Her eyes widened. “What?”
He nodded. “I fell in love. Because of you, Charlie. With your family, with the animals, with all of these big ideas and plans, with teaching, with interacting with people and watching them learn and fall in love with the animals themselves.” He reached up and cupped her cheek. “Okay, I was already falling in love with the place and your family when you got here. But you pushed me the rest of the way. And,” he added, running his thumb over her bottom lip, “you made me fall in love with you. I was an idiot to think that I could possibly resist that.”
She sucked in a quick breath, and her eyes filled with tears again. “I fell in love with you too, Griffin.”
His heart expanded almost painfully. He took a deep breath, realizing that he needed to hear that more than anything. “Charlie—”
“And that’s why I don’t know if I can do this.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I can watch you get hurt. And you will. Things will go wrong with this park. I didn’t think about that before. It was just a big project for me. It was all just on paper and in sketches. But now, it’s real. They are real living things. And they’re dependent on us to keep them safe. And keeping them all safe and healthy is a lot. And sometimes they will get sick and hurt, and even if it’s not because of humans, it will still hurt you. And I don’t know if I can help build this up knowing that it could hurt you someday.”
He shook his head. “I know how this works, Charlie. I’ve been a vet for a long time. It’s part of the job. And yes, I’ve been hurt in the past. And yes, I’ll be hurt in the future. But what I’ve realized since being here, is that the fun, and discovery, and adventure, and teaching, all of the wonderful moments, are worth it. And,” he said, moving his hand to cup the back of her head, “doing it all with you and your family is the only way I want to do it.”
A tear slid down her cheek. But this time, Griffin was sure that it was a happy tear instead of the ones she’d been shedding previously.
“Please stay. Please open the animal park back up. Please do this with me.”
She swallowed. “I might have done something stupid. I emailed a bunch of people.”
“Yeah, I’m about to fire your ass for it as a matter of fact,” Sawyer said.
Charlie’s eyes widened, and she turned to her cousin. “You can’t…”
But clearly, she realized that he could, in fact, fire her.
“That is a fair reaction,” she said instead. “I’m so sorry. I… overreacted. But I can fix it. I’ll send another email. We’ll have a big event. Beer and…” She looked at Tori. “How quickly could I get a beaver?” Then she looked up at Griffin. “Maybe just Oreos and otters? Use it as a teaching experience about the toothpicks. Can they eat Oreos? Or maybe…”
“The email will be enough,” Griffin interjected.
“You’re sure?”
“Maybe not for a normal human being, but for you? The most charming woman on the planet? Yeah, I’m sure.” He was also sure his smile was full of love and wonder and God-I-fucking-want-you-so-much.
She blew out a breath and nodded. “Okay.” She looked at Sawyer. “Let me fix it.”
“You sure you want to fix it?” Sawyer asked.
Charlie looked up at Griffin.
She could leave. This would be a good reason. She could cut and run. Go back to Shreveport. Find another marketing job. One with less mud and blood and lots of other messy stuff.
But she smiled for the first time and nodded. “Yeah, turns out this little job, in this little town, with this little petting zoo, is the biggest, most important thing I’ve ever done. Next to falling in love, of course.”
That hit Griffin hard. She meant it, and it filled him with a strange sense of happiness, contentment, and possessiveness. Not just because she wanted this job, in this place, with him. But because he was going to be able to make her dream of growing a business into something truly influential and meaningful while also fulfilling his dreams of working on wildlife conservation and education initiatives right in his own backyard.
He could give the woman he loved her dream. That meant more to him than anything he’d done before.
“Bigger than Paris?” Griffin asked gruffly, teasing.
“The only thing I fell in love with in Paris was a chocolate croissant. I’ll take a bunch of otters, a trio of lemurs, a sloth, and some goats any day.”
He noticed he wasn’t on that list, and he leaned in, nearly touching her nose with his.
“And we’re going to have kettle corn here. That beats chocolate croissants, right?”
She lifted her hand to his chest, placing it over his heart. He covered it with his own.
“Oh yeah, I’m totally here for the otters and kettle corn.”
“Well, and a kangaroo, right?” His voice dropped a little lower.
“I did do some pretty… hard… work for that the other night, didn’t I?” she asked, her smile mischievous.
“You really did.”
“But I’d definitely be willing to work toward two or three.”
“Hmm. Kangaroos are somewhat solitary animals. I don’t know if we need more than one.”
Her smile was so sweet that Griffin felt his heart squeeze. She loved when he teased because he didn’t do it that often.
But she might have to get used to more of it.
“Oh, well, then I guess I won’t need to do the thing I was planning on doing…” She said, trailing off.
“Okay, fine. Five kangaroos,” he said.
She laughed.
“And don’t forget… you’re still trying to talk me into an elephant.”
Two months later…
“This kettle corn is terrible,” Sawyer declared. “Again.”
“Shh!” Charlie told him sharply. They couldn’t let Ellie or Cora, her best friend and head cook at the bar, overhear.
They were standing outside of the new snack shack that Zeke had just finished building two days before. This was the grand opening, and Ellie and Cora had insisted on making much of the food themselves. The mini beignets, meat pies, and fried alligator balls had all turned out great. It was nice to have some authentic Louisiana food alongside the typical snow cones, ice cream sandwiches, nachos, and pizza slices. They’d even been discussing how to do gumbo in easy-to-handle containers.
Unfortunately, the one snafu was the kettle corn. For some reason.
“But how can it keep getting worse?” Mitch asked in a loud whisper.
“Seriously, how is it possible that the two best cooks I know can’t make kettle corn?” Fletcher asked.
“Yeah, someone needs to tell her that we’re going to start buying the kettle corn from somewhere else,” Owen said.
“Not it!” Zeke was quick to exclaim.
“Definitely not fucking it,” Zander agreed.
“No fucking way,” Fletcher said. Then he looked around quickly. Spending more time at the animal park with his family had come with the added pressure of constantly running into kids from school. He was struggling to keep up his good-influence vibe when he was with his cousins and brothers. That wasn’t anything new, of course, but being surrounded by little kids all the time was.
“Fine,” Charlie finally said with a sigh. “I’ll handle it with Ellie.”
“You sure you want to do that?” Sawyer asked.
What, was she stupid? Of course, she didn’t want to do that. But she was in charge of making sure everything at the animal park was as good as it could be.
She’d given up on the idea of perfection. Well, she was working on giving up on the idea of perfection. She was also trying to give up the idea that her ideas were always the best ones. But, when it came right down to it, she took responsibility for making the park everything that she and Griffin had dreamed of.
With a lot of help from her family.
And Fiona, of course.
“Wow,” Fiona said, joining them from where she’d just picked up her own kettle corn. “This r
eally sucks,” she said around the first few kernels.
“What really sucks?”
Charlie grimaced as she heard her grandmother’s voice.
Zeke suddenly said, “Gotta go,” and headed in the opposite direction.
“Yeah, just got a call,” Zander said, holding up his phone and backing away.
“I’ve got to—” Fletcher started.
“Don’t even think about it,” Charlie said, catching the sleeve of his shirt.
She turned with a bright smile for her grandmother. Which instantly morphed into a very real grin when Charlie saw Griffin was with Ellie.
“What really sucks?” Ellie repeated as they stopped near Charlie, Fiona, Fletcher, and Sawyer.
Except, when she looked again, Sawyer was gone too. He just hadn’t announced his departure. Smart guy.
“This kettle corn,” Fiona said, holding up her bag. “You all need a new vendor.”
Ellie’s eyes rounded as Griffin and Charlie both groaned.
“You don’t like the kettle corn?” Ellie asked.
“No. It tastes burnt. Even though it doesn’t look it.” Fiona held her bag out. “Here, try it.”
Ellie reached out and took three kernels. She tasted them, frowned, and said, “It really does suck.”
Fiona nodded. “Told you.”
Charlie looked at her grandmother. “You agree it’s not good?”
“Of course, that’s not good,” Ellie said. “No one would think that was good.”
“So, we were thinking that with everything else you and Cora are doing, maybe we should look to someone else for the kettle corn.”
Ellie waved that away. “We’ll try again. We’ll try a new recipe. It will be fine.”
Charlie sighed and looked at Griffin. He lifted a shoulder.
She didn’t want her grandmother’s feelings hurt, for sure, but looking at Griffin reminded her of all their plans and dreams, as it always did. Plans and dreams she was willing to do anything for.
Even insult her grandmother.
She took a breath. “Ellie, I love you, and I so appreciate everything that you’re doing for the snack shack. Most of it is amazing. And I know it’s a lot of extra work. But, we’re going to find a new vendor for the kettle corn. You’ve tried a few times now, and it’s just not working. Everything here has to be as good as it can possibly be.”
Ellie regarded her with one eye narrowed. She crossed her arms. Then, after nearly thirty full seconds, during which Charlie shifted her weight from one foot to the other, twice, Ellie said, “It’s about time.”
Charlie frowned. “About time? What do you mean?”
“I’ve been waiting for you to say something. I wanted to know that even the kettle corn was important to you. Figured if it were, you’d say something eventually.”
Charlie stared at her grandmother. “You’ve been ruining the kettle corn on purpose, waiting for me to say something? You were testing me?”
Ellie chuckled. “I wasn’t ruining it on purpose. But I knew it sucked. Still, no one was saying anything. Hell yes, it was a test. If you can confront me about my cooking, then you can handle anything that comes up in the park.”
Charlie let her eyes slide shut, and she took a deep breath. A deep breath full of hot, humid air that smelled like goats. And burnt kettle corn.
She could be working in a sleek, modern, air-conditioned office with other marketing experts and beautiful online slideshow presentations talking about the latest makeup trends and how they were going to support programs that got single moms successfully into the workforce.
But when she opened her eyes, Griffin was watching her with a combination of amusement and affection that told her she was never not going to be by his side taking care of goats. Of course, now she had three beavers to also help take care of.
“Okay then,” she told her grandmother. “You are officially fired as the kettle corn maker for Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild.”
Ellie laughed. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
“The idea of it sent three grown men running,” Charlie told her with a grin.
“Good,” Ellie said. “I want to keep my grandsons scared of me.”
“Speaking of grandsons who are scared of you and if the questionable mental health in our family is genetic, I’m going to go find somewhere else to be,” Fletcher said.
“Oh,” Ellie said, “you’re the reason I came over here.”
Fletcher sighed. “Why is that?”
“Jason Young is performing live tonight, and there is a rumor that he’s going to do something big and exciting on stage,” Ellie said.
Fletcher just blinked at her for a few seconds. Finally, he said, “I don’t give a fuck what Jason Young is doing tonight, on live TV or not.”
Ellie gave him an eye roll. “Well, it just so happens that Jordan’s mother was at the grocery store the same time I was in buying more sugar for the kettle corn. And she thinks he’s going to propose tonight. On stage.”
Charlie snapped her head around to look at Fletcher. She could feel the sudden tension emanating off of him.
His jaw was tight, and he pulled in a long breath through his nose. Then he let it out and said, “I suppose it’s about time for him to do that.”
Ellie nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. She’s been there beside him through all of his trying to be a star. Quit her job to go travel with him. It’s about time that boy put a ring on her finger.”
Fletcher simply nodded.
“So, we’re watching it at the bar. I think it’ll be nice to see these two hometown kids doing something so great,” Ellie said. “Starts in twenty minutes. You should be there.”
“I have no desire to be there, Ellie,” Fletcher told her.
“Fletcher Landry, Jordan is your best friend. You need to witness her big moment. What will happen when she calls and asked if you saw it?”
“She knows I don’t like Jason’s music and don’t watch him.”
“And she knows I’m a huge fan and would definitely have it on in the bar. You have no excuse to miss this. You need to be supportive.”
Fletcher sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
“Yeah, you think about it,” Ellie told him. “If you’re not there, no gumbo for two weeks.”
Since her grandkids had become adults, or really since they become too big to sit in timeout behind the bar and read William Shakespeare out loud to Ellie while she worked, her favorite punishment was to withhold their favorite foods. Of course, for seven out of eleven of them, it was her gumbo. But she knew every one of their favorites and would not hesitate to cut them off if it meant making a point.
“Missing Jason Young singing might be worth two weeks of no gumbo,” Fletcher muttered.
Ellie nodded. “Fine. Be that way. But if Jordan ever asks me if you watched her engagement live with the rest of the country, I’m not lying for you.” Ellie spun on her heel and stomped back toward her bar.
Charlie looked at Fletcher. “You’re not really willing to give up two weeks of gumbo, are you? He’s actually pretty good.”
Fletcher met her eyes. “You know very well that I don’t hate him because of his music.”
“But you hate him?” Charlie asked.
“He’s not my favorite person.”
“I understand,” Charlie said. “But Ellie has a point. Jordan’s going to want her best friend to have seen her engagement and to be excited about it.”
Fletcher rubbed a hand over his face. “Bad enough that I have to think about them being engaged, isn’t it? I have to watch it happen in person?”
“Jason’s the hot rising star right now,” Charlie said with a shrug. “But he still needs as much attention as he can get. This is a huge way to get all over the entertainment news and Internet.”
“So he’s using her,” Fletcher said. “I’m supposed to support that?”
“If they’d just met, I’d be on your side,” Charlie said. “They’ve been together ten
years, Fletcher. They were going to get engaged eventually. Why not do it this way? Lots of women have fantasies about a big public declaration of love. And what better way to tell the world that he is off the market? Jordan might be eating this up.”
Fletcher shook his head. “I promise you, she’s not.”
“We still need to be there for her.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“We’ll go with you,” Charlie said, grabbing Griffin’s hand as she volunteered him. “If that’ll help.”
“A couple shots of Leo’s moonshine, and maybe you won’t mind as much,” Griffin said.
Fletcher nodded again. “That’s about the only way to do this.”
“Let’s head over and get started. I actually wouldn’t mind a shot of moonshine before listening to country music myself,” Griffin said.
Charlie gasped. “Wait just a second there, Dr. Foster. Are you telling me you don’t like country music? Because this could be a problem.”
He put an arm around her waist, tucking her up against him as they started toward Ellie’s. “I’ll get you a kangaroo and be right back on your good side.”
“And to think you are the guy who even protested the idea of hedgehogs.”
“Actually, I thought the hedgehogs were great,” Griffin corrected. “And no one ever said that hedgehogs would lead to me getting laid. You should have led with that.”
She hugged him as she laughed. “You got laid long before the hedgehogs.”
He nodded. “Actually, it was the goats, wasn’t it?”
Actually, yeah, it had been—sort of.
They settled in for dinner with the family. The food had already been served in big bowls and platters when they arrived, and they slid into empty chairs just in time for the dishes to be passed to them.
They all dug in and chatted and ate for about ten minutes before Ellie yelled, “Shut up! It’s starting.”
She pointed the remote at each of the three televisions in the bar, turning the volume up on each.
No one in the place could avoid watching Jason Young take the stage and launch into his new number one hit.
Charlie looked at Fletcher. He had his eyes down, focused on his food, and was eating without a word.
Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set Page 252
