Mason


    “Almost done,” I called as someone knocked on my door.


    My assistant always got antsy at this time of day-not that I could me her. By rights, she should have been able to leave an hour ago.


    The door creaked open and I nced up to find Trent standing in the doorway, a bottle of pills in his hand.


    “What’s up? Something wrong?” My heart rate ticked up a few notches, but Trent shook his head.


    “Just some prenatal vitamins. Just in case.” He shook the bottle, then set it on my desk. “You seeing her anytime soon?”


    “I was going to stop by the zoo on my way home, actually, so I’ll bring these with me.”


    “The zoo?” Trent raised his eyebrows.


    “She’s a conservationist there. Works with the endangered animals.”


    “You nerds all know how to pick each other.”


    “You’re a nerd, too, dude” I pointed out.


    “That doesn’t mean I like my women brainy.”


    “I’m pretty sure your only qualification for a date is that she have a working vagina. And a heartbeat.”


    “Even that isn’t a deal breaker. I’m happy to do a little extra work.” Trent winked and I let out a littleugh.


    “Right, well, I’m…so d I know that now.” I moved the paper I’d been working on into my out-box and shrugged off myb coat in favor of my leather jacket. “Come on, walk out with me.”


    Together we walked down the carpeted hall to find that the rest of the nurses and assistants had already left for the day, and I shook my head as I locked up behind myself.


    “Guess they all had ces to be,” I said.


    “On Friday night? No kidding,” Trent said.


    “Who asked you?” I shot back. “Actually, I’m shocked you’re not on your way to some hot date.”


    “Hell, no. Ever since yourst hot date, I’m worried that I’ll wind up like you.”


    “Handsome and sessful?” I asked.


    “Strapped to the train tracks of parenthood, my friend. No thank you. I can’t wait until theye out with a pill for men. There aren’t enough condoms in the world to make me feel safe after all this.”


    I rolled my eyes. “I might be having a baby. I’m not enlisted in a war.”


    “Oh, but you are. It’s a field ofnd mines and pitfalls waiting to happen, my friend. I wish you the best of luck with your little situation, but I wouldn’t trade lives with you for all the money in the world right now,” he murmured, tipping an imaginary hat in my direction.


    We reached the parking lot and said our good-byes, and I made my way to the zoo, thinking over Trent’s words. In truth, I’d never seen parenthood as an obstacle or a curse like so many of my male friends. To me, it seemed like a gift. Something to look forward to-so long as you were sharing the load with the right person.


    Again I thought of the envelope sitting in the drawer of my bedside table. The night before, I’d held it in my hands, staring at it for at least an hour while I thought about the rest of my yogurt date with Bren. She was funny, smart, beautiful. Everything I’d want my child to be.


    But she was still, in so many ways, a stranger.


    And that needed to be fixed.


    I pulled up to the zoo and snagged a space in the front row of parking before making my way through the gates. When I reached the ticket desk, I said, “I’m looking for Bren Matthews?”


    The thin man behind the counter nodded but tapped the buttons on his keyboard all the same. “Twenty dors, please.”


    I reached in my wallet and fished out a bill before pping it on the counter and waiting for my wristband. The man handed it to me with a too-wide smile, and I nodded.N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    “Thanks.”


    “Enjoy your visit.”


    I walked through another set of gates and nced at the directory, trying to remember what Bren had told me about her day. Though now that I thought about it, I remembered that she’d hardly told me anything at all.


    No, she’d mentioned only the cheetahs-which meant I had only one ce to look.


    When I got to the exhibit, a man stood on the outside of the ss-enclosed cage, writing on a clipboard as he surveyed the animals. He was a tall, handsome kind of guy with slicked-back blond hair and a square jaw. Almost like the viin from any ’80s movie ever made.


    “Excuse me,” I said. “Do you know where I can find Bren Matthews?”


    The man looked at his watch, then nodded. “Carlisle went into the nursing enclosure about twenty minutes ago. If I were a betting man, I’d say she’s there.”


    I frowned, not sure what Carlisle had to do with anything or who he was, but I nodded and gave him my thanks before following the signs that led to the nursing enclosure.


    When I got there, I found a tunnel of leaves and a big, hand-painted sign announcing the newest babies at the zoo-Nancy the ko, Ferdinand the wombat, Henry the baby orangutan, and Daisy the baby gori.


    I stepped inside the little space and spotted Bren immediately. Nestled in her arms was a baby animal. Bren fed her a bottle with the gentlest expression on her face, nodding as the man beside her spoke.


    This guy, too, was blond and handsome, though less tall and tanned than the one I’d just met.


    “The thing drives like a dream,” he was saying. “You’ll have toe out with me and try it some time. I’ll even let you drive.”


    Bren nodded, lips curved into a smile. “Maybe sometime.”


    I raised my eyebrows and cleared my throat, fisting my hands at my sides because I felt like throat punching him. In my heart, Bren already belonged to me and this guy’s tant flirting irritated me to no end. “Hey.”


    She looked up and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, although she didn’t take the bottle from the tiny pink creature. “Oh, hey. What brings you here?”