Page 58 of A Summer Mismatch
“It’s a he? How do you know?”
Logan bit back a smile. “Do you really want me to explain it to you? Snakes have some interesting reproductive anatomy.”
She paused. “You know what? Nope, I do not need that knowledge.”
But, strangely, she did want to touch Dexter, so she reached out her hand, surprised to find his texture was warmer and rougher than she’d anticipated. A few other people stepped closer as well, including Amelia and Leo, who didn’t dare to use more than two fingers.
“How are you both?” she asked, crouching down to Amelia and Leo’s level.
Amelia shrugged and Leo stuck his fingers straight into his mouth. She hurriedly pulled the hand sanitizer from her bag and squeezed some into both of their palms, helping Leo rub his in thoroughly. She didn’t know if it was safe to touch a snake and then put your fingers in your mouth, and she didn’t want to take any chances.
“Are you having fun with your grandpa?”
“Yes. We went swimming and to the zoo to see Logan’s elephants,” Leo said.
“And we read your book,” Amelia said shyly. “The one about Sweetie.”
“We love Sweetie,” Leo said.
She looked up at Logan, who threw her a smile as he continued to answer questions about Dexter, as if he was always aware of everything she was doing, the same way she was with him.
“What’s your favorite animal here?” she asked the kids.
“Julia,” Grandpa called out. She looked over to where he stood by Kai. “The turtle is trying to walk to Cameron. You don’t want to miss this. Get a picture for your mom.”
“Okay.” She turned to the kids. “Want to come with me to see the turtle?”
They both shook their heads, so she raced toward Cameron and Grandpa with her phone in hand, and got the video recorder queued up.
The turtle wasn’t so much walking toward Cameron as he was… well, not moving at all.
“You missed it.” Grandpa shook his head. “But that’s okay. This is still a good picture.”
Cameron crouched down by the turtle and gave her a huge smile. Grandpa was right; Mom was going to love this picture. At Kai’s urging, Cameron petted the turtle’s back very gently, and Julia followed suit. How fun was it to get to be up close to so many animals?
“Julia! Logan is telling us some interesting fact about elephants. You don’t want to miss this.” Grandma Winnie knew Julia was still working on her elephant picture book, though it was mostly done at this point. She was just letting it sit for a while before revising, because she still wanted to add a little something. She just didn’t know what.
She moved to stand beside Grandma, but before she could take a couple of steps toward her, Grandpa called out. “Wait. Julia. Get another picture with the chinchilla.”
Julia felt her brow furrow. Was it her imagination, or was she the rope in a tug-of-war between Grandma and Grandpa?
For the next twenty minutes, she bounced between the two of them, until she felt as tired as Cameron looked. Cameron came over to her and signed that he was hungry, and she was relieved for an excuse to take a break from walking from one side of the equestrian center to the other.
She gave her grandma a kiss, then her grandpa, and waved to Logan before heading outside into the sticky air of the late summer afternoon. She glanced back through the door, just before it closed, to find both of her grandparents looking at her with equally determined expressions.
Unease stirred through her.
“Joos.” Cameron placed his face within inches of hers so all she could see was him. He signed again that he was hungry.
She threw her arm around Cameron’s waist and tugged him toward her car, trying to put the moment out of her mind. “I’m hungry too, Cameron. Let’s get something to eat.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Winnie
Polly:Did anyone else see that?
Harry:YES!
