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“Are we ready to order?” Pam reappeared just as Avery and I had slid onto the opposite bench.
Not one of us had opened a menu, but we each nodded. Jana ordered first, choosing a breakfast sandwich that I had tried a few times. Avery got the banana pancakes, and Emerson and I opted for omelets.
Avery rested her forearms on the white tabletop, her bracelet clinking against the surface. I’d noticed the charms on her wrist before but had never had the opportunity to really study them until now. About seven charms hung from the woven links around the bracelet, each a different species of bird, from what I could tell. I ran a finger along the pelican charm, then the eagle.
“Do they have significance? The different types of birds?”
She assessed the bracelet with a melancholy smile. “It’s weird letting go of animals you love. But it’snecessary.” She hit that last word hard, then swallowed audibly. “They deserve to live the best lives we can offer them. But sometimes that life is in the wild. Sometimes it’s with their flock at another zoo. But to me, it’s a loss.” She spun the silver links on her wrist, her chin tucked and her head bowed low. “I buy myself a charm to remember them. So I can keep a piece of them with me.”
I set my hand on her forearm, and she turned, giving me a watery smile.
“Does that happen a lot?” Emerson asked, sitting a little taller across from me.
“Yes, she’s cried over the loss of many birds in the last two years,” Jana said.
With a shrug, Avery cleared her throat and picked up my glass of water. Without asking, she brought it to her lips and took a slow sip. The woman sure had a thing for stealing people’s drinks. I wanted to be annoyed, but she was so damn cute. And she went on before I could express my irritation with her liquid thievery anyway.
“No matter how much I tell myself not to bond with them, I can’t help it. Like with Puff.”
My whole body went rigid at the sadness in her voice when she spoke about the bird. What did she meanwith Puff? With the party tricks alone, anyone could tell the bird was happy as a pig in shit when he was with her. Who wouldn’t be? If I spent my days being doted on by Avery, I’d be the happiest man alive. He had that pool in her office too. Plus, he had the run of the entire tank in the hospital area when Avery couldn’t keep him with her. What more did he need?
“What about Puff?” I demanded, turning to face Avery fully.
I was the reason he didn’t have a normal existence anymore, so I’d gladly do whatever it took to make sure he was happy.
She sighed. “Puffins are social birds, but we don’t have a puffin exhibit. Although he’s adapted to me, he won’t be happy without a true puffinry.”
“A what?” I frowned, pulling out my phone to see if I could order one, whatever it was.
“Like a colony, friends, another bird to bond with.”
I deflated. Dammit. That was not something I could order on Amazon.
“Like a mate?” Emerson chuckled.
I rolled my eyes at the idiot. It was always about sex with him.
“Well, yeah.” She shrugged a shoulder, and the gray scoop of her shirt slipped down, revealing creamy white skin.
Of their own volition, my eyes zeroed in on the indent of her neck, the slope of her collarbone, the curve of her shoulder. My fingers had run along that same skin, had elicited a shiver as I’d done it. She’d been so responsive to my touch that night.
I shifted on the bench and forced myself to focus on her words, not her skin.
“He’s the right age for a mate. That’s probably why he was at the stadium in the first place. Looking for a female. The males tend to wander farther from their puffinry when they’re searching for a mate.”
“My kind of bird.” Emerson smirked.
“You’re such a man whore.” Jana giggled. It was high pitched and annoying.
He smiled that stupid innocent smile he always wore. It totally belied his next words. “I won’t lie about that.”
Avery laughed beside me. The sound made my heart clench. Damn, I loved hearing her laugh. Noises were one of those things that irked me. Most fell into one of three categories—too loud, too grating, or shudder-inducing—but Avery’s laugh lit me from the inside out.
“Anyway.” Avery shrugged. “We’ll eventually have to move him to another zoo. One that has an exhibit. If I could keep him, I would, but we don’t have the money to pay to construct a puffin habitat right now. I’ve done a little preliminary research. There aren’t many zoos in the US that have one. St. Louis is probably the closest. Maybe they’ll want him.”
I scowled. How much could an exhibit cost?
I was new to the majors, so it was probably more than I could afford. I rubbed my jaw and racked my brain. Maybe I could start a GoFundMe to cover the cost and keep the bird in Boston. I might have to unblock Hannah and ask her about it, since she handled stuff like that for the Revs.
