Page 1 of Perfect Imperfections

CHAPTER 1

Penguin poop smelled divine. Other people might not think so, but to Ellie Clark, the slightly sour stench filled her heart with purpose. It had a lot to do with the cute little tuxedo-wearing creatures who produced said feces. As the keeper for the penguins at the Sunlight Zoo in Park County, Colorado, those tiny creatures were her responsibility, and she loved them.

Animals had always occupied a special place in Ellie’s heart. They didn’t judge or pity her for her compulsions and rituals. Never commented on how weird it was when she locked her door three times before she went to bed. Sure, they didn’t comment on anything because they technically couldn’t speak—except for Bill, the parrot who could say “hello” “welcome to the zoo” and “you’re fabulous, Doll-face.” The last phrase being taught to him by her best friend and co-worker Cam, who said if the bird was going to be squawking all day long, he might as well say something positive.

“Hey, Doll-face, what’s the bird word?”

Speaking of Cam. Ellie smiled as her fellow keeper entered the back room of the aviary building where they housed all the food and supplies for the birds living here. The eleven-hundred square foot building was home to various species of birds. They had macaws, tawny frog mouths, a variety of ducks, finches, and warmer climate aviary animals, Bill the parrot, and, of course, a dozen African Black-Footed penguins. She and Cam were the head keepers of the exhibit, and the women loved the animals as if they were their own feathery little babies.

“Hi, Cam.” She waved a gloved hand at her tall, red-headed friend. “Everyone seems in good spirits today.”

“Bingo’s looking good?”

Bingo was an approximately eight-year-old male penguin they’d gotten from an animal rescue team in Key West. They had found the poor guy washed up on the beach, his right flipper torn almost in half. No one knew how it happened or how he’d strayed so far from the southern shoreline of Africa—the penguin’s natural habitat—but they had fixed him up as best as humanly possible and sent to the Sunlight Zoo. While they could release some animals back into the wild, Bingo could never survive on his own with his damaged flipper. Here, he didn’t have to hunt his own food. Which suited the tiny bird just fine. Unfortunately, Bingo had recently developed arthritis. Both she and Cam worried about the little guy.

“He seems to be doing better today.” Opening the large industrial fridge beside her, Ellie grabbed the bucket of sardines she’d prepared when she first came in this morning. “Killian checked him out about an hour ago and seemed pleased with his progress with the new therapy.”

Doctor Stephan Killian and his husband Rob were the Zoo’s on-staff veterinarians. The two men were excellent doctors who loved animals more than anyone Ellie knew. They were also very nice people who never made her feel awkward or weird about her OCD. Most people at the zoo were like that—most of the people who worked directly with animals, that is. It could be something to do with their shared ability to connect better with the furry, feathered, and scaled community than the homo-sapiens one.

Cam crossed the dark gray cement floor, grabbing a microphone headset from the rack on the wall, and set about checking the device before clipping it to the brown-corded belt on her khaki shorts.

“Good. His waddle was worrying me last week.” Her friend fiddled with the earpiece before tossing her mass of riotous red curls over a shoulder and affixing it to her ear. She adjusted the small mic connected to the headpiece before continuing. “I think you should sneak him an extra sardine today.”

As she checked the penguins’ food—for the second time—she smiled and shook her head. “You know I can’t do that. Killian said he needed to shave off a few ounces. The extra weight is bad for his joints.”

Cam stuck out her bottom lip. “But he’s hungry.”

No, Bingo got plenty of food, just like every animal at Sunlight Zoo. The old penguin was a con artist, and Cam had a soft heart when it came to the fancy flights of feathered friends in their care. Her friend loved the animals as much as Ellie did, but she wasn’t above sneaking them treats. Nothing harmful, of course, Cam would never cause harm to…anything. The woman was sweet as caramel apple pie. But all the birds knew she’d give them an extra fish if they turned those dark eyes on her.

“You’re a sucker.”

Full lips turned up into a wide grin. “Damn right. I can’t resist a dapper.”

One of their jokes. They called the penguins dappers since the two-foot birds appeared to be wearing formalwear.

“Speaking of dappers…”

Ellie set the bucket of fish down on the metal counter and reached up to the cabinet on the wall to grab the vitamins she’d slip into the sardines’ mouth seconds before the penguins ate them. A handy trick they used to get the extra supplements to the animals who needed them. She grabbed the small bottle, counting out the seven she would need and slipping them into her front pocket.

“Are you ready for speed dating?”

The cap she’d been trying to screw back onto the bottle flew across the room at her friend’s question. Cam chuckled, jogging over to where the bit of plastic clattered to the floor and grabbed it.

“I take it that’s a no?”

Squeezing the lidless bottle in her palm, she tried to breathe as her pulse raced out of control. “You signed me up? I told you I didn’t want to do it.”

“And I told you, you need to get back out there,” the tall woman said as she walked over to Ellie, cap extended in her hand. “It’s been, what, a year since Jeff the dickhead?”

A year and a half, but who cared? She didn’t need to get back out there. She liked it in here. In her world where there were animals and Cam, and house-buying shows she could binge, alone. Without anyone commenting on how she’d never own a home with her mountain of student debt. What more did a woman need?

An orgasm?

Okay, yes, but that’s what the internet was for. A woman could buy all sorts of fun toys to get her where she needed to go. No man required.

“I’m fine, Cam. I don’t need a guy.”

“Doll-face,” Cam laughed. “No one needs a guy, but they’re kind of fun to have around every now and then. Trust me.”

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