had been years ago, before either of them knew what their futures held, when both of them still believed—or at least pretended to—in Santa. But two weeks after Bridget died, Luke had come to say his goodbyes to the animals that had made her happy. Instead, he’d taken one look at the buildings in need of paint, the closed food concessions and the animals with no one to admire them, and he’d said, “What can I do?”
Ruth had instantly made a phone call. Next thing he knew, he’d been filling out papers and looking for an apartment. His new title was director of an animal park.
He now made considerably less than he’d made as director of marketing for a Tucson company. But to everyone’s surprise, especially his own, he’d settled into his new job and was good at it.
The degree in marketing helped; his love of animals helped even more.
In just two months, they’d celebrate what would have been the real Bridget’s twentieth birthday. Luke’s dream was to expand enough so that Bridget’s AZ Animal Adventure made money, met his five goals and they could even take one day out of every month and donate the day’s take to a charity.
His sister’s charity.
The National Down Syndrome Society. But Bridget would never work alongside him, and that’s what hurt the most.
CHAPTER TWO
STANDING IN FRONT of Aquila’s enclosure on Friday morning, Luke hoped he’d done the right thing by practically forcing Katie Vincent to come.
Really, there’d been no choice if he intended to keep Aquila—and Bridget’s—alive.
Surely Katie wouldn’t lose her job, not for just two weeks.
But would two weeks be enough for Aquila?
The panther’s illness made no sense. Luke had called three zoo directors and one renowned wildlife vet. They all said the same thing. Panthers don’t bond with people, so there’s no way he could be pining.
Jasper, however, maintained that the zoo directors and renowned wildlife vet hadn’t met Aquila, hadn’t seen Aquila with either Katie or Bob Vincent.
Luke really hoped Jasper was right.
Because now, along with worrying about Aquila, he also had Katie to worry about. He hoped she’d managed to take time off with pay because she couldn’t expect a paycheck from him.
It was her contractual obligation to make sure the animals were healthy. He shouldn’t feel the need to pay her.
But he did.
“Katie’s a good girl” was all Jasper would say. And, according to Jasper, at one time the animals had been her life. Then she and her sister had just moved away. Luke got the idea there was more to the story. He knew there’d been an accident, and her sister had gotten hurt. He knew Bob Vincent had turned his daughters over to a relative. That’s all Jasper would share. Maybe now that Katie was really coming, Jasper would be more forthcoming.
Luke stopped in front of the camels’ pen. “How’s it going?”
Jasper nodded but didn’t say anything. The man preferred four-footed friends to two-legged ones, particularly those he’d arrived with. There wasn’t much about animals that Jasper didn’t know. He’d traveled with an Australian circus during his prime, but had migrated to America almost fifty years ago when Ringling Brothers leased an act from that circus. He’d been hooked up with Bob Vincent for the past thirty.
Luke knew his type. The man was an animal keeper and would die an animal keeper. It wasn’t so much that Jasper loved animals, it was more that he understood them and they him.
Ruth said the animals at Bridget’s were the only beings that could rightly get along with Jasper.
Cheeky, the camel, named not so much because of her third cheek but because of her personality, pounded a foot on the ground. It didn’t appear she much cared for Jasper paying attention to Luke instead of her.
“Hold on, Cheeky,” Jasper groused. “I could feed you all day and you’d still be hungry.”
Cheeky seemed to nod.
And smile.
Kobie, the camel that had come from Bob Vincent, ignored both Jasper and Luke. Right now Kobie didn’t smile. Dan Reeker, Luke’s vet, said animals needed time to adjust after a change.
Unlike Aquila, at least Kobie ate well, played with his rope and did what he was supposed to do. The smile would come later, Luke hoped.
If Bridget were here, she’d have Kobie smiling. She’d loved camels. Most children wanted to see the lion first. Not Bridget. From the time she was little and had seen a baby camel on the news channel, she’d been a fan.
It was an unusual choice. Camels were usually not the friendliest of animals; sometimes they were downright mean. One of Bridget’s therapists had suggested that Bridget had chosen a somewhat unlovable animal to revere because she, Bridget, felt somewhat unlovable.
Luke had never managed to forget that therapist’s words. They’d been spoken kindly, but the meaning behind the words, to the young boy he’d been, had been haunting.
It was the first time he’d seen Bridget through the eyes of the world instead of through the eyes of a brother.
He’d mistrusted the world ever since.
“You got time to talk?” Luke asked.
“Got a few things I need to do.” Then Jasper added suspiciously, “What do you want to talk about?”
“Katie Vincent’s agreed to come work with Aquila. She’ll be here on Sunday.”
Jasper nodded, his face—usually animated—void of expression. Funny, Jasper had pushed for Luke to call Katie Vincent. “About time.”
“She didn’t have much choice. I threatened to return the animals.”
Jasper frowned. “She’d have come around eventually. Too bad you had to twist her arm. Still, it’s right that she come home.”
Luke frowned. Home? This wasn’t home.
As if reading Luke’s mind, Jasper said, “Back to her roots. She’s a natural with animals. She’ll know what to do. Her daddy was wrong to send her away.”
“Then why did he?”
Jasper became absorbed with the camels. He looked as though he’d rather be anywhere but here. For days now, Luke had tried to instigate this conversation, but always Jasper found a way out. At the moment, though, he was trapped: two big camels on one side, Luke on the other.
That didn’t keep him from taking a step toward Kobie as if a four-hundred-pound camel with thirty-four teeth—weapons really—was safer than straight-talking with Luke.
When Jasper did respond, instead of looking at Luke, he studied one of Kobie’s calloused knee joints as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. “I think
