Page 21 of Talk Birdie to Me

At least for a day or two.

“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “But only temporarily. Very temporarily.”

Taylor clapped her hands excitedly. “Thank you, thank you!”

Cody looked as if she’d lifted a fifty-pound weight from his shoulders. Or, at least, a bird-sized weight.

“Thank you.”

His words and eyes held such an overwhelming sincerity that Geena felt herself lost in them. She hadn’t remembered really looking into his eyes before now. His gaze was warm and open, and Geena wondered how she hadn’t noticed that about them.

“Hey, Cody! This thing is losing its shit in here!”

Geena looked past them both to search for the owner of that voice. She found it in the form of a statuesque woman at least five years Geena’s junior with dark reddish brown hair that seemed to have a bouncy life of its own.

She turned to glare at Cody with a raised brow. “You brought a date with you to drop a pissed-off parrot at my door? Bold move.”

It was his turn to raise his hands in defense. “He wasn’t pissed off while I was in the car, I promise.” He shrugged. “I didn’t want to make her call for a ride, and you were on the way.”

She should cut him some slack for being concerned about the woman’s wellbeing, but she wasn’t feeling very charitable at the moment.

Also, it was midnight.

Plus, he had a parrot in his car and a date on her walkway.

“Whatever.” She opened the door wider and stood to the side. “But I’m not helping carry that thing in here.”

7

While Geena had been mulling over how to reimagine her life these last few weeks since her separation, this was not what she’d had in mind.

“Damn bird.”

“You got that right,” she said to the bird as Taylor and Cody settled the cage in the living room corner Geena had cleared out for it.

She’d been thinking about taking a cooking class while she waited for her ex to sign the final papers. Or looking for a hiking group. Or a book club for new divorcees. She’d already stretched out of her comfort zone by signing up on the dating app that led her to meeting Cody.

What she hadn’t been considering was watching her sister and a guy she went out with exactly once carry a gigantic, foul-mouthed bird into her townhouse in the middle of the night.

This wasn’t at all what she’d had in mind for life reimagining.

“Sorry, can I use your bathroom real quick? I have to pee.”

Geena turned toward the tall, curvy, gorgeous woman squirming in her doorway and pointed at the hall. “First door on the left.”

“Thanks so much,” the woman said with a bright smile. Then she brushed her hand against Cody’s back as she hurried behind him.

Geena felt a red-hot sensation in her gut. Something she hadn’t felt since she’d started dating her ex and watched him flirt with a bartender in front of her.

Jealousy.

The ugliest of emotions, as far as she was concerned. And extra unwelcome in this case, since she had absolutely nothing to be jealous of. Not now, not ever, not where Cody was concerned.

They’d been on one date. They weren’t still dating, not even casually. And she didn’t like the guy, for crying out loud.

But somewhere in the back of her brain, she realized she wasn’t merely jealous of the woman touching Cody like that. Part of her was envious of Cody being on the receiving end of that touch.

That was definitely not something she was ready to unpack right then.

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