Hot as Hall

Chapter Thirty Eight

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"You just hold it out like this..." Zoe demonstrates, dangling a fish a few feet in front of her, over the sea lion exhibit. James and Lucas both mimic her pose as I stand back in awe, enjoying the view. "And when he gets close, he'll open his mouth and you just drop it in."

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the enormous sea lion she calls Groucho swims by, opening his mouth expectantly, and the boys drop their dead sardines into his mouth.

Zoe smiles. "See? I told you!"

"I want to do it again!" Lucas chants, grabbing another fish out of the bucket. The smell is enough to make me puke, but seeing the happiness on all three of their faces is enough to keep me in this same spot all day.

"You can give him two more, but that's it. He's on a strict diet and we can't overfeed him."

James leaves Lucas to do the rest of the feeding and comes to stand next to me.

"Having fun?"

A smile creeps across his face even though he doesn't want to admit it. "It's pretty cool, I guess."

"How many people do you know that have gotten to feed a sea lion?" I elbow him playfully.

"Well, Jack Jenkins fed a wild one up in La Jolla." He insists. "But it bit his finger, and he had to get stitches."

"See? So much better than that."

James chuckles, shaking his head.

"Alright," Zoe and Lucas join us. "Ready for our next stop?"

"There's more?" My eyes widen. We've been here for three hours and already gotten to play catch with an orangoutang, get licked by a giraffe, and feed a sea lion. What more can she have in store?

"Of course." Zoe scoffs, smirking at me like I'm the crazy one. "We still have the elephants to see, and then I figured we could finish off with Miko."

"YES!" Lucas is in absolute heaven and would stay here all day if I let him. And James isn't sulking and begging to leave, so I count that as a win.

The boys dart ahead of us on the path to go buy some popcorn on our way to the elephants and Zoe slips her hand in mine. "What do you think? Are they having fun?"

"Oh yeah. You're completely ruined every zoo visit for the rest of their lives, so thank you for that." I laugh, pressing a kiss to her lips.

"How about you? Are enjoying yourself?"

"I enjoy any moment I get to spend with you, Zo." I give her hand a squeeze. "Seriously, this has been a once in a lifetime day for them. Thank you."

Zoe shrugs. "It doesn't have to once in a lifetime. You guys can come whenever you want."

"Don't say that too loud or you'll have a tiny shadow here every day. I'm pretty sure Lucas is ready to move into one of the enclosures."

"I don't blame him." Her sweet laugh echoes off the trees. "I'd probably live here if I could, too. It's pretty enchanting."

We follow behind the boys, walking hand in hand along the pathway.

"Do you have plans tomorrow night?" I ask.

Zoe shakes her head. "What did you have in mind?"

"The guys are having a bonfire down at the beach. Any chance you want to go with me?" I'm confident her answer will be yes.

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'd love to."

"Good, I already told them they could count on you." I wink.