Flipping Love You (Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild #3) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,98
at everyone proudly. “That will be fabulous.”
“That’s amazing,” Donovan told her. “And I’m envisioning pink feathered boas in the gift shop, and pink gummy shrimp at the concession stand.”
Stella, Grace, and Jolie all turned wide eyes on him.
Even Chloe looked a little impressed.
“That’s brilliant,” Stella told him, setting her hand on his shoulder.
Zeke glanced at Sawyer. Who was now frowning.
Damn. Donovan was getting cool again.
“I do think we’re probably getting zebras,” Sawyer said.
Stella looked at him. “Probably?”
Sawyer looked at Griffin. “I mean…”
Griffin rolled his eyes.
“Sure. I think zebras are great,” Sawyer said.
“Lord,” Jill said quietly beside Zeke. “Do all Landry men cave so easily to sassy little girls?”
Zeke leaned in. “Yes. Especially the ones that love animals. And not just little girls.”
She shook her head. Zeke chuckled.
Then raised his voice to help his cousin out one more time. “Hey, Sawyer, you were thinking we should put a big pink archway over the flamingo area to go with the pink bricks, right?” Zeke asked him. “Do you want Posh Palace of Flamboyance in glitter letters?”
Stella’s eyes got wide.
Sawyer noticed and, of course, nodded. “Yes. Definitely glitter letters.”
“I hope we have a boy,” Jill muttered. “This is just embarrassing.”
Zeke laughed, feeling pretty damned good about everything in general.
Fifteen minutes later, the noise level had dropped about twenty decibels.
The New Orleans kids had headed out to look at all the animals, especially the flamingos, camels, and donkeys. Their dads had obviously gone along and Griffin had accompanied them. Everyone knew he wanted to make sure they behaved around the animals, particularly the new additions.
Zeke knew it was no coincidence that Naomi had gotten Donovan talking about something over by the bar so he’d missed tagging along.
That was nice. Sawyer deserved to be the star to that group.
Besides, Donovan got Naomi as a fan. That was no small thing.
And Zeke thought maybe Donovan realized it.
16
“Here you go, honey.”
Jill looked up to find Ellie at her side. She was still next to Zeke, but he was having fun talking to the group. The whole group. Okay, minus the kids and their dads now, but there were still a lot of people in here.
Jill had been mostly sitting back and letting the conversation roll around her. She had actually been surprised by, but appreciative of the way the Landrys were able to include her in a conversation by making eye contact and directing comments toward her without putting her on the spot and asking her anything specific.
Until the question about getting married came up, of course.
But Zeke had swiftly changed that subject.
With a little help from his friends.
Those kids were…a lot. And she suspected watching them was like looking back on the Landry cousins when they were those ages.
It was all just a bit overwhelming and it made her want to crawl into Zeke’s lap, wrap her arms around his neck, and rest her head on his shoulder.
Which had to be the strangest urge she’d ever had in her life.
She wasn’t a cuddler any more than she was a hugger, but Zeke had a way of making her feel comforted and taken care of. And making her want more and more of it.
No, he didn’t have first-aid supplies at his house and he couldn’t make grilled cheese, but he made her feel sure that she would always have first-aid and grilled cheese if and when she ever needed them.
It was weird. And probably hormonal.
“What’s this?”
But it was obvious what it was. Ellie Landry, the owner of the most popular local restaurant and a cook extraordinaire, had just set down the bowl of frosted fruity cereal. She set a tiny silver pitcher next to the bowl that Jill knew held milk.
“I thought maybe you could use some comfort food.”
“I thought comfort food was stuff like pasta and grits and, around here, gumbo.”
“What comforts us depends on who we are.”
Jill blinked rapidly. She got fussed over by her own family, but it had been a while. She knew the teariness definitely had something to do with hormones. Still, she very much appreciated it.
“It’s that obvious I needed comforting?”
Ellie pulled out the empty seat next to Jill. Jill frowned. She didn’t remember there being an empty seat next to her. But before she could ponder that further Ellie was sitting and leaning in.
“You’re unexpectedly pregnant. And thrown into the middle of all of this. And you’ve only been here for six weeks. And things aren’t going so well at work. Yeah, I guess I figured maybe you needed comforting.”