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CHAPTER FOUR

T he zoo had been so kind—feeding them, taking them behind the scenes, everything. They’d been treated like they were zoo royalty.

Dev was tickled he’d managed this for the kids.

The girls and their friends were in good moods, and Bry’s boys were obviously in seventh heaven.

Bry looked pretty pleased, too. The guy hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d picked him and the boys up earlier today.

“Daddy! The lady gave us balloons!” Micah came running up with an elephant balloon. His brother had a peacock.

“Wow! Look at those. They’re amazing!” Bry checked them both out thoroughly, then tied the end of the strings around each of their wrists so they wouldn’t fly away. Then the kids ran back to the activity table in the middle of the visitors center.

“So, are you having a good time, Bryan?” What did you think of my art?

“I’m having a wonderful time, and I haven’t seen the boys this animated for a long time. Thanks so much for including us. I hope the zoo paid you for your piece as well as comping you the tickets and the food and stuff. Because they’ve got an amazing piece of art there.”

“Oh, thank you. It was fun to do.” He’d had a ball.

“It’s adorable. And it was so cool, seeing the penguins that inspired you. Them and the art were my favorite part. So far, anyway.” Bry gave him a warm smile.

“I’m so glad you like it.” He was self-aware enough to know he needed his ego stroked. And when the stroking was being done by a good-looking guy, it was even better.

“I really do. You’re very talented. I’ve never known a famous artist before.”

“Well, I’m—I’m trying to keep myself relevant and happy.” It was a crazy situation—painting penguins to make your local zoo happy. But they’d rewarded him handsomely with all these activities and goodies for the kids, not to mention it was in a very public place with his name right there on it.

“Those are great goals.” Bry smiled at him again. It was a good look on the guy, and Dev had a hunch he was maybe out of practice a little.

Having your life’s savings stolen out from under you would do that to a guy, and it had happened more recently to Bryan than to him. They were going to get the asshole, though. And that would be very happy making. For both of them. They’d have to celebrate together when it happened.

The boys and Juniper and her friend Victor came back to them, with artwork this time, too. He and Bry admired and ooo ’d and aaa ’d over it, then Bry tucked the boys’ pieces—both of the penguins Dev had painted—into the souvenir bag the zoo had given each of them at the beginning of the day.

“Is there anything else you need to see?” Dev asked. He wasn’t sure where Marley and Hannah were, but they had forty-five minutes before they were meeting up with the teenagers by the front reception area so that was cool.

Micah tugged on his pants, and he looked down at the little boy.

“I wanna see the shloths, Mr. Devlin.”

“Sloths—there’s no ‘h’ at the beginning,” Bry told his son.

“Soths,” Micah said.

Bryan bit his bottom lip. “Close enough for now.”

Dev found the zoo volunteer who’d been guiding them around and asked if they could see the sloths. She was happy to bring them to their habitat, chattering on about them as they went—their diet, where they lived in the wild, all the incredible facts that made them unique in the animal kingdom.

Micah seemed fascinated, and when they got their first glimpse of one, hanging off a tree, he squealed, “Soths, Daddy, soths!”

“I know, I see him.”

They watched for a while, and then Dylan asked to see the lemurs. Luckily, their enclosure was fairly close. The lemurs were far more active than the sloths, and they were soon all laughing at their antics.

“Okay, we need to go meet the girls. And then we can have one last trip to the cafeteria.” Because he’d promised Juniper she could try the hippo plate before they left. The zoo served several meals that adhered to what certain animals ate, and she’d wanted to try the bear meal and the hippo meal. So she’d had the bear plate at lunch with the promise of the other for dinner if they were still there, which they clearly were.

The kids ran from enclosure to enclosure as he and Bry strolled toward the front reception, taking their time.

“It’s been a lovely day, thank you,” Bry said.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me, but you’re welcome.”

“My mother brought me up to not talk to strangers and always say thank you.”

“Good thing you didn’t follow her first piece of advice,” Dev noted, giving Bryan a wink.

It took a moment, but then the guy laughed. “Good one. And you’re not a stranger anymore.”

“No, I guess we’re not strangers, are we? I’m glad.”

“Yeah, me too. I’m looking forward to making you guys a home-cooked meal tomorrow.”

“And we’re looking forward to eating it.” Had he really said that? They needed their own enclosure. The Great North American Dork. Still, dorky as it might have been, it was the truth; he wanted to spend more time with Bry and that had nothing to do with their joint efforts to bring Grant to some sort of justice.

Marley and Hannah were sitting on a bench when they got to their meeting place, eating ice cream cones and deep in conversation.

Dylan and Micah ran over to the girls, talking over each other to tell Marley everything they’d seen.

“They’ve really taken to your girls.” Bry grabbed a couple of the brochures about the zoo and the animals from the rack, tucking them in his bag.

“That’ll make it easier if you decide to let Marley babysit. Don’t feel like you have to, though.”

“I love the idea in theory. I’m just not sure how well it’s going to work in practice. I don’t go out all that much,” Bry admitted.

“How about I take you out on a date sometime next week?” He found himself asking without having thought it out, but if things went awry Sunday, they didn’t have to do the date after all, and if they went well, then good.

Bry blinked at him a few times before smiling, and nodding. “I think I’d like that.”

“Good deal. Saturday evening sound good?” He’d have to check with Marley, of course, she might have plans he didn’t know about. She wasn’t quite at that age yet, though, where she made too many plans on her own.

“I’ll put it in my calendar.” Bryan did exactly that, opening his phone and putting in the date on his calendar.

“So does everyone still want to go back to the cafeteria before we leave?” It would make dinner nice and easy, and he had leftover chips and dip, and fruit if the girls were hungry later on.

There were a chorus of yeses, and the boys came to grab his hands, which made him smile. The girls and their friends went ahead, chattering together.

The cafeteria was right next to the reception area, which was just as well because the zoo took up a lot of acreage and they’d walked most of it already. Dev’s feet were ready for him to sit, the boys had to be extra tired. He’d bet they’d sleep well for Bry tonight.

Juniper got her hippo plate, which turned out to be a plate full of vegetables. While she didn’t look very impressed, she didn’t pitch a fit, though she did look longingly at the burger her bestie Hannah got. Dev was going to let her get ice cream for dessert as a reward for gamely eating the veggies without complaining.

Bry’s kids ordered the dino fingers with fries, while Bry himself had the spaghetti. Dev got a burger so when Juniper got tired of chewing greens, he could share with her.

The kids were thick as thieves, eating and nattering while he and Bry talked about the animals and how much fun it was to see them in their own habitats and how zoos had changed over the years. Each having their own habitat and more space was so much better than the caged animals of old.

By the time everyone was finished, Bry’s boys were beginning to droop visibly. It had been a long and exciting day, and it was showing.

“Daddy, I want ice cream.”

“Is that how we ask for things?” Bry asked.

“Pleeeeeaassseee.” Dylan had the puppy-dog-eyes look down.

“We’ll have to eat them here or the van is going to get covered in drips and sticky fingers,” Bry warned him.

“That’s fine. We don’t have anywhere else to be.”

Of course once Juniper realized the boys were having ice cream, she wanted some too, which worked out well as it had been his plan. So they all trooped through the line at the cafeteria again.

Micah’s ice cream dropped out of his cone on their way back to their table and his face screwed up, and sure enough, he started wailing.

“Oh man.” Bry crouched next to his son. “We’ll get you another one, okay?”

Micah nodded, sniffling hard, and he and Bry went back through the line, but even though he had another ice cream, Micah still looked like the shine had gone off the day for him when they finally joined everyone back at their table.

“Overtired,” Bry murmured. “I probably should have said no to the ice creams.”

“I know they’re just tired, honey. If it wasn’t the ice cream, it would have been something else. Come on, let’s get them home. But you’re on your own for bedtime.” He gave Bry a wink.

The man snorted, but his shoulders weren’t up by his ears anymore, so Dev took it as a win. He found himself wanting to keep Bry happy.

Despite the last-minute meltdown, it had been a winner of a day.