‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Hugo is excited to meet you.’
She twisted her head to look at him. ‘He’s an elephant.’
‘I know. One of my many abilities is to speak elephant.’
Holding back a grin, she asked, ‘Oh, really?’
He winked at her. ‘Yes.’
There was no holding in her giggle. He was simply too much fun.
‘I’ll prove it to you,’ he said as they arrived at the door.
‘I’m all ears,’ she clipped in reply.
He laughed as he opened the door and waved a hand for her to enter first. ‘I know there’s a lot more to you than ears.’
Still enjoying the back-and-forth between them, she asked, ‘Oh? Such as?’
‘Eyes,’ he said, while opening the door for her to peer inside.
Surprised to see that the door led to a small room, she took a step inside. There was another door on the opposite wall, a split one, and the top half was open, allowing her to see into Hugo’s much larger area.
She was about to take another step when a noise suddenly filled the building, startling her, and she jumped backwards, colliding with Drake.
His hands grasped her shoulders from behind as she spun about, ducked her head into his chest as the noise continued.
By the time the sound faded away, she was fully aware that it had been Hugo and lifted her face to apologize, but her heart leaped into her throat, making speaking impossible.
Drake was looking at her, and she couldn’t remember a time when someone had looked at her with such tenderness.
‘Haven’t you ever heard an elephant trumpet?’ he asked.
Stepping backwards, she took a deep breath, hoping it would force the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside her to settle down. ‘Y-yes. Just never this close, nor inside a building.’
‘I told you he was excited to meet you.’
Meridith pivoted about, as though she was looking towards the door that led to Hugo’s area. In reality, she couldn’t seeanything because she had squeezed her eyes closed. She was hoping that would help her get her wits about her.
She had simply overreacted to the sound, she decided, and the way she’dthoughtDrake had been looking at her.
Opening her eyes, she said, ‘That’s impossible.’
‘No, it’s not.’ Drake stepped up beside her. ‘Here, take this.’
She took the large squash that he held out to her.
‘Now follow me,’ he said.
Clutching the squash against her stomach, she found the ability to follow him to the split door, all the while telling herself it was time to get her head out of the clouds and remember why she was here today. In the elephant enclosure. With Drake.
He opened the split door and stepped into Hugo’s room. She’d been near the elephant before, so his size didn’t scare her, but not having a fence between her and him was rather intimidating.
The elephant moved closer and used its long trunk to rub Drake’s head and then his shoulder. ‘I told you I had a surprise for you,’ he told Hugo, while running a hand on the elephant’s trunk.
