Page 44 of Crocodile Tears
Dear sweet Babybel cheeses.What I saw made my jaw unhinge like a boa constrictor.
Deacon stood there in a perfectly tailored charcoal-gray suit, fitted satin vest, and purple pocket square that matched the lining of his open jacket. Suddenly, I fully understood all of the “suit porn” Pinterest boards. I’d seen enough photos of Deacon on red carpets and the covers of magazines to know that he looked great in a suit, but seeing it in person was another thing entirely.
“Heron had to give a tour of the hippo enclosure to some big donor so they asked me to bring these to you,” he said, coming to sit on the rocking chair beside mine.
“Of course they did,” I said, knowing full well that Heron had made up that excuse just to send Deacon over here. But I definitely wasn’t about to point out that our zoo did not in fact have hippos. “Did you see Hawk and Hannah?”
“They’re having a great time,” Deacon answered with a laugh. “Although maybe a little sleep-deprived. They have a bit of a deer in the headlights look about them. It’s really cute.”
He set the dessert tray down between us, and I eyed all of the little bite-sized treats arranged around the silver base like a confectionary checkerboard. I lifted my bum patting hand to reach for one, and Simon let out a little grunt of protest, and I immediately went back to bum patting, looking forlornly at the tray of food.
Deacon chuckled. “He’s already got you wrapped around his finger, doesn’t he?”
I twisted a little in the rocking chair to give Deacon a better view of Simon’s face. “Could you say no to this face?”
He put a hand to his chest as he took Simon in. “No, you’re right. He’s already won me over too. And I thought letting my legs go numb when my cat falls asleep on them was bad.”
“You have a cat?” I asked.
“Spud.”
“Spud is still alive?” I exclaimed, remembering his family’s chunky orange tomcat that had traveled to the island with them every summer. “He was old when I knew him.”
“Twenty-four,” Deacon informed me with a shake of his head. “He has more than nine lives, I think.”
“I thought for a second you meant your own cat,” I added mildly.
“Nah, maybe one day,” he mused, rocking in rhythm to me. “But right now I travel too much to have a pet. It would be someone else looking after them most of the time, and I’d want them to be my pet, not the petsitter’s, you know?”
I nodded. “I get it.” Deacon lifted a cube of carrot cake and held it out toward me. “What are you doing?”
“Feeding you,” he said, as if it were obvious.
“You can’tfeed me. That’s too weird.”
He laughed louder. “I think you’ll get over the weirdness when you taste how good this carrot cake is. Seriously, it’s the best I’ve ever had.”
“Curse Frankie and her delicious baking.” I’d had her carrot cake before and it was seriously orgasm worthy. “Just lift the platter to my face and I’ll eat it off there.”
“You are seriously the most stubborn person I’ve ever met,” Deacon admonished with a shake of his head. But at least he obeyed, placing the carrot cake back on the tray and lifting the whole thing toward my face.
I opened my mouth like a ravenous hyena, trying to curl forward over Simon while timing my rocking to swing forward and bite the piece of cake . . . but instead I just got cream cheese frosting on my nose and knocked the three dominos of bite-sized cakes over.
“Aw, man.” I groaned as Deacon laughed so hard his whole body shook.
He set the tray back down, swiped the dollop of frosting off my nose, and licked his finger. “Can Ipleasejust feed it to you now? It won’t be weird.”
“Go inside and get some chopsticks.”
“Dove,” he scolded. “My hands are clean and I promise you won’t catch my cooties.”
“Ugh, fine,” I lamented. “I want cake more than I loathe you.”
“You don’t loathe me,” Deacon said softly.
“I know, but it feels good to say,” I countered, and he grinned. I couldn’t keep on pretending. Too much had transpired between us now. Even as I’d tried to maintain the status quo, Deacon had become my friend again over the past few weeks.
He held the carrot cake up and I opened my mouth for him to feed it to me. My lips closed around his fingers, and for a split second I sucked before realizing what I was doing. I reared my head back, making Simon and I dramatically rock backward.
