Page 42 of Waiting for Tuesday

I lifted one shoulder. “I rarely do.”

“I noticed that about you.”

“Noticed what?”

“You’re stubborn.”

I arched one brow. “There are people in this world who would agree with you.” I cleared my throat. “So are you close?”

He met my gaze out of the corner of his eye. “Me and my sisters? Yeah, I guess we are.”

“Are you the oldest?”

He shook his head. “No. Youngest.”

I made a face and looked at him again. “That’s surprising.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you seem so protective.”

He laughed but didn’t say more, and I didn’t either.

We rode the rest of the trip in silence, but surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad. Well, besides the heart-pounding, blood-rushing, spine-tingling thing he did to my body, but I was getting used to it… kind of.

When we pulled into the zoo parking lot ten minutes later, we were one of only five cars in the lot. We pulled into a space in the very front, and he shoved the truck in park and came around to open my door. I took his offered arm and jumped down to the pavement. “So what kind of job are you doing here, anyway?”

He took my hand and began leading me to the entrance before he spoke. “Jake and I worked a job here a few years ago. They’re having some kind of issue with a gate at the elephant exhibit. It shouldn’t take too long.” He was walking so fast I had a hard time keeping up, but I couldn't help my smile. This was kind of exciting. An elephant exhibit? It sounded like something out of a movie.

The entrance was just as I remembered it. Enormous stone steps, palm trees, and a, three-story high metal gate, with the words “Los Angeles Zoo” lit up on the top like a Christmas tree.

The security guard nodded and smiled as we approached the gate, but didn’t ask any questions before opening the door to letting us enter.

“Do you know that guy?” I asked, slightly awed by our red carpet entrance.

He laughed. “I told you I used to work here.”

But I knew it was more than that. John left an impression wherever he went. People liked him. No, people flocked to him… and I was starting to realize why. He was fun to be around—addicting.

John never slowed as he led me up two flights of stairs to the main level, past the sea otters and an alligator named Reggie, then finally to the very heart of the zoo. A man in khaki clothing was waiting for us.

“John.” He came toward us to shake our hands. “I know this was last minute, but we didn’t know who else to call on such short notice. I hope we didn’t ruin your evening.” He looked me up and down and frowned.

“Nah.” John squeezed my hand. “But I did promise her dinner. If Marco could fire up the grill when we’re done, I’d sure appreciate it.”

The other man nodded. “If you can help us with this problem, we’ll give you anything you want.”

Ten minutes later, practically out of breath from moving so fast, we made it to the lookout of the elephant exhibit. A crew of people was huddled around talking, and John turned to me. “I’m going to go get filled in. Will you be okay over here?”

I straightened, taking in the sight of the large elephant enclosure I’d never seen before. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

He left me over by the info booth, and I settled in, resting my back against a support beam of the bamboo arbor. The exhibit was huge, spanning what I guessed to be five acres wide in both directions. Large eucalyptus trees grew along the edge of the exhibit, and play structures with tires and other elephant things were scattered around the ground. But in the far corner of the large space was a lone elephant, crying into the night as it pushed against a far gate.

I looked over at John, wondering what was going on, and found him in a group of at least ten others. He was dressed so differently but fit in nevertheless—as though he was supposed to be there. His hands were stuffed deep into his pockets, and his brows were creased with profound concentration.

I couldn’t pick up on all that was being said, but it appeared the gate to the west of the lot was stuck, separating the mother elephant from her baby calf. Even from a mile away, trumpeting cries from the mother could be heard echoing across the dirt-covered lot, causing my heart to ache.

I bit my lip, listening from afar about all that had been tried. John was their last option before tranquilization, and from all their talk, it seemed large mammals didn’t handle anesthesia well. They discussed various options for at least ten minutes, then finally, John turned to me and held up one finger, letting me know he’d be right back. He climbed into a nearbyjeep with some of the crew and headed in the direction of the closed gate.

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