Page 10 of Crocodile Tears
I couldn't believe one of my best friends was about to have a baby. I couldn't believe I was about to be an aunt. It felt like just yesterday that Hannah had tornado-ed her way into our lives, and now she was going to be bringing a new member of our family into the world. None of it felt real. But I knew the moment I held that baby, it would be.
Hawk had turned into a broodier father than any bird I'd ever worked with. He even put the village weaver to shame with his hardcore nesting and constantly checking on Hannah. It was kind of adorable. Every little kick, he thought the baby was coming and wanted to make the mad dash to the boat. It would be a two-hour trip to the hospital by boat and car, and he was determined to get there with heaps of time to spare.
“Two weeks,” Frankie said, rubbing Hannah's shoulders.
“Two weeks,” Hannah echoed.
"Or a couple more," I said and instantly regretted it when Hannah gave me a death stare. Due dates were more suggestions than definitive timelines, especially for first-time moms who tended to carry longer. But I wasn't about to be snapped in two by an angry mama bear, so I just meekly echoed, “Two weeks.”
"Tomorrow I'll make you mud pies if you tell me what you're going to name him," Frankie suggested.
Hannah zipped her lips. "Not telling until he's out of the oven," she said, rubbing her stomach. "And you'll make me mud pies anyway because you have a new recipe and you're dying to try it."
Frankie chuckled. “You know me too well.”
Frankie had slotted straight into our family dynamic just as easily as Hannah had. My older siblings' partners had becomesome of my closest friends. I loved my siblings, sure, but Finch and Lark had always been super close and I'd never had the same relationship with them. Now that Lark had moved away, we were actually closer, but still, Frankie and Hannah knew me in a way my siblings didn't. I was grateful they were a part of my life. I'd probably have left the zoo years ago if they hadn't been a part of it. Even with them here, I still day-dreamed about when I would officially fly the nest.
The phone in the Peckish Peacock rang, and we all looked at it like it was haunted. Who would be calling us when the zoo was closed for the off-season?
Frankie tentatively picked it up. "Hello?" Her eyes widened and she looked at me. "Okay . . . . Do you want to talk to her? Okay. Okay. Uh-huh. Bye." She hung up the phone. "Your mom needs to talk to you in her office."
I held a hand to my chest. "Jeez, you scared me for a second." I stood. “Why didn't she just radio me?”
Frankie shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe because of the filming? She was cryptically vague about it."
"Weird," I said, not thinking much of it. “It better not be a new requisition because my roster of animals is filled,” I added. “Especially with baby-bird season on the horizon. Unless she wants to acquire blue-footed boobies, in which case I’d make an exception.”
“You just want an excuse to say boobies every day,” Hannah teased.
“Are you sure you’re not a lesbian?” Frankie asked.
“Alas,” I said with a mocking sigh. “I sit under a different part of the rainbow.”
“We needed the demisexual representation to round us out,” Hannah said, rubbing her belly. “This family is like queerPokémon. We’ve gotta catch ‘em all.”
With a laugh, I waved as Hannah and Frankie went back to their taste testing and I headed off. It was a short walk from the Peckish Peacock to the prep kitchens where Mom's office was located.
As I entered, the sounds of Aya’s radio echoing through the cavernous space greeted me. I presumed one of my siblings must’ve turned it on in her absence. The kitchens had been eerily quiet while she was off on vacation. I guessed Heron was the culprit judging by the chopped up fruit in a bucket labeled “tamarins.”
I hummed along to the Mumford and Sons track as I jogged up the stairs to Mom's office door.
But when I opened it, the song on my lips abruptly halted. It wasn’t my mother sitting behind the desk.
My stomach plummeted into my boots. There, leaning back in Mom’s office chair with his Hollywood-muscled arms crossed tightly across his chest, was Deacon motherfucking Harrow.
Chapter Seven
Deacon
It was Dove Lachlan who had first taught me that a group of tigers was called an ambush—an anecdote she probably wouldn’t appreciate right now, judging by the look on her face.
An ambush attack was not my ideal way of reuniting with Dove, but I had to admit her shocked expression was still satisfying. She was not an easy person to startle. I’d once seen a cheetah charge her and she’d managed to keep her face looking like she was waiting in line at the DMV. But today, I saw the sudden flare of panic in Dove's eyes before she quickly schooled her expression back to her normal bored and slightly grumpy visage.
Dove’s piercing stare slid from me to Cody, who stood leaning against the wall behind me. Judging from her tightening expression, I was certain he had a scathing look on his face that rivaled Dove’s own.
Careful, Cody, I thought to myself.There’s not a powerhouse lawyer or studio executive in the world that could rival this woman’s intimidation techniques.
That wasn’t the only thought that flashed through my mind when I saw her, though. An unexpected one popped to the forefront: I hadn’t thought it was possible for her to be more beautiful than her social media photos.
