Page 39 of A Summer Mismatch
“Late one evening, after everyone had left, they led me to one of the elephant pens where a sick elephant was constipated. They walked me through how to… administer the enema. And then the enema did what it was supposed to do.” He pushed his hands outward to demonstrate. “Everyone else had stepped back, except for me. It was like facing off with the stream of a firehose, and I was drowning in the filth.”
Julia covered her mouth, attempting—very unsuccessfully—to hide her laugh from him.
“Go ahead, laugh.” And she did, and it was a delightful sound.
Cameron joined in again, looking at them with an amused glow in his eyes. “I love that kid,” he told Julia. “Anyway, the elephant got relief. I learned how NOT to administer an enema if I wanted to remain somewhat undefiled, and I got three really great friends out of it.” Logan still kept in touch with them and called them to ask questions about the elephants he was working with. In fact, if Adia didn’t improve soon, he would ring them up.
“Were you angry?”
“Nah. Disgusted, sure. But that was the closest I’d ever been to an elephant before, and even though the circumstances were not ideal—to say the least—I was still thrilled.” He raised his eyebrows and gave her a mischievous grin. “I just made sure to sit on their desks before I took a shower.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I was younger and more impulsive then. It was such a mess. All of us got reprimanded by the director. Good times.”
Going to Kenya had been an incredible experience. Sometimes he regretted missing those years with his mom, especially when he’d give anything to have even one more day with her, but she’d been thrilled for his opportunity to work with animals in Africa.
Logan’s radio crackled.
“I hate to interrupt, again, but we need the Raza whisperer,” Kai said.
“I’ll be right there,” he replied. He grinned playfully at Julia, then teased Kai. “Sing ‘Lullaby’ to him. He likes that.”
“I’m not singing.”
“My willingness to sing is why Raza likes me so much.”
Kai didn’t respond. Even though his sister was a theater singer, Kai didn’t have one singing bone in his body. Not that Logan was any great singer himself, but he didn’t grow up being compared to someone amazing, so he wasn’t as self-conscious about it.
“Raza likes your singing?” Julia asked.
Logan polished his fingernails on his chest. “He’s my biggest fan.”
“Pun intended…?”
“Always.”
She hip-checked him, and he was just pathetic enough to revel in even that small, playful amount of contact. He lightly nudged her back with his elbow, and then they both grinned.
His break had been way too short. He craved more time with Julia. More laughing and sharing stories. More hip-checking and elbow-nudging. Anddefinitelymore library-curtaining.
“We should go to dinner. If you want. To answer your questions. For your book. If you want,” he repeated. He held back a groan. That was quite possibly the worst date-adjacent ask he’d ever done. No wonder Kai felt like he had to set him up on blind dates.
“MeandCameron?” Julia asked carefully.
“Definitely.”
“I’d like that.” She paused and slid her eyes to the side. “Because I have more questions.”
“And I like answering questions.”
“Well, good then.”
“Seven o’clock? Any requests on where to meet?”
“There’s a bunch of fun restaurants near the pier in Diamond Cove. I’ll find a place and save us a table outside.” She turned to him, wincing. “For our… business dinner.”
“Yeah, of course. Business only.” Disappointment sliced through him, but what had he expected?
