Page 72 of Talk Birdie to Me

“Not likely.”

But that wasn’t at all the truth. She was already growing attached to Gary.

And the man who’d brought him into her life.

There was no point getting attached, though, so she’d better start drawing firmer boundaries for herself. Immediately. Because neither Gary nor Cody would be sticking around.

“I’m surprised Tony handed that bird over to the zoo. From what I remember, he loved that thing. Made me set up an entire account for its treats or care or whatever he needed. But the court seized that account along with all the others.”

“I don’t think Tony had a choice,” Geena said. “I guess no one else wanted Gary.”

“Gary. I forgot that was his name.” James shook his head. “I still can’t get over that he wouldn’t want someone he was close with to hold that thing until he got out.”

“Well, someone wanted him.”

“Who? Tony?”

“No, Gary the Grey. His parrot.” Geena hadn’t meant to get into Gary’s history with the zoo. But since James knew Anthony, she wondered if maybe he knew who would want to get their hands on the parrot. “Someone tried to steal him from the zoo. Do you have any idea who would do that? Someone Anthony made angry? Maybe they were taking the bird for ransom?”

James laughed. “You watch too many of those crime documentaries. I promise Tony is much more boring than that. What if someone just wanted a valuable animal, and that’s the one they stumbled on?”

“Maybe,” Geena said. “But Cody’s pretty certain they were specifically after Gary. That’s why he installed a security camera at my place.”

James raised his brow with interest. “Cody?”

Crap.

Now she had one more person who would harass her about that non-relationship.

No, wait.

They had a scheduled date now. She had to accept that it wasn’t a non-relationship anymore.

At least until the end of the weekend. If things didn’t work out then, that would be their sign that nothing was meant to be between them.

She wasn’t sure which way she was hoping this date went.

“He’s the zookeeper who was training Gary. Or trying to retrain him, I guess.”

“So this zookeeper makes house calls?”

She shrugged. “He feels responsible for Gary. And for potentially putting me in a dangerous position.”

“I mean, responsibility is sexy,” James said. “Or at least that’s what Chelsea tells me. Mostly just when she wants me to do the dishes. It works.”

“Speaking of Chelsea. How are the wedding plans coming along?”

“Still expensive,” he said with a heaviness in his voice. “But you and this zookeeper boyfriend are much more interesting than my money woes.”

“We’re just friends,” she lied.

“Uh-huh.” James frowned. “But seriously, I don’t like that this so-called friend put you in the line of birdnapping fire. Are you sure this security camera is enough? What if someone does try to break in?”

“It’s fine,” Geena insisted. “I can watch the feed from my phone if I want to. It alerts me to any movement. If I get a notification and see anything fishy, I’ll call the cops.”

“I hate that those are words you just said.”

“I’m fine. Really. There hasn’t been a peep since he’s been with me. You have enough on your plate to worry about with the wedding. Trust me. I’m fine.”

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