Page 49 of Love at First Flight

“I did know that, Ranger Dex. Although they’re not really as common in Terrebonne. My mom loves them and whatever my mom wanted, my dad made sure to get her. He bought a giant plant at some special nursery years ago and set up an irrigation system for it, just so my mom could have berries without having to pull off the highway near Sahalie Falls to scavenge for them. I don’t think you could kill that thing now if you tried. It’s turned into a beast and will no doubt outlive us all.”

He took a seat beside her and she handed him one of the burritos. She curled up with hers like a squirrel, sitting on the couch with her legs bent over his lap. If she expressed a desire to have her own marionberry plant, he’d also drive to a special nursery to pick one up for her and set it up with its own irrigation system, even if he had no idea how to do that. How hard could it be? While knowing it was too soon in the relationship to be this way, it didn’t stop the feeling, regardless. He couldn’t help it at this point. She had completely won him over.

He ran a hand along one of her calves. “Okay, but did you know marionberries are considered the king of blackberries?”

“That, I did not know. Do you feel better now that you’ve taught me some facts about Oregon today? Is this a park ranger thing for you?”

He chuckled. “I think it is a park ranger thing. Is it annoying?”

“No,” she said. “I like it.”

And he liked her, so he kissed her before unwrapping the tinfoil. “Harper and I thank you for the gift. And for bringing dinner with you.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, waving him off.

“I hope your mom doesn’t think she always has to make food for me. I mean, it’s delicious and I love it, but she really doesn’t need to. I’m happy enough to pick something up for us and give your mom a break.”

“I tell her the same thing and then before I leave, she’s suddenly handing me a bag of food that she made when I wasn’t looking. I think it’s how she shows love.”

“So your mother loves me?” It was nice to know there was at least one Moreno who did and, with any luck, the feeling would spread to the rest of the family.

“Or she sees you as some poor bachelor she must adopt and take care of.”

The status struck him as odd. Yes, he supposed he was technically a bachelor, since he was unmarried, nor had he ever been so. At the same time, he didn’t feel the description necessarily applied to him, at least not in the stereotypical version he imagined in his head. He wasn’t some young guy swinging through the world without care or attachments. Dex had plenty of things he’d become attached to, mainly the woman sharing her dinner with him. Which reminded him...

“Hey, so another interview request came in regardingour story.” He did a small, amused eye roll at this. “Well, actually, they contacted my boss and then she told me and—”

“God. People are still interested in that? I hope this time they can focus on the wildlife rehabilitation part, which is much more important than anything involving me. Although I’m not going to complain, since the business has turned around and is even more active than before my dad died.” Selah took a bite from her burrito, apparently more interested in it than the interview.

While Dex agreed that helping wildlife was an important cause, he also didn’t see anything more important than her and was happy some good was coming out of the attention. While it was true he hadn’t accomplished his goal of getting a wealthy benefactor who had a soft spot for crows, he was pleased to hear it had helped High Desert Tours. But he was selfish since he hoped, with success, Selah might change her mind about leaving.

“It died down a little,” he continued. “But then it suddenly picked up again. I don’t really get social media. It remains a mysterious puzzle to me.”

“You and me both,” she replied.

“Anyway, I’ve been ignoring some of these requests, but my boss is really encouraging me to do this one because it’sWake Up, USA.”

Selah stopped eating at this, her eyes growing large. “Are you shitting me?”

“No.”

“Oh my God. Well, you definitely need to do that one. I have to tell my mom. That’s the only thing she watches regularly, besides her baking shows. She’s going to become the number one fan in the Dexter Fan Club.”

It was disappointing Selah didn’t put herself first in what had to be a small group of people.

“What?” she asked after glancing up from texting on her phone. “Do you not want to do it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s not like your boss can force you, right?”

Instead of making a big deal from it, he laughed it off. “So you’re saying your mom is more of a fan than you are?”

She blushed and did a small stutter. “I... I said Dexter Fan Club, which is a totally different fan club than the Official Ranger Dex Fan Club. Of course, I’m the president of that one.” She smacked his shoulder playfully. “Stop it. But now you know how it felt to be second to leftovers.”

“I like you better than leftovers.” He liked her better than almost anything, but he wasn’t quite comfortable telling her this yet. Relationship no-man’s-land sucked.

She smiled sweetly at him over the top of her burrito. “And I like you better than my mom likes you.”

“So you’ll do the interview with me, then?”

Her face scrunched in displeasure. “Ugh. So they can screw up the intention of my words again.”

---