Page 6 of Talk Birdie to Me

Cody narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you think I’m afraid of?”

“Personal growth,” Lauren said without missing a beat.

“You say that with such certainty.”

She pointed a finger at his chest. “You, my friend, are easy to read.”

“Am not,” he said with a disgusted grunt. “How do you know what I want when I don’t know what I want?”

“Oh, you know what you want. You’re just afraid of it.” Lauren softened her tone again. “You’re afraid of becoming your dad.”

Cody ignored that last bit.

“I love traveling. Seeing things and people.”

Also dating anyone he found interesting. Men. Women. His last relationship had been with a nonbinary person. After a lot of pondering throughout his teen years, he’d settled into his pansexual identity over a decade ago. It fit. But it wasn’t being pansexual that made him non-monogamous. He just loved meeting new people and being in new places. His dating style matched his living style.

“That’s what I want,” he added. “Variety. And I’m getting that.”

Or, at least, he would be getting that again once he got a bite on his resume.

“Deep down, you want love,” Lauren said. “But you can’t get that if you’re always running from it.”

Cody rolled his eyes. She didn’t know what she was talking about.

Chasing something, maybe. Freedom. Adventure. Fun.

But he wasn’t running from anything.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

“That must be the rescue people,” Cody said. “The woman on the phone said they’d send someone to take photos of Gary.”

Lauren walked over to feed the bird a treat while Cody opened the door. On the other side, he found a surprisingly familiar face.

It took him only a second to place the blonde bun and green eyes. But the scrubs threw him off.

“Taylor?”

The woman looked at him for a moment, trying to place him as well. It had been ten years since they’d seen each other last.

Her eyes widened with recognition. “Cody? Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you.”

She threw open her arms and wrapped them around his neck. He hugged her back, then pulled away to examine her better. She looked almost exactly the same as he remembered. But with bright greenish-bluish scrubs now instead of a school uniform.

“I didn’t realize that was you on the phone earlier,” he said.

“I think you spoke with Liz. Or maybe Sierra,” Taylor said. “I’m the vet tech for Saint Martin Animal Sanctuary.”

“Ah. I thought the voice was different,” he said. “Vet tech, huh? So that’s why you were cheating off of me in biology?”

“Yeah, right.” She laughed. “I think it was the other way around.”

“Is it just you? Or do we need to wait for Liz or Sierra?”

“It’s just me,” she said. “I mean, from the organization. My sister’s here to take the pictures. She forgot something back in the car.”

“You have a sister?”

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