Page 33 of Talk Birdie to Me

“I don’t think they could track him here. There’s no paper trail to tie him to you.” Cody gave her a pleading look. “You’re his only option for now. I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

Geena looked at Gary for a good long while, then she turned back to Cody. “I get it. I’m just… nervous. That’s all.”

“Well, if it helps, you’re doing great with him so far. And I really appreciate your help.”

She held his gaze for longer than he expected. He was able to get a good look at her hazel eyes and how they glimmered against the light from a nearby lamp. Her sharp pixie cut highlighted sharp features, and he liked the way she looked like she could tackle anything.

Even this.

“So is that it?” she asked. “I think I can handle this.”

Cody cleared his throat. “One more thing.”

“Oh, no. This doesn’t sound good. What did you wait until now to tell me? Is it that horrible?”

He laughed at her barrage of questions. “Not that bad.”

With narrowed eyes, she said, “What then?”

Cody held his breath. This was the make-or-break moment. She was either going to be all in, or he would end up leaving with this bird.

And lose his excuse to see Geena again.

“Ready to let him out of the cage?”

Geena’s breath caught in her throat. She forced it down and tried to quell the panic building inside.

She must have misheard.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?”

He looked almost as terrified as she felt. Although she wasn’t sure why. He was the expert here.

“I asked if you were ready to let him out for a bit.”

She’d heard correctly.

Absolutely not. She couldn’t have a bird flying around in the living room.

“Isn’t that why he has a cage? To keep him inside it?”

Cody looked amused at that. “Yes, but he needs to exercise. You’ll have to let him out for one to two hours a day.”

“One to two hours? Every day?” Even she heard the shriek in her voice. She was trying to maintain her cool, but this was too much. “Isn’t he going to poop everywhere?”

“Yes, every day,” Cody said with a smile. “But you won’t have to worry about poop. His owner might have been a criminal, but he was an excellent bird owner. He trained Gary to use a potty spot when he’s out of the cage.”

“A potty spot,” she repeated.

This was getting too weird.

“Yeah, we discovered that nifty little trick when we left some tray liner out one day. After a few minutes outside the cage, he landed on the paper and pooped right on it before continuing his exploration of the room.”

Geena couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“So you’re telling me this bird is potty trained?”

“Mostly,” Cody said with a finger in the air. “I can’t guarantee he’ll never have an accident. But if you leave some paper out, he’ll use it. And any rare accident elsewhere should be pretty easy to clean up. Bird poop isn’t as messy as you’d think.”

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