Page 24 of Talk Birdie to Me

Cody spent his afternoon break filling a translucent blue plastic tub with pellets and frozen chop packages. He had already packed a bag of chew toys and treats after he’d bought the container at a big box store. He figured Geena would want to keep the supplies nearby but not have an eyesore of plastic bags in her living room.

Her place had been so… nice.

He didn’t know if he’d ever lived somewhere that everything looked so clean and orderly. Especially not someone who lived alone. She hadn’t mentioned a roommate on their date.

Cody finished filling the container with food for Gary and snapped the lid on top. When he lifted it and headed toward the door, he found Lauren leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.

“I hear you had an exciting night.”

She sounded a little annoyed, although over what he couldn’t tell. Probably something personal. Not his business.

“Something like that,” he said.

“And you didn’t bother to tell me about any of it?”

Okay, so it was his business.

But he couldn’t figure out why.

“It was the middle of the night.” He continued carrying his tub to the doorway, but Lauren didn’t move to let him pass.

“Right,” she said. “But you couldn’t even text this morning? I had to find out from Damon.”

“Sorry. I didn’t think you cared about Gary that much.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed off the door frame and out of his way. “I care about you. I thought we were friends.”

“We are.”

Were they?

He’d thought so. But he considered everyone he worked with a friend. At least while they were in the same place. He didn’t carry friends through to his next jobs and states.

But he and Lauren spent more time together than he did with anyone else at the zoo. By that measurement, she was pretty much his best friend.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to bother you. It was the middle of the night. And it wasn’t a big deal.”

“I heard you had to call the cops.”

Against every instinct he had, yes.

“Had to.”

Lauren somehow frowned even harder at him. “And that wasn’t your proof it was a big deal? That maybe it was something I might want to know about?”

“Fair,” he said. “I just didn’t think to tell you. Guess I was tired from the long night. Sorry.”

“Yeah, well, you owe me a full status report. Juicy details and all,” she said. “But I gotta get to the aviary. Melinda left early for a doctor’s appointment, so I’m covering for her before I do close-out checks in my section.”

“How are the rest of the troublemakers doing today?”

“Haven’t been yet.” She grabbed a bag of treats, the ones they used for bird training. “Walk with me and see for yourself?”

He knew a trap when he heard one. She was gonna grill him on everything.

But he had a few hours left in the day, and he needed to check on the other birds, anyway. He was interested in how they were doing without Gary in there to egg them on.

If Lauren was going to make him recap the whole disaster of last night, might as well get it over with.

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