Flipping Love You (Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild #3) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,108

people who work with them,” Naomi went on, spreading her arms wide. “And the fact that they’re building this animal park right in my backyard, is kind of crazy and ironic. I feel like I should be a part of it. Somehow.” She let her arms drop. “Charlie and Jordan are two of my best friends and they keep insisting that I don’t need to do anything I’m uncomfortable with, but there are so many talented, wonderful people here and if I can help at all, I really want to.” She gave Jill a small, sincere smile. “I’m sorry you’re struggling with the penguins. It made me think of Hugo so, after listening to you talk about your mom and everything, I finally decided to share.”

“You think maybe there’s something like that going on with the penguins?”

“Zeke told us about A.J. About how he was the only one taking care of the penguins and how he was sick most of the time. How you didn’t meet them until he passed. And how they’ve only been with you since then and that you’ve been…”

“Uptight. Worried. Stressed. Anxious.”

Naomi gave a soft laugh. “Yeah.”

Jill thought about that. She believed what Naomi had told her about the bear. Animals could be very sensitive, and she’d also seen some amazing bonds between humans and animals as well as some instances of across-species bonding that were surprising and hard to explain. “You think the penguins are grieving A.J.? And picking up on my tension?”

“You’re the expert,” Naomi said. “I just thought I’d mention it.” She paused. “Actually, I wasn’t going to mention it. But then you were talking about your mom and the baby and I realized that maybe you could use another perspective.”

“Why do you think this has to do with my mom?”

“Zeke talks about how one of the things you have in common is that you both like things simple and don’t mind other people helping out and doing things for you. You said your mom actually kept you from learning how to take care of yourself with even the basic stuff like cooking and laundry.”

Jill nodded.

“But I’m guessing you don’t consider things simple with the penguins. I’ll bet you know what each of those penguins weighs down to the ounce and I’ll bet you monitor their vitamin intake daily, and I’m sure that you’ve noted details about every single one of their behaviors down to which part of the enclosure they each prefer.”

Jill shifted her weight from one foot to the other. That was all scarily accurate.

Naomi noticed. “I was around animals and their caretakers every day for six years. I know a TV show and an endangered penguin project are different in a lot of ways, but I also know how people who love the animals they’re caring for act.”

“It’s all stuff I’ve always done for the penguins at the zoo. But now, these are mine. I’m the only one taking care of them. And they were entrusted to me by a friend as his dying wish. And…yeah, I’ve definitely been uptight about it.”

“Because you’re a perfectionist like your mom.”

Jill straightened in surprise. “No. I’m definitely not. It took me twenty minutes to find my phone this morning. And it was in my pocket the entire time. I got downstairs and was about to walk out the door but I couldn’t remember if I’d taken my vitamin this morning.” She grimaced. “So I took two. And that is obviously not something I should do often. Though I should probably look up what extra prenatal vitamins will do to me.”

“Why were you so distracted?” Naomi asked.

Jill opened her mouth to reply, realized what her answer was, realized Naomi already knew what her answer was, and snapped her mouth shut.

“You were thinking about the penguins,” Naomi filled in.

Jill sighed.

“You’re not a perfectionist in everything the way you think your mom was, but you are about the thing that matters the most to you. And after talking to Addison and Dana, I hope you see that there’s a very real possibility that your mom wasn’t perfect in every way behind the scenes. I’m sure Stella and Cooper and Grace and Chloe and the others think Addison and Dana are though.”

Jill let that sink in. And tried to think of who her mom might have hung out with and talked about mom stuff with. She couldn’t come up with anyone. And that suddenly made Jill sad. She didn’t even have a child yet and she was