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A loud train whistle sounded, its playful tone carrying across the clearing. “Can we ride the train now?” Julie asked.
“Do you want to look at the snakes first?” he asked, pointing at the small building across the way that was labeled as the reptile house.
Julie’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No, thank you,” she said in a squeaky voice.
He didn’t care much for snakes either. “Let’s go find that train.”
He beckoned Amanda with a wave and found her staring at them while Brown-goat nibbled on the empty bag she was still clutching in one hand. She relinquished the bag to the goat and hurried to catch up.
“Ready for a train ride?” he asked, and Amanda nodded, tripping over her feet as she slowed to walk beside him. He took her hand—an automatic reflex on his part—and was surprised when she didn’t yank it away.
At the ticket booth, Jacob peered into his empty wallet. Well, shit, Julie had completely cleaned out his cash supply with her donations.
“Do you take credit cards?” he asked the clerk in the tiny booth.
“I’ve got this,” Amanda said, shifting in front of him and handing bills to the cashier. “It’s my treat.”
“Amanda . . .” he tried to protest.
“How many hundreds of dollars did you donate to this place today?”
“Julie donated it,” he reminded her.
“You donated it.” She peeked at Julie around Jacob’s shoulder. Julie was engrossed in talking to the green parrot in a nearby cage—pretty bird, pretty bird they echoed each other. Her eyes shifting to Jacob’s, Amanda slid a hand up his neck and rose up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Julie didn’t get her compassion from me. She got it from you,” she whispered against his lips before turning to the cashier to get her change.
From him? From Jacob “Shade” Silverton? He was a badass metal singer with only sex, partying, and rock ’n’ roll on his mind. Didn’t she get that? The rest of the world understood him perfectly.
Honestly, the train ride was entirely underwhelming.
Wooden cutouts of dinosaurs and forest elves stood scattered in the mesquite forest that the train wound through. Or maybe the colorful mystical creatures were gnomes. They definitely weren’t the wild animals he’d expected. Julie got overly excited when she spotted a small shaggy pony housed behind a chain-link fence. What excited Jacob was the ability to casually place an arm on the back of the bench and run the silky strands of Amanda’s hair between his fingertips. And with Julie squashed between them, with one of her hands on Amanda’s knee and the other on Jacob’s thigh, they felt—the three of them—like a family. He had to admit it was exactly what his heart desired—a good woman to love him and his daughter. Someone special to him who could also serve as Julie’s role model as well as her mother.
It was a wonderful dream, but just that: a dream.
A dream he wanted to keep close to him. He pulled out his cell phone and held it at arms-length in front of them. When he had all three of their faces lined up in the shot, he said, “Say cheese!”
“Pickles!” Julie said and laughed at her naughtiness.
As he smiled down at the perfect picture he’d captured he decided they looked good together. And happy. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and gave Amanda’s shoulder a squeeze. She peeked at him over Julie’s head and offered him a flirty wink.
After the short train ride, they checked out a famous goose and some ordinary deer before winding their way to the interior of the zoo where a bunch of small monkeys were housed.
“There you are,” said a middle-aged woman in khaki shorts and an Austin Zoo polo shirt. Her dark hair was streaked with gray, her lean body sinewy and tanned, likely from spending her days working outside. She had a friendly face and gentle brown eyes. Jacob was pretty sure he’d never seen her before, but a lot of people he didn’t know recognized him.
“Excuse me?” Jacob asked.
“Hello, Margie,” Amanda said, offering the woman a brief hug. “This is my niece, Julie, and my . . .” She glanced Jacob. “Uh . . . Julie’s father, Jacob.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Margie said, nodding at them in turn.
“Margie’s one of the head zookeepers here,” Amanda said.
“Do you get to play with the animals?” Julie asked.
“Sometimes,” Margie said. “Most of the time I take care of them.”
“And clean up their poop?”
It was an honest question, but it gave the adults a chuckle.
“Unless Amanda’s here. Then I make her do it,” Margie said with an ornery grin.
Julie gave Amanda a look of pity.
“Do you think Jojo would like a young guest today?” Amanda asked.
“I’m sure she’d love one,” Margie said with a smile at Julie.
They followed the zookeeper through a tall gate marked Employees Only and down a narrow path and then stopped behind one of the monkey cages. Margie took out a set of keys and fit one into a lock. The small dark brown monkey in the cage scurried up a faux tree to a platform and sat watching them with her thumb in her mouth.
Jacob’s heart thudded when he realized they were about to stick his daughter in a cage with a wild animal.
“Amanda,” Jacob said, taking Julie’s hand and keeping her at his side. “Are you sure this is safe?”
Amanda smiled at him. “Would I ever put Julie in danger?”
He didn’t think she would, but then he’d heard stories of apes going crazy and ripping off people’s faces, so while Amanda wouldn’t intentionally harm Julie, he wasn’t so sure the monkey had gotten the memo.
“Jojo has been with us for about a year. I assure you she’s very gentle,” Margie said. “Especially with children.”
“I’m sure you feel that way about all wild animals,” Jacob said.
“Jojo’s not really wild,” Amanda said. “She was a service monkey for a disabled woman and when her owner passed away, they brought her here to live out the rest of her life. She loves people. Her owner had several grandchildren she adored. She gets lonely without a lot of human contact. But if you’re afraid—”
“I’m not scared, Daddy,” Julie said, her eyes locked with the monkey’s. “Can I please hug Jojo?”
She turned her gaze to Jacob’s, and his resolve crumbled. He didn’t know why he had such a hard time telling his daughter no.
“You’re sure it’s safe?” he asked Amanda.
She nodded. “I’ll go in with her. Jojo knows me.”
“Jojo loves visitors,” Margie said. “She’s a little more leery of men. If you weren’t here, she’d already be reaching through the cage for Amanda.”
“Should I leave?” Jacob said, not wanting to upset the creature. Especially since these animal-lover types seemed determined to lock his daughter in a cage with it.
“You can stay out here and observe,” Margie said. “It’s not that Jojo is upset by men. She’s just a little shy around them.”
Jacob squatted down and captured Julie’s shoulders between his palms. “You mind your aunt and do whatever she tells you to do.”
Julie backed away and lifted a hand to Amanda, eager to start her adventure.
“Promise you’ll mind her, Julie,” Jacob said firmly, “or you won’t be allowed to see the monkey.”
“I promise I’ll do whatever Aunt Mander says,” Julie said, her gaze locked on Jacob’s. “Even clean the poop.”
Jacob chuckled and gave Julie’s slight form a hearty squeeze. Even though he trusted Amanda to keep her safe, he still found it difficult to let Julie go.
Margie opened the cage, and Amanda stepped inside, ducking her head through the small door. “Wait there for a minute, Julie,” Amanda said to the eager child.
Julie wrapped her fingers around the cage door, but did as she was told and didn’t enter the enclosure.
“Come, Jojo,” Amanda said to the monkey.
