Page 14 of Rafael

Cheeky bastard, Johnny repeated.

“Mouthy little dude, aren’t you?”

The parrot flapped his wings and hopped from his high perch to a lower one. He leaned over and pecked at an empty food dish.Get me a beer, woman.

Rafael looked around the cage and then behind the service counter, searching for bird food and found a bag of seeds on a shelf in the broom closet. With a plastic scoop he found next to the bag, he dug into the seed.

Rafael carried the full scoop across the shop toward the birdcage.

As he neared Johnny, the bird flapped his wings in anticipation.Get me a beer, woman.

“It’s not beer, but maybe some of this seed will do the trick.” He stopped in front of the cage, worked the latch free and stuck his hand in, pouring the seed into the food dish while only spilling a few tiny bits.

As he pulled his hand out, a noise sounded at the front of the building.

He turned to find Gisele standing there with lettuce leaves and what looked like different fruits. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she murmured.

Rafael frowned. “What? Was the bird seed in the broom closet not for the parrot?”

She shook her head.

He stuck his hand back in the cage to retrieve the food dish.

“No,” Gisele said, hurrying toward him. “You got the right food.” She came to a stop beside Rafael as he pulled his hand out of the cage, “It’s just that Johnny usually bites any man who puts his hand close to his cage—like he did tonight with Remy.”

Rafael’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, yeah. I forgot. He kept asking for a beer. I assumed he was hungry.”

Gisele nodded. “He probably is. That’s why I came back down with some fresh fruit and vegetables. The seed is all well and good, but he needs a more balanced diet.” She shook her head again. “He didn’t bite you?”

Rafael inspected his hand. “No. He didn’t.” He shrugged. “Must have been too hungry to bite the hand that was feeding him.”

“From what the vet said, he bit his last owner’s hand almost every time he fed him. Neither the vet nor his vet techs could get a hand in Johnny’s cage without wearing gloves.”

“Just call me lucky.” He grinned and held up both hands. “And I still have all ten of my fingers and toes.”

Gisele smiled at him for the first time ever. That one smile stole the air from his lungs and left him stunned for a full three seconds.

Her eyes flashed with amusement. “Valentin was so startled when Johnny exclaimed, ‘Reach for the sky,’ I nearly lost it.”

Rafael chuckled. “Your parrot has quite a vocabulary.”

She snorted softly. “I didn’t teach him the words or phrases he knows. His previous owner was a man who ran an antique store and liked to drink beer. Johnny came to me with those phrases. His language can be offensive to some.”

“Not to you?” Rafael asked.

Gisele shrugged. “I’ve been known to bust out a curse now and then—usually, when I’ve stubbed my toe or broken something. Never to hurt anyone’s feelings.” She tipped her chin toward the birdcage. “Johnny doesn’t know what he’s saying.” Her lips twitched. “Except when he asks for a beer. Apparently, his previous owner taught him that phrase to remind him that his food dish was empty.” She pushed a piece of mango between the bars of the cage near the upper perch.

Johnny hopped up to the perch and went to work on the offering.

While he was occupied with the mango, Gisele opened the cage door and set the rest of the fruits and vegetables on the cage floor. Once she’d secured the door, she turned to the shelf Rafael had fixed. “Thanks for putting my shelf back together. I’ll have to work on some replacement items to refill it.”

“Are the bottles actual Voodoo potions?” Rafael asked., not ready for Gisele to leave.

Gisele’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. Why do you ask? Do you need one?”

He held up his hands. “Not at all. I’m just curious. Who buys them? Do they get them as pranks or gag gifts? They don’t really believe in magic, do they?”

Gisele lifted her chin. “Do you believe in magic, Mr. Romero?”

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