Page 25 of Crocodile Tears
Deacon simply shrugged. “I’ve been called worse. What now?”
“Now, you go away, please and thank you.” I ushered Deacon and Cody to the door.
“Do you need some help?” Deacon offered to my surprise.
“If you’re bored, feel free to wander around the zoo, but”—I gave him an incredulous look—“you are the last person I need help from, Deacon.”
He gave me another infuriating smile as he wandered to the airlock. “I’m going to change your mind about that, just you wait.”
Chapter Thirteen
Deacon
As I wandered through the zoo, the late afternoon sun dipped below the trees, casting long shadows across the paths. My watch buzzed with a notification, stalling me. It was Luca texting me to tell me that he was waiting in the golf cart to drive me back to the estate. All of the cast and crew had packed up for the day and left, apart from me.
Evelyn had loaned me her office again so I could do remote interviews about the latest season of my Netflix show. The small office was still stuffed with ring lights and a green screen backdrop, ready for even more promo tomorrow morning.
I sighed and stretched my neck side to side, trying to get the blood flowing again after sitting for so long. Four hours of interviews was definitely not my favorite way to end the day after I’d had to be in hair and makeup at 3 am.
But at least the springtime sun was still out as I wandered sleepily down the hill, enjoying the reprieve from constant messages and people swarming me. Here it felt like I was submersed in a jungle—tall trees, twittering birds, the sound of leaves gently blowing on branches. The trees seemed to take a deep breath for me, reminding me to do the same.
Memories danced along with the gently blowing leaves. Summer after summer, I’d always loved wandering the zoo with Dove after all the visitors had left. It had felt like our magical, secret jungle just for us. The adventures we’d had, the reveries we’d dreamed up, the songs we’d sang . . . for it was beneath these same trees that the first song lyrics had come to me along with the very first big dream: I was going to be a songwriter.
Bitterness spoiled that thought. I’d lived that dream once, but not anymore.
I was about to turn toward the café exit when a flash of olive-green khakis to my right caught my eye. Half obscured behind a service area hedge, I wasn’t sure which keeper it was until I saw a glimpse of purple hair.
My lips curved, a lightness overtaking me again, and I turned in Dove’s direction as she emerged holding a snake around her shoulders.
“Gah!” she exclaimed when she saw me. “Don’t scare people holding snakes.”
“A good lesson.” I tipped an invisible hat at her. “Especially poisonous ones.”
“I think you mean venomous.” She didn’t break stride, walking up the hill as the snake curled around her shoulders.
I followed her a pace behind. “Unless I was talking about the common garter snake, which are, in fact, poisonous.”
“How dare you use my own fun facts against me.” Her footsteps faltered as she looked at me. “How do you evenremember that?” she asked. “I taught you that like centuries ago.”
“I remember a lot of things from those summers,” I admitted with a shrug.
She clearly didn’t know what to do with that admission, so she started walking again and I fell into easy step with her.
“Well then, you know this is a boa constrictor and not a common garter snake,” she lectured me. “Deacon, meet Matilda, our four-year-old boa constrictor. Matilda, meet Deacon, certifiable pain in my ass.”
She held the snake’s head toward me, and I bowed toward it which gained a laugh. “Greetings, Matilda.”
We cut through a gate that had been painted to blend in with the surrounding gardens. Dove didn’t hold it open for me, but I followed regardless as we moved along the path toward her mother’s house.
“Are you still working?” I asked when I realized she had no intention of returning the snake to its enclosure. “Where are you and Matilda going?”
“Movie night at Mom’s house,” Dove replied as if that were an obvious explanation as to why she was touting a giant snake. When I let out a surprised laugh, she added, “It’s been a long day and Matilda is a surprisingly excellent cuddler.”
“So no boyfriends to cuddle you then?”Very subtle, Deacon. Way to play it cool. You could just ask her if she’s seeing anyone.
Dove gave me her patented death stare. “Not currently. I am very content with my boa snuggles at the moment, thanks.”
Something twanged in my gut at that. It was the most ridiculous thing in the world—being jealous of a snake for being the one to get to wrap around Dove at the end of a long day.
