Page 43 of Grumpy Puck

“I didn’t forget,” he growls.“The foam finger is something that’s in my bright future—but I’m sure you’ll ask me all sorts of personal questions afterward.”

“Hey, you started it,” is the most mature retort that I can come up with.“Plus, you don’t let me prank anyone else but you.”

“Whatever,” he says gruffly.He waits a beat, then admits, “I don’t have any pets.”

I squint.“But there’s something.I can tell.”

“No pets,” he says again, but he sounds strangely hesitant.

“What about an aquarium?”I demand.“One with a spiny lumpsucker inside?”It’s a fish one of my cousins owns, and I’ve never seen a creature that looks so much like its name, and its owner.

“I don’t have any fucking pets,” he grits out.“I just watch birds.”

He’s a bird watcher?I never would have guessed that in a million years.“What kinds of birds?”

“All kinds.”

I smile.“So… penguins?Ostriches?”

His jaw ticks.“I watch them in the wild, not in some fucking zoo.”

“Ah, so Florida birds?”

He nods.“White ibises, scrub-jays, wood storks, painted buntings, snail k?—”

I chuckle.“Do you specialize in birds with funny names?”

“No.I was giving them to you in order of how common they are.”

Wow.He’sreallyinto this.“Why don’t you get a bird as a pet?”

“Because birds are meant to fly.How is that supposed to work indoors?”

I shrug.“Maybe rescue a bird that lost a wing or something?”

He looks thoughtful, then shakes his head.“I prefer watching them in their natural habitat.”He hesitates, then adds, “There’s actually a hawk family I’ve been watching recently.”

I arch an eyebrow.“How do you know that they’re a family?”

“I saw them build a nest, and then she laid just the one egg,” he says, his expression darkening.“It should have been somewhere between three and six.”

“Wow,” I say.“It sounds like you’ve gotten attached.”

“No,” is his growled—and unconvincing—reply.

“Did you name them?”

His jaw twitches.“What the fuck does that prove?”

“So that’s a yes,” I say triumphantly.“Whataretheir names?”

He frowns.“Ethan and Mo are the parents, and Eye is the chick.”

They are totally his pet hawks.They just live outdoors.Then I fully register the names and grin like a loon.“A hawk named Eye?Is that after Hawkeye, Black Widow’s best friend?”

The frown is replaced with a hint of a smile that touches his eyes, which is all the confirmation I need.

“And the parents are Mo Hawk and Ethan Hawk?”

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