“Some people assume I don’t think anyone should be in a relationship, ever, because I spread a message about being happily single. It’s offensive to people that I’m so happy—and I’ve been called all kinds of names for it. Names I won’t repeat here.
“But what I’m really advocating for is this: find happiness. Period. If you’re not happy, what can you do to BE happy? I see so many people who feel like they can’t be happy if they’re not in a relationship, but I’m telling you that you can. I’m writing an entire book about it, even!”
She was glad she couldn’t see the comments scrolling through on her phone. The sun was too bright, and she was wearing her sunglasses, which made it nearly impossible to see more than her outline on her screen. A weight was lifted from her shoulders as she spoke.
“I’m setting the record straight. I’m not a bitter woman who hates love, despite what some angry commenters think. I am happy, I’m fulfilled, I have wonderful friends, I am planning on remaining—”
“Eliana, look out!”
Something sharp jammed against the back of her leg. She screamed and nearly dropped her phone in her haste to get away from … the flamingos?
The four flamingos circled her as if herding her somewhere, and she had no way to escape them. If she tried to edge away, they’d peck at her leg hard enough to draw a scratch. Great. The last thing she needed was bruised and scratched legs right before the wedding.
Especially since Grandma Winnie warned her that she’d be showing a lot more leg than she’d originally planned. Julia had only smirked and said it was Eliana’s turn to wear one of Grandma’s shorty dresses out in public.
“Do they bite?” Eliana yelled to Julia, holding as still as she could, as they shuffled agitatedly around her.
“I don’t know!” Julia stepped farther back.Traitor.“I’ll look it up.”
Eliana remembered then that this was all live. Of course it was. She had to stop doing livestreams, period. Never. Again.
“Well, friends, I have a situation here.” She giggled nervously and tipped her screen down to show the flamingos to her viewers. “It seems I’m being kidnapped by what may or may not be killer flamingos. My sister is looking it up.”
“They peck!”
“I know! They’ve been pecking at me. Can you help?”
Julia hesitated. “I can’t mess anything up. The wedding … Let me call Logan and see if he has any ideas.”
“My future brother-in-law, Logan, is a vet who works with exotic animals,” she said into the camera. She didn’t know if flamingos were on that list or not, but at this point, she’d take anyone.
Julia held her phone to her ear. “Logan says they eat shrimp, not people!”
Eliana lifted her face toward the sky to plead for patience, before she put her attention back on the camera. “I don’t remember what I was saying anymore, because I’m in the weirdest situation I’ve ever been in, in my entire life. On live. I don’t know if I should close this or continue recording, but since I’m too afraid to do any big movements, you guys get to watch for a while.”
“Logan says he doesn’t know of any reports where a person has been seriously hurt or killed by flamingos, and that you should follow them and see where they’re taking you. Also …” She paused, listening. “He says a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance. Isn’t that fun?”
“Julia, trivia isn’t going to help me.”
“Right, sorry.” She bit her lip, but then her face broke into a wide grin. “We can have the wedding at the conservation center near the elephants! We’ll just have to do it after five, when they close.”
She knew Logan could make it happen! “That’s amazing!” A particularly hard nip at the back of Eliana’s leg caused her to jump. “I come in peace,” she yelled at the flamingos, but they only fluttered their wings even more at her proclamation.
“Logan says they like Beatles songs. Try singing one.”
“All flamingos like the Beatles?”
“No! Just these ones. They’re named after the Beatles.”
She wracked her brain for a Beatles song she knew the lyrics to, and came up with “Here Comes the Sun.”
No reaction from the flamingos. And she was still on live. Singing. Heaven help her. Maybe they liked ballads better. She moved onto “Hey Jude.”
“Logan’s on his way. He’ll be here in twenty minutes to help.”
Twenty more minutes of being attacked by flamingos while singing through her limited knowledge of Beatles songs? Nope.
“I’m done with this,” she said under her breath. Eliana took a few more steps, and endured another sharp peck on the back of her leg, before she made her decision.
