Flipping Love You (Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild #3) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,117
the lead. He was waddling along the path looking side to side. He seemed curious and she couldn’t help but smile.
“They are going to take them to meet the lemurs and the sloth. I think they’re going to also take them by the flamingos. I don’t know if they’ll go over to the otters and alpacas today or not. But we also have some red pandas that have recently joined the park and there are porcupines and hedgehogs, and a bunch of goats and other barnyard animals for them to watch and interact with.”
They watched for a little while, listening to Jordan’s explanations of what was going on. Jill supplemented Jordan’s narrative with the penguin names and who each of the humans were.
It was strange how hard her heart thumped when Zeke came on screen.
He looked amazing.
He was dressed in jeans and work boots, as always, but he was also wearing sunglasses and a Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild t-shirt. The black cotton clung to his chest and shoulders, and made the ink on his tanned arms stand out. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and the sun glinted off the gold hoop in his ear.
He looked sexy and happy and suddenly she couldn’t wait to get back to Autre.
He was herding two penguins in front of him. They, of course, seemed to want to go in two different directions. Because the camera kept panning from Jordan to the penguins and because the penguins were scattered in different directions, it was difficult to see them all at once. At the moment she could only see five. The most she’d seen on screen at one time was seven. But she knew that Donovan, Zeke, Griffin, and Zander were all helping with the penguin herding. Jordan was also there and she knew that not only was Naomi behind the camera, but Charlie would be keeping a close watch over the entire proceeding.
“This is amazing,” her mother said. “It looks like a lot of fun. It seems much more laid back and casual than things were at the zoo.”
“Oh, it’s definitely that.”
“Do you like that?” her mother asked.
“Because I want two beaks!”
“No! You have to share!”
“I don’t want any flippers!”
They all pivoted to look to where the little girls were sitting as cake flippers went flying.
Cori shook her head. “Ruby, you have to share the beaks.” She dropped her voice to a mutter for the adults only. “The effing things those girls find to fight about is insane.”
Jill grinned. “They’re insane or they’re driving you insane?”
“Honestly? I’d be insane if I wasn’t doing this with Ava and Brynn. And the guys. I realize it’s hilarious and ridiculous that it takes six adults to raise three little girls but, I can’t imagine doing it any other way.”
Jill felt the urge to say, “Aw.” But caught herself just before saying it out loud. Evan and Cori would think she’d lost it. “Aw” was definitely not a Jill word.
At least it hadn’t been before. But she also wanted to tell them about the games I Love Them, But… and Mine’s Bigger Than Yours. Cori and Evan had a built-in support group here and Jill knew they’d love it.
She smiled, thinking about her support group waiting back home.
Yes, home.
In Louisiana.
One of the girls suddenly shrieked loudly and grabbed another’s penguin cake. That one—Jill thought it was Cara—shrieked even louder and then yelled, “You’re yucky!”
“Oh my gosh!” Evan exclaimed. “Cori, did you see what that penguin just did?”
Cori gave Jill a look. “Sometimes you just have to be even louder than they are.” Then she pivoted on her chair. “Wow, yes! These penguins are so cool!” Cori pulled her phone from her pocket and typed in the web address of the live stream. She took it over to her daughter and nieces. “Look, you guys! Penguins!” The little girls all leaned in to look.
“I like that one!” One of the girls pointed at the screen. As if she hadn’t just been screaming about cake.
“No, I like that one!” the cake-grabber yelled.
“Well, I certainly don’t like all the very loud talking,” Parker informed them all. Loudly.
One of the little girls sighed heavily at that. Jill pressed her lips together. In that moment, it was clear that was Ava’s daughter, Michaela.
“Oh, my goodness,” Holly said. “I can barely hear myself think.”
Which was funny. Three months ago, Jill would have thought this was all incredibly, annoyingly loud as well. Now it seemed…well, still loud. But tolerable.