Page 44 of Perfect Imperfections

It was exciting.

And scary.

“Hey.” Cam popped her head in the room Ellie was preparing. “Stephan says he’ll be by in five. I’m going to bring Bingo in first.”

“Perfect.”

Less than a minute later, Cam came back in carrying the sweet old bird. The moment he saw Ellie, his flippers began to flap.

“Easy, old timer.” Cam laughed. “Don’t jump or you’ll break a knee.”

She grabbed the squirming bird out of her friend’s hands, cuddling him close to her chest. “I don’t that’s possible.”

“I know. It’s a saying.”

“Hello, ladies,” Stephan said as he entered the small exam room.

Cam moved out of the way to make room for him. As he put his bag on the table, pulling out the instruments he would need for the exams, Ellie placed Bingo on the table, keeping her hands on the penguin so he wouldn’t waddle off the edge.

“Hola Bingo. Cómo estáis hoy?”

Stephan addressed the bird as he did all the animals.

“How do you know they speak Spanish?” Cam asked from her position in the doorway.

Stephan turned his head to glance at her. “How do you know they speak English?”

“Fair point.” Her friend winked at the doc. “I’ll go get Bubbles.”

Bubbles was their second oldest penguin and the self-appointed matriarch of the colony. Ellie thought Bingo might have a thing for her. She’d seen the old guy pecking about the rocks lately, looking for shiny ones. Some penguin species gave rocks to future mates, called pebble proposals. Not unlike the rocks humans gave each other, she supposed.

Halfway through Bingo’s exam, Ellie’s phone pinged. Normally she would leave it on vibrate at work, but she’d been so frazzled this morning she’d forgotten.

“Go ahead, Ellie,” Stephan said with a smile, never taking his eyes off the flipper he was checking. “I won’t tell Tammy.”

They weren’t supposed to check their phones during work hours, but she really, really wanted to see who the message was from. Or maybe she didn’t. If it wasn’t from who she thought…

Her phone pinged again.

“First you’re late and now your phone isn’t on silent?” Cam entered the room with Bubbles held calmly in her arms. “I think after all these years of friendship, I’m finally having a bad influence on you.”

Stephan shook his head, but the smile never left his face. “Cam, you have a bad influence on everyone. It’s why we love you.”

“I love you too, Stephan. And I’m not a bad influence. Your husband just can’t hold his rum.”

He chuckled. “Now there’s an accurate statement. Bingo’s all set.”

The two exchanged birds and Cam headed back out to the penguin enclosure to return Bingo and grab the next bird up for their exam, Libby. Bubbles sat like a queen on the exam table. No hint of movement as Stephan examined her. This left Ellie’s hands free. Free to check her phone. She really shouldn’t but….oh screw it. After two minutes, she couldn’t stop her curiosity. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she held her breath and swiped to unlock it. A smile split her face as she read the text.

Sullivan: Thanks for coming yesterday. Charlotte loved her gift, and I really enjoyed having you.

He texted! And it wasn’t even three days! She quickly typed out a response.

Ellie: Thank you for inviting me. I had a lot of fun and that cake was delicious.

She waited, anxiously staring at her phone as those three little dots appeared. Then suddenly words replaced them, stealing her breath away.

Sullivan: It was sweet, but you tasted sweeter.

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