feelings? Because I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more than I want Brooke Garza.

“Will,” she breathes, but the ringing of my phone interrupts whatever she was going to say. With a sigh she takes it out of her back pocket. “Another parent, I assume?” she asks, holding the screen up to show a contact named Sunny Pomar, a boy named Oscar’s mom.

I nod. “You want me to take a turn?”

“No, no.” She shakes her head. “You have enough to deal with. The kids need you. So tonight I am the official complaint department.”

“Okay, if you insist.”

“I do.” Warmth settles in my chest. It’s really nice to have a partner.

“Then I’ll go tell the kids about the zoo.” I pause with one last thought. “Hey, where are they putting you and the girls?” I ask.

“Oh we’ll be in the aquarium, sleeping with the fishies.”

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