Page 40 of Alistair

“Absolutely, but also maybe dinner out?”

“Hold on, if we’re going out to dinner I need something nicer to wear.” She turned to the closet and opened the door. “What kind of dinner out?” She peeked around the door at him.

“Nice. Fancy. I’ll find an amazing place for us.”

She grinned. “Then I know just the thing.”

She found a dress she’d bought on a whim months earlier, when she thought she might be ready to go out on a date, but in the end hadn’t been. It was a perfect little black dress. She laid the dress over her arm, grabbed a pair of black heels from the floor, and shouldered her bag again.

“Ready.”

He gave her a quick kiss. “Me too. I just texted Indio and asked him to handle the animals for me.”

“Did he agree?”

“He has to, I’m the boss.”

“I thought Kelley was the boss?”

They walked through her apartment, and he held the door for her. She stepped out, waited for him to join her on the tiny porch, then locked the door.

“Why would you think Kelley is the boss?”

As they walked to his SUV, she said, “I just assumed since he’s the veterinarian and the rest of you are the techs that he was the boss.”

He opened the back door and took her dress and shoes from her, then her bag. He laid his jacket on top of her things and shut the door, then grabbed the passenger door for her.

“You know, I never thought about it that way,” he said. He shut her door, then got in behind the wheel. “I’m the boss, though. So even though Kelley is the vet, he still reports to me.”

“Ah, okay. I guess I just assumed.”

“No worries,” he said. “For the most part, there are a handful of us who are in charge as a group: Atticus is over park maintenance, Joss is in charge of finance and the safari tours, Caesar is in charge of park security, and Marcus is in charge of the food for the park, which includes patrons and employees. The spouses of employees usually work at the park.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” He turned onto the parkway and pressed on the accelerator. “For our group, Kelley’s wife, Rhapsody, works with the animals, although she has a baby now so she sticks close to home a lot. And Cael’s wife, Novi, helps out with the animals too. Indio is the last one of the animal handlers that isn’t married.”

“Aw. So you were the last two bachelors and now it’s just him?”

“Yep. He’s young, though. He’s just hoping he doesn’t have to wait until he’s forty to find his soulmate.” Alistair looked at her briefly, then said, “I told him it was worth the wait.”

“You’re adorable,” she said.

“Just for you, I promise.”

They reached the park a little while later and walked to the apartment, where she hung up her dress and put her bag on the dresser, then collapsed on the bed.

“You know what?” she said as she rolled to her side and rested her head on her upturned hand.

He took off the dress shirt and laid it on the dresser. “What?”

“Tonight kind of sucked. I mean, my sister believing that jackass, and even my mom thinking the worst.” She sighed. “If I’d been by myself, I would have been so distressed. But I have you. All that just felt like…getting closure for real. I never had anyone really stand up for me like you did. When I think that I might have faced that alone and not had anyone on my side in that moment? I’m really glad you were there. You turned something crappy into something pretty damn cool.” She chuckled thinking of the look on Seth’s face when Alistair threatened him.

“I’m glad I was there too. Do you think your sister will realize she was wrong?”

“I think she’ll come around eventually. She’s on the way to her honeymoon and she may reach out when she’s home and we’ll patch things up.” They always did. They might not be close, but they were family.

“I’m sorry things went to shit, but the night ended really great for us.”

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