Page 17 of Handy

The coffee maker beeps and I pour myself a cup, then pick the fruit back up and head out back for my favorite part of my morning routine. It’s a warm, sunny morning and the birds are singing louder than ever. Usually, it’s just an indistinguishablemess of sound to me, but all of Ledger’s chatter about birds has me vaguely curious about which kind is making the short, high-pitched whistles, and whether the hooting sound is an owl or a dove.

I set my mug down on the deck railing and open the container of fruit. Almost as soon as I have it open, I hear jingling. I cock my head and glance around. A pair of little, dark eyes framed by a furry bandit mask peers at me over the edge of my low deck and I jump back. The creature pulls itself up higher with another jingle-jangle, and I let out a relieved breath.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping, TP? Raccoons are nocturnal, aren’t they?” I’m not one hundred percent sure that’s true, but I feel like I heard somewhere that if you see a raccoon during the day, it’s probably rabid. I frown at the overgrown rodent. Ledger would know if his pet was rabid, wouldn’t he?

She climbs up onto the deck and scampers over, standing on her hind legs and reaching out with her palms up in a clear request for food. My heart melts and I grunt in an attempt to hold on to my irritation rather than let myself get pulled in by such a blatant act of adorable manipulation. She chitters at me and opens and closes her tiny fingers.

“If chocolate is toxic to dogs, I probably shouldn’t risk feeding it to you either.” In spite of my protest, I pick up one of the slices of melon that’s only half covered in chocolate and bite into it. I check the half that’s left to make sure I didn’t miss any of the chocolate, then hand it to the little trash panda.

She chirps and sits down in the upright position to start eating it. I pick up my coffee mug and take a sip while I watch her with curiosity. I guess she is pretty cute. Ledger said she was contraband; I wonder where he got her. I pop one of the chocolate covered orange slices into my mouth and chew it slowly, considering something I hadn’t before.

Could Ledger be my secret admirer?

As soon as the thought occurs to me, I bark out a laugh so unexpected that I end up spewing half-chewed orange slice all over the deck. I cough and wipe my hand over my mouth. No way could it be Ledger. First of all, he’s way too direct for that. Besides, in what universe would a hot, fun, confident guy like him have an actual crush on a grouchy old asshole like me? Sex is one thing, but there’s no way he has feelings for me.

“There you are.” His voice startles me out of my thoughts.

I look up to find Ledger standing on his own deck with his hands on his hips. He’s wearing the same white tank top he had on last night and a pair of athletic shorts. My lips twitch and he glances down at himself, then back to me.

“Missing my pecker already?” he teases.

I choke back another laugh and just shake my head.

“I hope she isn’t making a nuisance of herself.” He nods at TP, who’s busy picking up the pieces of soggy orange from around my feet and stuffing them into her mouth.

I shake my head again. “Just begging for food.”

“She’s shameless.”

I grunt in agreement and keep looking at the raccoon, because I’m not sure how I’m supposed to look at Ledger and not think about him naked. It’s been too damn long since I’ve done any of this and I’m pathetically out of practice. Not to mention, it’s beendecadessince I’ve had to remember how to play things cool and casual. I’m bound to come across as too needy or too distant with no chance for anything in between. I’ll be lucky if Ledger isn’t over this long before I finish fixing his living room.

“Hey, you hear that bird call, the rapid-fire one?” Ledger’s voice is closer, and I look up to find him standing on the steps to my deck with his hands in his pockets and a big smile lighting up his face. “It’s a goldfinch. If you listen it kind of sounds like they’re saying, ‘potato chip.’” He cocks his head and holds up a finger like a conductor. I hear the quick series of chirps he’stalking about and then he sing-songs in the same tone, “Po-ta-to-chip.”

I snort and the wood creaks under his feet as he comes closer to snag a piece of fruit.

“Another present from your secret admirer?” he guesses.

I jerk my head up and look at him. How did he know that? It couldn’t really be him, could it? There’s no teasing in his expression though, just that same sweet, eager grin. I suppose it wouldn’t bethathard to guess. It’s not like anyone buys chocolate covered fruit for themselves.

“Mm-hmm,” I grunt, grabbing another piece of fruit to pop into my mouth.

He leans against the railing next to me, not quite touching me but close enough that I can feel the heat of his skin and smell the faint hint of soap, like he just got out of the shower. He helps himself to more fruit and chatters away, pointing out more bird calls to me with funny ways of describing each one, just like the potato chip call.

It’s not the peaceful, quiet morning I usually prefer, but I guess it’s not so bad either.

LEDGER

“It’s official, I’m obsessed,” I gush with a happy sigh as I cruise down the ATV trail with Jericho in the passenger seat.

“Was that… was that not official before?”

I chuckle and speed up a little more, taking the next curve a bit faster than I probably should. Jericho grips his seat dramatically.

“Maybe I should be the one driving until your bear-induced orgasm euphoria has passed,” he deadpans.

I roll my eyes and ease off the gas, but keep grinning like an idiot, replaying last night and the impromptu coffee hangout this morning. True, Griff didn’t actually invite me to sharehis fruit or help myself to his coffee and then spend an hour teaching him how to pick out all the neighborhood bird calls, but he was into it. I’m really good at reading these types of situations. Mostly.

“It was even better than I was imagining, Jer, I’m serious.” I sigh again and finally slow to a stop near the first small lake on our list. I jumped on volunteering to check the blue-green algae levels today rather than being stuck in the visitor center. I didn’t become a park ranger to be trapped inside all day. I am a free bird, I need to flyyyyyy.

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