Page 114 of Better Late Than Never

Fortunately, my comments were forgotten in short order, at least for now, and I listened intently as they all told me about their adventures in Tangier, Gibraltar, and Cádiz. They were still trying to decide what to do with some of their remaining days in Spain, and I offered my suggestions.

“Arcos de la Frontera, Ronda, and Setenil de las Bodegas are all really cool,” I said, “but I wouldn’t pick those over something like Granada or Córdoba.” I paused. “If you’re staying in town, there’s a little place out past Jerez. It’s not super exciting, but it’s kind of cool to see—it’s an old abandoned sugar factory that’s been taken over by storks.”

Savannah perked up. “Storks? Really?”

I nodded. “They’re everywhere here, but there’s a lot at that old factory for some reason. They talk to each other, too, which is interesting to hear, and it’s a cool spot to get some pictures.”

Quinn smiled fondly. “Well, we have an animal lover with us, so we might have to go.”

“Pfft.” She elbowed him. “Like you didn’t almost lose your mind when we saw those flamingoes today.”

“That was Landon!” he insisted.

“Bullshit!” Landon said. “I was just trying to see because I thought you were full of shit.”

Connor laughed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t let them fool you—they’re all animal lovers.”

“Ooh, well in that case,” I said, “there’s a zoo down by Gibraltar you should check out.”

All four sat straighter, and I told them about the small zoo populated by animals confiscated from smugglers and illegal collectors. “Most of them can’t be released into the wild, and a lot of them are pretty tame, so the zookeepers will actually let you hold them and pet them.”

“What?” Savannah sputtered. “No way. That’s—you’re making that up.”

Quinn eyed me. “A zoo that lets you pet the animals?”

Even Connor looked skeptical, so I took out my phone and pulled up an album from the last time I’d visited. Both Savannah and Quinn almost melted when I showed them the baby ocelot batting at my camera strap. As soon as Landon saw me petting the lion cub, he declared, “Okay, I’m going. I will rent a car and take my own ass down there, but I amgoing.”

Connor laughed. “I think we’re all going, kid.”

“You think?” I flipped to another photo and showed it to him. “Or you’re definitely going?”

He looked at the screen, and my heart melted as I watchedhismelt. “They let you hold a fox?”

“Uh-huh.” I glanced at the image, which was one my friend had taken of me with a tiny Fennec fox lying across my arms. “Softest thing I’ve ever touched, too.”

“Okay. We’re going.” Connor took out his phone. “What’s the name of the place?” I rattled it off to him, and he pulled it up to check the address and hours.

“It’s not a bad place to stop on your way to Granada,” I said. “Just means taking the southern route instead of north, and it takes about the same amount of time.”

“Perfect,” Connor said. “We can go there tomorrow, then stay in Granada tomorrow night. Our Alhambra tickets are for the next day.”

“Smart, getting them ahead of time.” I groaned. “First time I went, we thought we could get same-day tickets.” I rolled my eyes. “Which, yeah, you can—if you’re in line at 0500.”

“Aww, so you didn’t get to see it?” Savannah asked. “That sucks.”

“No, we did. We were just up at ass-thirty in the morning to get tickets. Now, I book everything ahead of time if I can.” I paused. “If you’re going to Barcelona and you want to see the Sagrada Familia, you need to get tickets… two weeks ago.”

Connor waved his hand. “Nah. We’re mostly sticking with Andalusia for now. Maybe next trip, we’ll do Barcelona.”

“Smart.”

We kept on like that, comparing notes on places they wanted to visit and places I’d been. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed seeing them all excited about checking out Spain.

I just pretended not to notice that ache of longing in the middle of my chest. I made the boys promise to get photos of their dad with some of the animals at the zoo tomorrow, but I didn’t tell them it was because I wished I could be there with him. I wanted to watch him turn to goo over lemurs and ocelots and whatever other animals the zookeepers let him hold. I wanted to see how he reacted if a snake decided to wrap itself around his camera lens like one had done when I’d visited a few months ago.

It wasn’t just the zoo, either. Wherever they went, whatever they were doing, whether it was someplace I’d been to a million times or something I’d never seen before…

I wished I could be there with Connor and his kids.

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