The Conundrum of Collies (Love & Pets #6) - A.G. Henley Page 0,28
is on Jude’s hand. Or, more accurately, on Stevie’s butt. “What’s up?”
She hesitates, but then asks in a firm voice, “Are you and Stevie really just friends?”
I blink. “Yes. I mean, well, no. We live together. But if you mean are we in another kind of relationship . . .”
Words jumble and pile up in my brain. I can’t quite spit out the answer to her question. We’re walking past the zebras now. I feel their black eyes on me, along with Emmy’s, and I start to sweat. Somewhere in the trees overhanging the path, a bird laughs at me. That’s how it sounds, anyway. I finally force the words out.
“No. We’re not.”
Emmy nods and adjusts the strap of her small purse across her summer top. “I hope I’m not sticking my nose too far into your business here, but that seemed hard for you to answer.”
I close my eyes for a second. It was hard. Way too hard. I grit my teeth, unsure what to say, and then I deflate and nod. “Yeah.”
My eyes are on the zebras again. I won’t say more, but it doesn’t seem like I need to. Emmy seems to get what I’m not saying.
“So, here’s the thing,” she says. “Stevie is your best friend. Jude is mine. I’ve known him since college, and we’re close. We don’t live together like you two, but . . .” She wrinkles her nose, and her face flushes. “I wish we did. I . . . wish we were a lot more than friends.”
“Oh.” I straighten, surprised. “Okay.” I think about it. “So . . . we might be in a similar situation.”
She waits, as if she thinks I’ll say more, but I can’t make myself do it. I’ve never talked about my feelings for Stevie so openly, and especially not with someone I’d recently met. It’s not easy.
Stevie and Jude stopped to check out the giraffes. They stand close beside each other at the railing. We stop farther back.
“I’ve been afraid to tell Jude how I feel,” Emmy says.
I nod. “Same here.”
“All right. We have a problem. I wonder if we can work together to solve it.”
When our friends move on, we follow. We’re almost to the tiger exhibit now. A metal structure that marks the edge of the enclosure has the words Are you being watched? on it, which draws my eyes up to a ramp above it. A tiger lies there over our heads.
“Whoa, look.” I show Emmy. The striking beast looks around for a second, then lays on its side, reminding me of Bean.
The tiger habitat is circular with ramps and steps attached to the fencing for the three tigers inside to climb to the second level and move around above the visitors. A good-sized area in the middle has toys, rocks and tree trunks lying on their sides, upright climbing poles, and pools of water for the three tigers to cool off in.
Emmy sips her beer, then asks, “Is Stevie interested in Jude?”
We glance at our friends. They’ve made their way to the front of the enclosure standing shoulder to shoulder again. They watch as a second tiger leaps easily from one step along the fence to the next until it’s also on the second level ramp. The third tiger sniffs one of the thick wooden poles, which has a ball hanging off a hook near the top.
I exhale, letting my eyes close for a second. “Most of the time, I’m not sure what Stevie wants. I’m not sure Stevie knows what she wants. But . . . she has seemed jazzed about Jude lately. And I also get the sense she wants to pair us up for some reason. But the question is: what should we do about it?”
“Well, what we should do is talk to them. Tell them how we feel.”
I shake my head. “I know Stevie. That would scare her away. It’s too direct.”
Emmy sighs. “I don’t think Jude’s ready to hear this from me yet, either. All right, then we’ll have to get more creative. We’ll talk. Come up with a plan. Okay, partner?”
“Okay.” On a whim, I hold out my hand, and Emmy takes it. We don’t exactly shake, more like squeeze.
Stevie turns to look for us. She sees Emmy and me sort of holding hands, and her face goes through a weird transition. First, a little shocked, then resigned, then she smiles. After a second, Jude looks back too.
I let go of Emmy’s hand and lower my