“She was hugging them when she passed.” Terri placed a warm hand on Kelli’s arm. “I don’t know what happened between you, but I know she loved you very much.”
The happy images blurred as tears filled her eyes. Was it true? Did the mother she always thought indifferent really love her? Or was it only the looming specter of a solitary death that caused Lillian to regret abandoning her only child?
A tear slid down her cheek, followed quickly by another. Kelli couldn’t bear to put down the pictures long enough to wipe them away, so she let them go.
Oh, Mom! Why didn’t we fix this before it was too late?
Or was it too late? Would this crazy condition of Lillian’s trust help her to finally understand what had gone wrong between them? If she agreed, maybe she would discover, once and for all, if the fault had lain with Lillian or with her.
A tear dropped from her chin onto Daddy’s picture, followed a second later by another. Jason put an arm awkwardly around her shoulders and squeezed. She found his silent embrace oddly comforting and leaned into his warmth.
In the next moment, she stiffened. No! She couldn’t let her guard down around Jason Andover, even for an instant. No matter how nice he seemed, she must remember where this man’s loyalties lay. He was a zookeeper and he would always choose his precious animals over everyone else. Just like her parents.
Well, she’d show him. Even if it killed her, she’d last the whole six months. And then she’d walk away without a backward glance.
She stepped sideways, out of his reach. Still clutching the photographs, she lifted her face to look up at Jason. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m staying.”
Chapter Six
Jason arrived at the zoo at seven o’clock Friday morning, like he always did, and took his customary walk around the grounds to check on the animals. Everything looked normal, nobody injured or sickly. He examined the repair job on the wolves’ fence, satisfied that it seemed to be holding Bob, their resident escape artist, in place. The goats bleated and kicked up a dust storm as they trotted around excitedly. Samson paced the length of his enclosure, eyes fixed on Jason as he passed, as did the cougars. The capuchin monkeys rushed toward his side of their exhibit, calling to him as he strode by.
“Hang on, fellas, food is on the way,” he promised.
The radio on Jason’s belt erupted with sound. Angela, from the office.
“Jason, Raul just called. He sprained his ankle last night. Won’t be in today.”
He stopped on the path, digesting the news. Raul, the fiercely possessive zookeeper who’d been at Cougar Bay longer than anyone else, ruled the Small Animal building like a tyrant. He even came in on his days off to check on “his animals.” The man’s injury must be severe to keep him away from his beloved charges.
Jason conducted a quick mental review of the day’s staffing chart as he unclipped his radio. Each keeper took care of a group of animals from a specific natural habitat. They developed a relationship with each animal in their care, feeding them and cleaning up after them regularly, so they could spot a potential problem before anyone else from changes in the animal’s behavior or eating habits. Of course, Cougar Bay made sure the keepers were cross-trained, so a person could step in to care for other animals during the regular keeper’s absence, a policy Lil had implemented long before Jason joined the team.
The lemurs in the exhibit up ahead saw him stop walking and, alert to the change in the daily routine, raised their voices to a screech as Jason pressed the radio button to answer to Angela.
“When Stephanie gets in, let her know she needs to pick up Small Animals today.”
Radio static and then Angela’s voice. “She’s covering the Canyon and Penguins for Erica today.”
Great. And the other keepers were already stretched thin to cover a couple of vacations and the absence created by Jason’s reassignment to the director position. They were going to be short-handed on a Friday, the busiest day of the week outside of weekends.
Besides that, Jason had planned to team up Kelli on her first day with Stephanie, the most outgoing and friendliest of the keepers on staff, but he couldn’t saddle an already-overworked keeper with a newbie. Especially one with no training and a chip on her shoulder when it came to animals.
Well, he’d just have to take care of the Small Animal building himself. And Kelli would have to hang with him. A memory surfaced, of her pulling away from him at the hospital last night. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking to put his arm around her like that. She’d just looked so sad, so forlorn, with tears running unchecked down her cheeks. Until he offered a simple gesture of comfort. Then she’d stiffened like a Popsicle.
She wouldn’t like working with him today.
“Tough,” he told Casper the cockatoo as he passed. “She’ll have to get used to it.”
Casper fixed Jason with a shiny black eye as he spoke into the radio. “If Kelli Jackson arrives before I get back to the office, tell her I’ll be there shortly. Give her a new hire packet and let her start filling out forms while she waits.”
A short pause met that news. Then, “You mean Lil’s daughter? She’s coming to work here?”
Jason allowed a smile to creep onto his face. The news would make the rounds faster than a cheetah chasing a rabbit. “That’s right. She starts work as an assistant keeper today.”
Angela was silent as she digested the revelation. Then, “There’s a story behind that and I want to hear it.”
Jason shook his head. Of course Angela would itch to hear all about it. And as soon as she knew, everyone else would, too. Nice girl, but chatty. Well, Jason didn’t intend to say a word about the conditions outlined in Lil’s trust. Let Kelli handle that however she wanted.
“Just have her fill out the paperwork and tell her I’ll be there shortly.”
“Will do.”
As he clipped the radio back onto his belt, Jason stopped beside a macaw cage. Bongo, a beautiful blue and gold, continued grooming beneath a wing and ignored him.
“She’ll just be another employee,” he told the bird. “If she thinks she’s going to get special treatment because she’s Lil’s daughter, she’s wrong. She’s going to clean enclosures like everyone else.”
Only, she wasn’t like everyone else. For a second last night when he’d pulled Kelli close to his side, he’d felt something. Like a warm breeze had blown through the cold, empty space inside him. For one moment, he wondered how it would feel to really hold Kelli in his arms.
He swiveled from the cage and strode away quickly, as though he could leave the thought behind with Bongo. He had a lousy track record with women, proven by the fact that Aimee couldn’t stand to be near him. Better to stick with something easier to handle, like porcupines.
Kelli signed her name at the bottom of the I-9 form and clicked the pen shut. There. She was now an official employee of Cougar Bay Zoological Park.
Are you happy, Lillian?
Her mind echoed with her boss’s angry words on the phone last night when she called to request a six-month leave of absence. The only way she’d managed to calm him down was to agree to continue to work part-time for him at night. Actually, she’d been relieved at the arrangement. Stepping away from her life as an accountant was a huge move, a little too final for her comfort. This way she could keep her long-time clients without worrying that whoever Gary hired to take her place would mess things up for the more complicated accounts. And besides, the work would give her something satisfying to do in the evenings. Working in a zoo certainly wouldn’t tax her mental energies.
Jason came into the zoo office as she handed the completed paperwork across the desk to Angela.
“All done?” He nodded toward the packet of papers.
Angela fanned the forms, eyeing each one quickly. “Everything looks good.” She smiled up at Kelli. “Welcome to Cougar Bay. I’ll get your name tag ordered and it’ll be here in a few days. Here’s a couple of the shirts everyone in Animal Care wears. Wil
l a medium work for you?”
Angela picked up two folded tan shirts, identical to the one Jason wore, and extended them across the desk.
Kelli managed not to scowl as she took them. “Thank you.” She shifted her gaze to Jason. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
He opened the door and gestured for her to precede him. The heat slapped at her when she left the air-conditioned office. And the humidity! Her lungs felt heavy, weighed down with the sticky moisture in the air she inhaled. The atmosphere in Denver never felt like this. And it was only eight-thirty in the morning.
Jason walked in the same direction they’d taken yesterday, and Kelli fell in beside him.
“Normally, I’d sit you down in a room with a television and DVD player and let you watch the training videos. Unfortunately, we’re short-staffed today, so I need your help in the Small Animal building.”
She gave him a wary sideways look. “What kind of animals are those?”
“Oh, there’s a bunch of them. Rabbits, meerkats, squirrel monkeys. Some of the smaller exotic birds. You’ll see.”
She breathed a little easier. That didn’t sound so bad. She could handle feeding a few rabbits.
He worked his long-legged stride to full advantage on the concrete path. Kelli had to hurry to keep up with him. “I’ve never taken a job before without knowing the salary and benefits. How much am I being paid?”
“Eight-fifty an hour.”
“What?” She scowled. “I could make more at a fast-food restaurant.”
His eyebrows arched. “You’re lucky you’re getting a paycheck at all. Most interns aren’t paid.”
“I’m an intern?” She didn’t like the sound of that. She was a CPA, for goodness’ sake, not some trainee dog walker. “I have a college degree, you know.”
The fact failed to impress him. “Some of our keepers have several. Even interns have typically just earned their degree, or will within a few months. They’re here to get experience working with exotic animals and they’re happy to do it for free.” They approached a low, one-story building with Small Animals lettered over the door. Jason leaned forward, then paused with his fingers on the handle. “Your official title is Assistant Keeper, just so no one gets upset. We never hire an inexperienced person as a keeper. You might want to keep that in mind when you meet the others.”
Terrific. She was going to be known as a special case, and judging from the caution she read in Jason’s face, not everyone would be happy to welcome her into the fold just because she was Lillian’s daughter. Well, forewarned was forearmed.
She acknowledged the warning with a nod. “Good to know.”
He swung open the door and gestured for her to enter. She did, then skidded to a stop just over the threshold as though she’d encountered a physical barrier.
“Eeew.” Her nose wrinkled. “What is that smell?”
Not one smell, actually, but a combination of several revolting odors, blended into an eye-stinging stench. Wet fur, ammonia, and the same foul stink that had come from Leo’s litter box this morning magnified by a factor of a hundred. She resisted the urge to pinch her nostrils shut like a peevish child.
“Awful, isn’t it?” A sympathetic grin stole across Jason’s well-shaped mouth. “Trust me, you’ll get used to it in no time.”
She found herself returning his contagious grin. If she was going to be stuck here for six months, she’d need allies. And he would make a really nice-looking ally.
But then she remembered who he was. And what he was. And what he would gain for his beloved zoo if she failed. Trust him? She wiped the smile from her face. Not in a million years.
“I’ll never get used to this,” she told him.
From the look in his eyes, he knew she didn’t mean the smell. He held her gaze for a long moment, then gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
“All right, then. Come with me and let’s get started.”
She followed him down a wide hallway, past several glass-fronted enclosures. A pair of rabbits hopped around a floor covered with straw. Next door, a group of meerkats raced across a sandy floor or climbed on a structure made to resemble large rocks. One stood at attention on curved hind legs, its long neck extended and front paws dangling like hands in front, scanning its domain with eyes surrounded by black fur like a bandit’s mask. It looked just like the television show she’d surfed over on the Discovery Channel. Beyond that, a half dozen little monkeys performed wild acrobatics on the leafless branches of a wooden tree that stretched from one end of the enclosure to the other.
The building extended on, with windowed exhibits on both sides and an exit at the far end. Jason went to a door in the center, which he unlocked with the ring of keys he extracted from his bulging pocket.
“In here is where we do diets.”
She followed him into a cramped workroom. A high, stainless-steel counter lined one wall, a deep sink at the far end. In the center stood a rack of plastic bins, each one labeled in careful black lettering. More plastic bins lined one wall, and to her left stood a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. The back wall consisted of a row of metal cages, all empty. The bare concrete floor sloped toward a drain near the sink.
Kelli scanned the labels on the plastic bins. Some of the names were mysteries, but she spotted a curious one.
“Dog food? You have dogs in here?”
Jason opened the refrigerator and answered as he rummaged inside. “No dogs, but some of the carnivores eat it soaked in water.” He emerged with a plastic lunchroom tray piled with fruits and vegetables. “Grab that knife over there, would you?”
Kelli found a butcher knife where he indicated, but when she tried to hand it to him, he shook his head. “You’ll need it to chop the vegetables. These charts tell you exactly how much each animal gets.”
He pointed to a series of laminated pages tacked to the wall above the counter listing dozens of animal species and the food to be served to each. He set a battery-operated kitchen scale in front of her, put a white plastic bowl on it and tapped the first chart.
“Start at the top and work your way down.”
First on the list were the meerkats. Kelli studied the ingredients. Preparing each animal’s diet was sort of like following a recipe. Forty grams of mixed fruit, forty grams of yams, forty grams of carrots. Then—
“King mealworms?”
He snapped his fingers. “Oh, yeah. They’re up here.” He lifted a white plastic tub down from the top of the refrigerator and set it on the counter beside the vegetable tray. Kelli peeked inside and her stomach quivered. Hundreds of fat, hard-shelled worms, some nearly as long as her finger, writhed in a disgusting mass.
She turned toward Jason and scrunched her features. “That. Is. Revolting.”
The slow grin curled his lips again. “You get used to it.”
He disappeared through another doorway, and Kelli got busy chopping yams, carrots, apples and oranges. When she had everything measured out in the bowl, it looked great. Appetizing, even. Like something she might fix for herself at a salad bar. Until—
She looked around for a scoop, or a spoon, or something to use to get the mealworms. Nothing. Terrific. She picked up the plastic tub and angled a corner over the bowl, then used the edge of her knife to scoop out worms.
The numbers on the scale jumped faster than she expected, and before she knew it, she’d added sixty-five grams of king mealworms instead of the required fifty. They writhed disgustingly on top of her fruit-and-veggie salad. In vain, she searched for a spoon or some other utensil to remove a few.
With a gulp, she scrunched her nose to brace herself and used a thumb and forefinger to grab a couple of nasty, wriggling worms. Her stomach lurched as they squirmed between her fingers before she tossed them back into the tub.
Jason’s laughter startled her. “You should see the look on your face. Didn’t you ever play with bugs when you were a kid?”
She turned to find him watching from the doorway. A flush warmed her n
eck at the sight of his teasing smile. “Certainly not.”
“Well, I did. In fact, one of my mother’s favorite stories is the time I was out digging in a field near our house and came home with my pockets bulging. She thought I’d filled my pants with dirt, but when she asked me what I had, I pulled out a wriggling handful and announced proudly, ‘Worms!’” He chuckled. “Night crawlers are a lot slimier than mealworms.”
Kelli couldn’t stop a smile. He must have been such a cute little boy, with that golden brown hair and that contagious grin. She hid her smile by turning back toward her scale and cautiously removing a final worm. “There. Perfect. Now, the last thing is a half teaspoon of vitamins.”
Jason pulled a plastic container off a shelf and sprinkled a dusting of white powder on top of the food. “You get to where you can eyeball the amount.”
When he returned the vitamins to the shelf, his bare arm brushed Kelli’s. His skin felt warm, and hers tingled where they touched. Last night, that very arm had been around her, firm and comforting and—
She cleared her throat as she edged away. “So, next on the list are rock cavies, whatever those are.”
“You’ll love the rock cavies. They’re round and furry and cute, like pudgy guinea pigs.”
Kelli scanned the food chart. “At least they don’t eat worms. And before you say it, I know. I’ll get used to it.”
He gave a deep laugh that filled the room.
A small smile crept onto Kelli’s face as she reached for a carrot to chop for the cavies.
By the time she reached the last animal on the list, the bat-eared fox, touching the king mealworms no longer made her stomach lurch. Yams seemed to be a staple, as did carrots, apples and bananas. The skunk—descented, Jason assured her—got half a hardboiled egg. Bowls of food lined the counter, some of it tempting enough to set off a hungry rumble in her stomach.
He eyed her handiwork. “Good work.”
Kelli caught herself just before she preened at the praise. Chopping a few vegetables wasn’t rocket science. It would have been hard to mess that up. Still, she couldn’t help a flush of satisfaction at Jason’s approval.
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