Another Hairy Tail 3

by Campbell, Jamie

  “It really is.”

  They resumed their seats again and watched the bear bonding with her new cub. The little baby crawled up on its mother’s chest and went to sleep, as did the mother. They slumbered together, the hard work done now.

  “I’m starving,” Hannah said after an hour of nothing new happening. “Do you want me to grab some food?”

  “That would be perfect.”

  Hannah took his order and left the quietness of the birthing observation area. She had to blink in the sunlight, remembering it was still daytime outside. When she was on observation duty, she always felt it was a different world.

  She was almost by the food stand when she passed Harry. He was too busy watching the gorillas to notice her but she couldn’t let him get away. It was time she dealt with the knot in her stomach. She couldn’t bear him being upset with her a moment longer.

  “Harry!” she called out.

  She’d have to apologize.

  CHAPTER 4

  Harry’s gorilla trance was broken as he looked around for the owner of the voice. He found her and waited for Hannah to join him. “Hey, Han.” Even though he was smiling, she could see the sadness being hidden away behind his façade.

  “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  They stepped out of the flow of foot traffic and huddled in a quiet corner of the pathway. Hannah was unsure what she could say to him to make it all better but she knew she had to try. “I’m sorry about what happened on the boardwalk on Saturday night.”

  “Is it true? That you were on a date with Logan?”

  “I was.” There was no point denying it, not when they were holding hands and looked very much like a couple while they walked along the boardwalk.

  Harry didn’t say anything, just nodded like he was trying to process it all. She hated that look on his face and hated it even more that she was the person responsible for it. He deserved more, more than she could give him right now.

  She continued to explain. “It was our first date. We went to dinner and then for the walk. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go so I didn’t tell anyone about it. I didn’t mean to go behind your back, I just wanted to see if there was anything there first.”

  He was still so quiet. Hannah was dying inside, she needed to know what he was thinking. She needed to be admonished for what she’d done. Coco and Alicia had warned her someone would get hurt by her indecision and it was coming true.

  “Harry, please say something.”

  “It’s alright, Han,” he finally said. “We never said we were exclusively dating. You were free to date other people. I just wish you weren’t, that’s all.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Maybe we should have worked out what we were to each other sooner.”

  “So you’re not mad?”

  Harry shook his head. “No, I’m just… disappointed.” He looked around, breaking her gaze. “I need to go, I’m supposed to be watching the pregnant leopard. If she goes into labor alone, my head is on the chopping block.”

  Hannah let him go, even though the knot was still in her belly. She didn’t feel any better for apologizing and she doubted Harry did either. All she’d done was manage to hurt him and herself by making the wrong decision and allowing herself to see two guys in scuh a short space of time.

  Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of the mission she was on. She grabbed the food and returned to the sanctuary of the birthing observation room.

  Hannah and Logan ate in silence while the mama bear and her cub slept on the other side of the glass. They were so cute cuddled up together, the cub teeny-tiny in its mother’s fur.

  “How long until you can examine the cub?” Hannah asked, trying to remain strictly business so she didn’t say something stupid.

  “A few days. Unless something goes wrong,” Logan replied. “Kate looks like she’s doing a good job. I’m sure everything will be hunky dory in there.”

  “But we’ll keep watching, just in case.”

  Logan stretched. “We sure will.”

  Another few hours passed before they were relieved. Alicia took over the night shift from Hannah and the zoo’s junior vet relieved Logan. They had a long night ahead of them.

  Hannah went home to a quiet household. Coco had already gone to bed and Billy had gone with her. She missed seeing their faces before she went to her own bed.

  She had closed her eyes and been swept away in slumber for a couple of hours when her phone rang. At first, it was only in her dream, then she realized it was actually her cell phone chiming on her bedside table.

  Caller ID said it was the zoo. “Hello?” Her voice was rough and gravelly from sleep. She needed much more of it before she could hold a proper conversation.

  “Hannah, it’s me.” She recognized the voice as Logan’s immediately. Didn’t he ever sleep? “You have to get down here, fast. Linda went into labor about an hour ago and it’s not going well. I need to do a caesarean section and you can’t miss it.”

  Hannah tried to keep up with the conversation. Linda was the zoo’s leopard and she had been due to give birth for the last few days. Helping with a caesarean section definitely trumped sleeping. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

  “Hurry.”

  Logan hung up before he could say anything else. Hannah pushed back the bedsheets and grabbed something to wear. She didn’t bother with makeup or even brushing her hair. All that could wait, Linda could not. That baby needed to be born.

  She drove to the zoo on almost empty roads. The rest of the world was sleeping, something she could only dream about at that moment. It was crazy at the zoo in the summer; they’d never had so many babies born in one month before. It was a record.

  The zoo was all darkened and quiet for the night. Besides the gentle sounds of the animals that were still up, it was completely dead. Hannah knew that wouldn’t be the case in the operating theater.

  She hurried to find Logan. He was already scrubbed and spoke from behind a mask when she reached him. “Ah, Hannah, you’re just in time. I thought you were going to miss the good part.”

  Hannah quickly donned a mask and gown, joining the others at the table. The leopard was sprawled out on the stainless steel table, her pregnant belly huge in proportion to the rest of her body.

  Logan had two other assistants besides Hannah. Their eyes were the only visible parts of them as they peered out from behind their masks. Logan checked the leopard once more before he picked up the scalpel. “Let’s have some babies,” he said.

  Hannah watched on, taking it all in. How many people in the world got to witness a leopard giving birth to her litter? It was a pity it had to be done by caesarean section with human intervention, but at least they would all come into the world safely.

  The animals’ health and welfare at the zoo were always the biggest concerns. Everything they did was for the animals and surgery was usually the very last resort.

  Logan performed the surgery and the leopard mama had two healthy cubs in less than an hour. He worked on closing up the mother while the assistants took the babies and checked them over individually.

  Hannah made sure to stay out of their way while she got a good look at the cubs. They were so adorable and small. The little babies had no idea how much they meant to the zoo already, at only a few minutes old. It was definitely worth getting out of bed in the middle of the night to witness their birth.

  “Mother is doing well,” Logan announced. “We need to shift her to her cage and wait while she wakes up. It shouldn’t take long. Then we’ll reunite her with the cubs.”

  If they kept the cubs away from their mother for too long, they risked her rejecting them. Logan and the rest of the zoo needed them to bond so she would look after them. An intervention was something nobody wanted to do.

  Logan gave the cubs a full workup and then signed off on their good health. “We’ve been very lucky today,” he said. “So many births and no major issues. It’
s a good day.”

  They settled the new family together and then assigned observation. For the first time in almost twenty-four hours, Logan was relieved from his duties and could get some sleep.

  He walked Hannah back to the admin building so he could get his things to leave. “Thanks for coming in.”

  “Are you kidding? Thank you for calling me in. That was amazing, you’re amazing for being able to do that,” Hannah replied, still charged with adrenalin.

  “You’ll be able to do it too one day. Once you have the skills, it will be a walk in the park.”

  “I hope so.”

  They walked in silence for a few more beats before Logan asked the question he had been dying to all day. “So will you go out with me again? A second date normally follows a first, unless it was really horrible, anyway.”

  Hannah didn’t have to think about it. “I would really like that. I had a nice time on Saturday night.”

  “I did too.”

  “Where should we go?”

  Logan gave her a smile that bespoke of the mischief already rolling around in his thoughts. “That will be a surprise. I’m not going to give anything away, just be prepared for fun.”

  With Logan, that fun could have been anything from going to the roller derby to actually being in the roller derby. Hannah could only return his smile and trust it wouldn’t be something life threatening. Otherwise, she knew they’d have a great time.

  One thing with Logan was that you could expect the unexpected.

  They parted ways and Hannah sat in the staff locker room. It was empty, being still only four o’clock in the morning. Her shift was supposed to start at seven. There was no point going home now. She lay down on the row of chairs and tried to get some sleep before morning.

  She was dreaming of leopards and bears when she was shaken awake. Pulled from her dreams so suddenly, Hannah gasped as her eyes flung open. For a moment she had to think where she was.

  Alicia stood over her. “Why are you sleeping here and not at home?”

  “Logan called me in for surgery. The leopard had her babies,” Hannah explained. She sat up, giving room for Alicia to sit beside her.

  “Linda had her cubs? How many?”

  “Two.”

  “Aww, I have to see them. Are they as cute as cute can be?” Hannah nodded. “Man, I’m sorry I missed that. Maybe I’ll get to help with Maisy.”

  “You can definitely have that one,” Hannah said. Maisy was an elephant and due to give birth in the next few weeks. When her baby came, it wouldn’t be the cute and cuddly variety. Instead, it would be an adorable little mini-elephant that would be unsteady on his feet and a little mischievous.

  “I haven’t really seen you for days,” Alicia said. Considering they lived in the same house, it seemed impossible. But with their crazy schedules, this was very much their reality. “How did your date with Logan go?”

  Hannah could feel the heat rising in her cheeks already. “It was really nice. We had dinner and then went for a walk.”

  “Oooh, details, Han. I need details.”

  With that request, Hannah gave full disclosure to Alicia, including the bad part when she had seen Harry on the boardwalk.

  “I think I really hurt him,”’ she said. “He said he was okay with it, but I could tell he wasn’t.”

  “Two guys, one girl, the hurt was inevitable,” Alicia replied. “Does this mean you’ve chosen Logan?”

  “I’ve agreed to a second date.”

  “So yes?”

  Hannah sighed. “I guess so. I mean, Harry probably doesn’t even want me now he knows I went behind his back. There’s only so much he can take before he decides I’m not worth it.”

  “I don’t think Harry could ever think that.”

  She was too sleep-deprived to have such an important conversation with Alicia. Hannah wiped the sleep from her face, hoping she didn’t look as tired as she felt. “It’s all so complicated.”

  “Do you want my honest opinion?” Alicia asked.

  “Of course.”

  “I don’t think you would be so worried about Harry’s feeling if you didn’t have some mega ones for him too. Maybe you should really think about how you feel before doing anything else.” Alicia clamped her mouth closed as if she had already said too much and wouldn’t let anything else come out.

  Hannah tried to process what she was saying but it only confused her more. The time for confusion needed to be over, otherwise the hurt was going to be worse. “I’d better get back to work,” she said, trying to stand and force her body into action.

  Tending to the animals was always a better option than talking to humans. The animals were just cute – including the snakes – they didn’t have relationship issues to contend with.

  She spent all day with the animals of the Mapleton Regional Zoo. The otters rolled around in the water for her, the penguins waddled over to get food, and the monkeys teased her for attention. The time she spent with them only encouraged her to focus on her education so she could always be with the animals.

  Hannah managed to avoid both Harry and Logan as they all did their jobs at the zoo. All the new babies were putting pressure on the staff to be thorough with the animals and keep an eye on new arrivals. It was a big zoo, big enough to hide in if you wanted to – which Hannah did.

  By the afternoon, Hannah was exhausted. However, she had already made plans with Veronica and she couldn’t cancel them. It had been ages since she’d caught up with her best friend and was missing someone non-zoo related.

  Veronica was easy to spot at the mall. She was the only one wearing a designer couture dress that went all the way down to the floor and sparkled when she moved. It was a bit formal for the mall, but Hannah didn’t notice. She hugged her the moment they reached one another.

  They went to their favorite coffee shop and ordered cupcakes to go with their lattes. Sitting at their usual table, they didn’t waste any time in catching up.

  “The internship is amazing,” Veronica started. “Miss Scarlett let me design my own dress, and if it’s good enough, she’ll let me have it made in the studio. Can you believe that? She’s actually letting me be a designer.”

  “She must really be impressed by you.”

  “I hope so. I mean, I’ve been working my butt off for her so she should. I do everything from getting her coffee, to moving her car, to buying new underwear for her. I know that woman way more than I need to.”

  Hannah laughed, thinking how different their lives were at that point. If Veronica thought buying underwear was bad, she should try shoveling fresh elephant poop. “It sounds like you’re working hard. Is fashion design definitely still the thing you want to do for the rest of your life?”

  “Absolutely. I love every moment of it. How about you? Is the zoo your thing?”

  “Yeah, it is. I just love the animals. Because I’m spending so much time with them, I’ve gotten to know their personalities. Each one is so different and unique.”

  Veronica smiled happily. “It sounds like we’ve both found our passion. We’re lucky to know exactly what we want to do. Plenty of people don’t find out until after college.”

  “I know,” Hannah replied. She sighed. “I can’t believe summer is over halfway finished. We’ll be at college before we know it. Then it will be all about books and assignments and exams. No designer dresses or animals in sight.”

  “I can’t wait to start school. We’re still going to share a room, right? Roomies and besties, parties and boys.” Veronica couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. “It’s going to be epic.”

  “It will be,” Hannah agreed. The thought of going to college still freaked her out a little. She loved her life right now, she wished it could continue past the summer. But that wasn’t how internships worked. She needed to get the education so she could come back as a vet and do the real work.

  They ate their cupcakes and caught up on everything else. Veronica was having the time of her life socializing with
all the fabulous people working at Miss Scarlett’s Fashion House. It was a world away from Hannah’s life and she welcomed the distraction.

  Unfortunately, the distractions didn’t last too long. Hannah almost choked on her piece of cupcake when she spotted Harry in the café across the corridor. He wasn’t alone but with a girl from the zoo – one of the other interns named Jasmine.

  “Oh my god, it’s Harry,” she stuttered out, trying to swallow her mouthful. “What’s he doing?”

  Veronica looked over her shoulder and spotted them quickly. Harry and Jasmine were seated at a table, sharing a slice of cake between them. “It looks like they’re on a date. They actually look really cute together. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

  The problem was they did look cute and they did look like they were on a date. You didn’t share cake with just anyone. “I know that girl,” Hannah said. “We cleaned out the sloth enclosure together yesterday.”

  “I’m sorry, Han.”

  “It’s okay. We weren’t exclusive,” she replied, remembering the conversation she’d had with Harry. Perhaps he had taken the news of her date so well because he had feelings for someone else too. Maybe Jasmine had been on his mind the whole time.

  In that moment, Hannah decided to let Harry go. The indecision was only hurting them both. She wouldn’t let herself think about him in that way anymore. They’d had their chance when they were fifteen and it hadn’t worked out. Trying again had been a mistake.

  She would focus on Logan now. She would put everything she had into that relationship and see where it went. Hannah and Harry were over, it was the optimal time now for them both to move on. If only it were as easy as saying it.

  “So I have a date this weekend with Logan,” Hannah declared, taking her gaze away from Harry and Jasmine. “I need something to wear. How about you use your skills and help me find something.”

  Veronica clapped her hands together. “Yeah! I am always up for shopping.”