Page 18 of Painting Together a Family
“Soths,” Micah said.
Bryan bit his bottom lip. “Close enough for now.”
Dev found the zoo volunteer who’d been guiding them around and asked if they could see the sloths. She was happy to bring them to their habitat, chattering on about them as they went—their diet, where they lived in the wild, all the incredible facts that made them unique in the animal kingdom.
Micah seemed fascinated, and when they got their first glimpse of one, hanging off a tree, he squealed, “Soths, Daddy, soths!”
“I know, I see him.”
They watched for a while, and then Dylan asked to see the lemurs. Luckily, their enclosure was fairly close. The lemurs were far more active than the sloths, and they were soon all laughing at their antics.
“Okay, we need to go meet the girls. And then we can have one last trip to the cafeteria.” Because he’d promised Juniper she could try the hippo plate before they left. The zoo served several meals that adhered to what certain animals ate, and she’d wanted to try the bear meal and the hippo meal. So she’d had the bear plate at lunch with the promise of the other for dinner if they were still there, which they clearly were.
The kids ran from enclosure to enclosure as he and Bry strolled toward the front reception, taking their time.
“It’s been a lovely day, thank you,” Bry said.
“You don’t have to keep thanking me, but you’re welcome.”
“My mother brought me up to not talk to strangers and always say thank you.”
“Good thing you didn’t follow her first piece of advice,” Dev noted, giving Bryan a wink.
It took a moment, but then the guy laughed. “Good one. And you’re not a stranger anymore.”
“No, I guess we’re not strangers, are we? I’m glad.”
“Yeah, me too. I’m looking forward to making you guys a home-cooked meal tomorrow.”
“And we’re looking forward to eating it.” Had he really said that? They needed their own enclosure. The Great North American Dork. Still, dorky as it might have been, it was the truth; he wanted to spend more time with Bry and that had nothing to do with their joint efforts to bring Grant to some sort of justice.
Marley and Hannah were sitting on a bench when they got to their meeting place, eating ice cream cones and deep in conversation.
Dylan and Micah ran over to the girls, talking over each other to tell Marley everything they’d seen.
“They’ve really taken to your girls.” Bry grabbed a couple of the brochures about the zoo and the animals from the rack, tucking them in his bag.
“That’ll make it easier if you decide to let Marley babysit. Don’t feel like you have to, though.”
“I love the idea in theory. I’m just not sure how well it’s going to work in practice. I don’t go out all that much,” Bry admitted.
“How about I take you out on a date sometime next week?” He found himself asking without having thought it out, but if things went awry Sunday, they didn’t have to do the date after all, and if they went well, then good.
Bry blinked at him a few times before smiling, and nodding. “I think I’d like that.”
“Good deal. Saturday evening sound good?” He’d have to check with Marley, of course, she might have plans he didn’t know about. She wasn’t quite at that age yet, though, where she made too many plans on her own.
“I’ll put it in my calendar.” Bryan did exactly that, opening his phone and putting in the date on his calendar.
“So does everyone still want to go back to the cafeteria before we leave?” It would make dinner nice and easy, and he had leftover chips and dip, and fruit if the girls were hungry later on.
There were a chorus of yeses, and the boys came to grab his hands, which made him smile. The girls and their friends went ahead, chattering together.
The cafeteria was right next to the reception area, which was just as well because the zoo took up a lot of acreage and they’d walked most of it already. Dev’s feet were ready for him to sit, the boys had to be extra tired. He’d bet they’d sleep well for Bry tonight.
Juniper got her hippo plate, which turned out to be a plate full of vegetables. While she didn’t look very impressed, she didn’t pitch a fit, though she did look longingly at the burger her bestie Hannah got. Dev was going to let her get ice cream for dessert as a reward for gamely eating the veggies without complaining.
Bry’s kids ordered the dino fingers with fries, while Bry himself had the spaghetti. Dev got a burger so when Juniper got tired of chewing greens, he could share with her.
