by Mysti Parker
“Uh huh.”
“Great.”
“Now — please. Go clean up, huh?” She grinned.
As he walked out to head for the showers, Gabriel was grinning like a fool. If only Pepper would be okay, then tomorrow night might turn out to be one of his best nights in a long time.
Chapter Eight
The following morning dragged like pouring cold molasses from a jar. All the sea lion shows for the day had been cancelled, which sucked because Harper really wanted an excuse to bring the kids from Holy Angels Catholic Academy to watch Gabriel in action. She didn’t see him at all while they passed the exhibit. Jorge the sea lion swam leisurely past the underwater viewing window. She still felt silly for calling them both seals. But Pepper wasn’t on exhibit. He must have still been sick, and she really wanted to talk to Gabriel to see about the animal’s condition. He’d Facetimed her last night out of the blue, saying he wanted to keep her updated on Pepper in case the shows had to be cancelled. He actually Facetimed her four times, which she suspected was a bit overkill for a simple update. Not that she minded in the least. She really enjoyed chatting with him. He knew so much about the animals and hidden gems in New York she wanted to visit, preferably with him. She liked his voice, his dedication to the animals in his care. She couldn’t say for certain yet, but he seemed like a genuine nice guy, and she just had to get to know him better.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave the kids behind to find Gabriel. The tour schedule was pretty much nonstop, with only a short break for the kids to sit in the picnic area and have lunch.
One of the kindergarteners, a small girl with curly red hair named Beatrice, took her hand. “I like this place.”
“Thank you, sweetie. I’m so glad you’re having fun. What’s your favorite animal so far?”
“I like the walwus.” She held up her lunch bag. “You want some Goldfish?”
“No, thank you, I’ll let you have those. You’ll need to eat a good lunch to have enough energy for the rest of the tour. We’ll visit the touch pool next. Have you ever felt a starfish?”
The girl’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head in wonder.
“You’ll love it. See you in a few minutes.”
This was the best part of her job, watching the kids’ faces light up when they saw the animals and learned new things about them. She hoped a few of them grew up to be conservationists or zookeepers or even just volunteers at a zoo. It finally felt like she was making a difference in the world. But now that she’d met Gabriel, would it complicate things too much for her to keep making a difference? How did people balance a relationship and a career like this and make them both work? Of course, she knew it was possible, but it seemed so foreign to her right now.
Harper excused herself to one of the teachers and took the opportunity to run to the staff break room while the kids munched their sandwiches and Lunchables. Hopefully Gabe would be there eating. According to Rachel, he had lunch with her there almost every day. Though Gabe had made it clear that he and Rachel were not a couple anymore, it would seem as though Rachel thought otherwise. She constantly talked about Gabe this and Gabe that, and the trips they made to Coney Island and how he looked even better than Mario Lopez without his shirt.
Harper had done her best to stay neutral when she babbled on about him, but inside she reeled. What he’d ever seen in this chick, she had no idea. Beyond all the curves and pretty face lay a jealous, spiteful woman she doubted she’d ever get along with.
As soon as she stepped into the break room, speak of the devil, there she was. Rachel sat at the table with Macy the accountant – finally she remembered that girl’s name. No sign of Gabriel, unfortunately. The two women were eating Lean Cuisines and paused to look up at Harper like she’d invaded their sacred space.
Rachel sneered and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Need something?”
Whatever. Harper didn’t have the patience for her snippiness. “I’m looking for Gabriel. He said yesterday that Pepper was sick, so I wanted to check and see how he’s doing.”
She shrugged. “How would I know? He hasn’t talked to me since last night.” Propping her boobs on the table, she leaned way in and said to Macy with a naughty little smile, “We had a really nice dinner, papi and me.”
Wow, she had some nerve, lying like that.
“That’s great,” Macy replied tonelessly, staring at her smartphone. She must have gotten bored with Rachel’s crap.
“That’s funny,” Harper said as she came up to a chair opposite Rachel and folded her fingers over the back, leaning over just far enough to make the woman retreat a few inches. “Because Gabriel told me he was staying inside with Pepper last night to keep an eye on him.”
“Well, he got better, so we went out.” Rachel went very still for a moment, her eyes flicked to Macy, who wordlessly got up from the table and threw her lunch trash away then left the break room.
No backup from Macy. Aw, poor Rachel. Harper almost felt sorry for her.
“Did you? Must have been after he Facetimed me around six, and again at a little past seven, and once more about nine. We chatted for quite a while. He was eating some of his mother’s food he’d heated up.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed. She wadded up her napkin and crammed it in her empty Lean Cuisine dish. “Don’t you have a tour to run?”
“I sure do. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”
Harper left the break room, stopping in the hall to get a granola bar and some water from the vending machines. Catching Rachel in her lie was totally worth such a tiny lunch. On her way back to the tour, however, she couldn’t stop thinking about Gabe and if their date would still be on for the night. She had to put the potential disappointment aside and concentrate on giving the kiddos an awesome tour.
****
The tour finally wrapped up about three o’clock. Harper said goodbye to the kids as they boarded the bus. Much to her surprise, she was rewarded with several hugs, the best one from little Beatrice, who smiled up at her and said, “I wanna be like you when I gwow up.”
Thank goodness for such a fulfilling work day. It kept her mind off Gabriel enough to keep her from worrying too much. Once they were gone, Harper headed back to her office and worked on a few more tours that needed scheduling. She went ahead and called the schools scheduled for the rest of the week and told them the seal show would probably be cancelled, so they could plan on some alternate activity in the education building.
She didn’t see Rachel leave, but her desk sat vacant. Harper got up and went to retrieve her purse and jacket from the locker room. Rachel wasn’t there either. Maybe she’d left early while Harper was tied up on the phone. Good riddance. But as someone who generally got along with everyone, Harper still found it frustrating that she couldn’t win Rachel over, Gabe or no Gabe.
Thanks to Dwight’s repeated tutorials, she’d finally gotten the train routes down pat. Sort of. But, instead of hurrying to catch the five o’clock train, Harper walked to the seal - no, sea lion - exhibit. Her stomach grumbled, wanting some pizza or a burger from The Hole, but it would just have to wait. She had to check on Gabriel and make sure all was well with Pepper. She’d tried calling and messaging him, but he hadn’t responded.
She headed for the amphitheater. On her way there, she saw the new performer she’d met in passing – Gino Lobo, a stage dancer and actor, who had just started doing shows as the sea lion mascot, dancing the Macarena poolside, still in his sea lion costume. Music blared from his iPhone. There was a girl dancing with him, a little too heavily made up, Harper thought. She had a CVS bag. Harper nodded to them.
“We were just headed out,” Gino said.
“Yeah, we’re not staying after hours or anything,” the girl said, and winked. The thin plastic on her CVS bag did little to hide "Trojan" on the box within.
Whatever, Harper thought. It was true what Sailor had said the other day: Broadway actors tended to be oddballs. But she had to admit watching a man in a flopp
y sea lion costume getting it on would be hilarious with those flippers flapping.
At the sea lion exhibit, she went around to the door labeled “Staff Only.” It should have been locked, but it sat slightly ajar. Fishy air wafted outside from the narrow crack. She wrinkled her nose then heard voices inside. She thought it might be the vet, but instead she heard a woman’s voice. It was muffled, so she opened the door a little more and put her ear to the crack.
“Why are you Facetiming her, papi? You don’t know her. You’ve known me since we were kids, and you just dump me for a stranger?”
Harper gritted her teeth and whispered, “Rachel...figures.”
Gabriel’s voice followed, and he did not sound happy. “I don’t care how long I’ve known you. It takes more than that to make it work. We don’t work. We never will work, and you need to move on. Find someone who will make you happy.”
“You make me happy, papi.”
“Do either one of us look happy right now? You’re better than this, Rachel. Be strong, and stop trying to force something that won’t work. Life’s short. I want us both to find someone we can be happy with, like Mama and Papa were.” His voice caught on that last part.
Harper pressed a hand to her heart, wishing she could hug him. He must have missed his father very much, on top of being worried about Pepper, and now his ex was driving him crazy.
“Fine, do whatever you want! Que te jodan!”
From the little Spanish she knew, mostly curse words, Harper recognized that. It wasn’t pretty. Rachel’s heels pounded across the floor, heading right for the door. Harper jumped back and slid around the corner of the building, out of sight. Freshly pruned bushes scraped her legs, but she winced and remained still as the door slammed open, and Rachel retreated through the amphitheater. Sure, it would have been easy to stand there and confront her, rubbing her nose in it, but Harper wasn’t that cruel. Rachel may have been a jealous bitch, but she probably did love Gabriel, and if she’d loved him since they were kids, it would have to be difficult to let him go.
Harper peeked around the corner and didn’t see Rachel anywhere. She came out from behind the bushes and opened the door, then jumped back, startled.
Gabriel looked startled too. He was right there in the doorway. “Harper? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I was…uh…just…” She lost her train of thought. He looked so tired and distraught with dark circles under his eyes and his mouth drawn in. The realization that he was probably going after Rachel made her feel even more awkward.
“I was coming to find you,” he said. “My phone battery died, and I forgot my charger. I couldn’t remember your number, or I would have called from the landline.”
“Oh.” A surprising amount of relief rushed from her lungs in a long exhale. “I was coming to find you to ask about Pepper.”
“Come inside if you have time,” he said and stood aside.
“Sure.” She walked in, and he followed, shutting the door behind them. Pepper lay in a shallow pool. He gulped down water from a plastic bowl that sat outside the pool.
Gabriel came up beside her, one arm crossed over his body while he scratched his chin with the other hand. “Sea lions almost never drink water when they’re not sick. They get all they need from their diet. But when they have lepto, it attacks their kidneys, so they don’t function properly, and they feel thirsty all the time.”
“Kind of like my mom when she developed diabetes.”
He smiled through his fatigue. “Right. The vet put him on antibiotics, so now we just wait and keep him comfortable.”
“I hope he’ll be okay.”
“I hope your mom is okay.”
“She will be. Now that she’s finally following her doc’s advice. My brother Jaxon’s keeping her on her toes.”
“It’s good for kids to take care of their parents as they age. Mama only has me, so I’ll never move far from her.”
Harper nodded, hugging her middle as her stomach growled, and guilt pinched her conscious. “Was it selfish of me to leave them?” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but she couldn’t take it back now. Hunger was muddling her thoughts.
“No. I don’t know them, but they probably want what’s best for you, and what’s best for you is probably here.”
She met his gaze. His soft smile and warm eyes told her he was sincere. “I hope you’re right.”
“From the angry sounds your stomach is making, I bet you’re hungry.”
“Famished.”
He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “I’d love to take you out, but I need to stay with Pepper.”
“I understand.”
“But I have some of Mama’s ropa vieja. She always makes too much so I have plenty to share.”
“Oh? What’s in it?”
“It’s Cuban-style shredded beef. Olives, capers, peppers, onions. It’s not too spicy. There’s rice to go with it.”
“That sounds delicious.” Her stomach agreed with an obnoxious growl. “Actually, anything sounds good right now. I’d eat Spam, and I don’t even like it.”
He laughed. She liked his laugh. It was pure and not that pretentious, barky laugh that some guys had when they were trying to impress a girl. He also smiled when he laughed, and that was like watching a breathtaking sunset. Bright white teeth, dimples, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“But you eat in here? Will Pepper be bothered by the smell?”
“No, he’s used to it. Besides, he’s not into Cuban food. He’s a seafood lover.”
“Gotcha.” Harper laughed. She knew he had a sense of humor in there somewhere.
“Come and sit. I’ll heat it up.” He went to the fridge and retrieved a sizable Tupperware container and a couple bottles of water. He handed one of the bottles to Harper.
“Thanks. My feet are killing me.” She took a seat at the small table near what looked like a little kitchenette. There was a sink, cabinets, a mini-fridge with a microwave on top, and the table with two chairs. Just a white plastic set you’d find on most anyone's deck in Kentucky. “Feels like home.”
“Oh?” He put the food in the microwave and started it up, looking at her with an amused expression. “This has been my second home since I was a kid.”
“Really? How long have you been here?”
“Papa took me along with him ever since I can remember. Then I went to college and got a degree in marine biology and came back to work here full time alongside him. I’ve seen several sea lions come and go. It’s never easy to say goodbye.”
His smile faded, as he watched the food spin slowly on the microwave turntable.
“You’re lucky to have had such a good dad.”
“Yes, very. I just wish we’d had more time. I guess it’s never enough no matter when your parents die. Is your dad still around?”
“Uh, no. He left us a long time ago. I was little and don’t remember him very well.”
The microwave beeped. Gabriel took the food out and brought it to the table. Instead of sitting in the chair opposite her, he took the one right beside her. “I’m sorry. It must have been hard for your mom.”
“It was. She worked hard to take care of us. We were poor, but we had food and clothes and a roof over our heads. But, I think it took a toll on her health.”
He nodded then reached over to a caddy that held plastic utensils, napkins, salt and pepper. He took out two forks. “Sorry, I have no plates right now. Do you mind sharing from the same bowl?”
“Are you kidding? I’d eat it off the floor if I had to. It smells awesome.”
He handed over the fork, and Harper dug in. The flavors were amazing. Tender beef bursting with flavors of tomato, cumin, garlic, oregano and jalapenos. She looked up to find him watching her with a soft smile curving his lips. “You really were hungry.”
She finished chewing, swallowed, and took a swig of water. “Very. All I had was a granola bar for lunch. I went to the break room to see if you were eating lunch.”
>
Gabe got a bite and nodded. “I’ve been going there every day hoping you’d be there.”
That was incredibly sweet. She swallowed down her girlish excitement. It wouldn’t be professional, much less mature, to giggle at him. “Really? I usually eat at my desk or go grab a sandwich across the street.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
They both ate in comfortable silence for a while. Finally, Harper broached the subject she’d been avoiding. “Rachel was there.”
“Okay.” He stayed focused on his food, eating like she’d brought up something as mundane as the weather.
“She said she had dinner with you last night.”
He paused then, a bite of food halfway to his mouth, and lowered his fork. “No, she didn’t. I was here talking to you over Facetime.” Anger flashed across his face. “Did she say anything else? Was she rude to you?”
“No more so than usual. But I called her out on her lie. She didn’t like that.”
His anger turned to a proud grin. “You did? I’m glad. She’s very stubborn. Not many people stand up to her, but that’s what she needs. She has to realize not everything can go her way.”
Pepper groaned from his pool. He turned on his side, flippers held across his belly. Gabriel got up and went to him. He squatted beside the sea lion, rubbing his neck and head. “Hang in there, my friend.”
Harper came to stand just behind him. “Poor guy. Is he in pain?”
“Yeah, but hopefully the antibiotics will work. He can’t have another injection until tomorrow. I’ll have to watch over him again tonight.”
She came closer, squatting on the other side of Pepper. He turned his head and looked at her with big brown eyes. She looked to Gabe for permission, and he nodded. She stroked Pepper’s head gently. He nuzzled her hand with his whiskers and sniffed her curiously. His short, wet coat was almost as smooth as skin. From this close, she truly appreciated his size and strength. He could probably hurt Gabe and her if he wanted to, but he clearly had a bond with his keeper and it would seem he accepted her as well.
