“Hush,” Darcy told him absently. “I’m not giving you cash for a train ticket and sending you on your way. Are you sure you checked everywhere?”
She was seated in a narrow, shadowy alcove. The otters had settled down and fallen asleep inside the bag, no doubt exhausted by a long evening of being groped by people in formalwear. She longed to put them in her lap and tell them they’d be much better soon, but the less they were handled, the better.
“I walked around the entire zoo, twice. Nora’s still in the VIP lounge. The Van Zijls aren’t in there with her. I didn’t see them. They must have left.”
“Did you check the bathrooms?” Darcy asked skeptically. Teagan wouldn’t leave without her, even if she had her phone off.
Adrian wrinkled his nose. “No, I did not look in the bathrooms. Why would Teagan and his sister be in the bathroom for an hour?”
Darcy gave him a flat, unappreciative stare. “Don’t make that face. Sometimes people get sick.” And sometimes Teaganhad to spend time hyperventilating in the bathroom. She shouldn’t have to explain it to Adrian, especially when she didn’t understand it well herself.
She stood up and gingerly lifted the bag of otters, who chirped in protest at being disturbed.
“Sorry babies,” she whispered. “Gotta find your dad, then we can go.” Darcy poked Adrian in the shoulder. “Youshould be glad you have friends here. Things could be a lot worse. At least you have somewhere to go. Anyway, let’s check the bathrooms.” She straightened and attempted to exude competence again.
It didn’t take long to find Teagan and Sloane with that search pattern. They were in a single occupancy stall in the back of the lemur house. Darcy heard them arguing before she tried the door and found it unlocked.
Sloane knelt in front of the toilet, stomach violently heaving as she attempted to pay further tribute to the porcelain god. Teagan squatted behind her, attempting to hold her hair out of her face.
Darcy’s heart lifted to see him looking well, or at least not as distraught as she’d worried she might find him. God, he must have thought she was ready to break his heart.
“...think you should think hard about going back to rehab,” Teagan was saying as he dodged Sloane’s heedless flails in his direction.
“Leave me alooone,” Sloane moaned. “ ’M not even drunk. It’s that awful shrimp,fightingme.”
Teagan audibly sighed. “I cansmellhow many Long Island iced teas you had.”
Oh, Jesus. Darcy was at once relieved and taken aback as she took in the scene. One thing after another, but this was, at least, a familiar problem, one she’d tackled before.
“There’s a nice place in the Catskills. I could take you tomorrow—” Teagan happened to glance over to see Darcy standing in the doorway. His face went soft with surprise and pleasure. “Darcy.”
Darcy braced herself and adjusted the strap of the duffel bag on her shoulder. She patted the top reassuringly. The pups were going to sleep. They’d be okay for a few minutes while she and Teagan dealt with this.
“Hey, sweetie, I’ll be right there,” she said gently to Sloane. She thrust the duffel bag into Adrian’s arms and shut the bathroom door on his confused face.
Teagan’s arms had gone slack at his sides with relief, and Darcy took a moment to go to her toes and press a quick kiss to the corner of his tense jaw.
“Hey. Everything okay?”
He brushed his fingertips against her loose hair as if reassuring himself of her corporeal presence. “Yeah. It is now. Or, I mean. I am.”
Darcy nodded past the lump in her throat, then they both turned back to poor Sloane. First things first. Darcy used the elastic from around her own wrist to get some of the girl’s hair pulled back out of her face. “Got it all out yet?”
Sloane wobbled as she looked up at Darcy, but she nodded. She grabbed Teagan’s tie and wiped her mouth with it. Her brother’s only sign of protest was to tilt his head and sigh.
“Let’s get you home,” Darcy said, bending to help her to her feet. She pulled and Sloane got more or less upright, teetering in her heels.
“It’s food poisoning,” Sloane said insistently.
Darcy made it a point not to argue with drunk people, but Teagan had somehow not learned that lesson.
“You checked out too soon. It’s my fault. You should have stayed. But it’ll be okay—”
“I’m not going back to rehab,” Sloane insisted. “I never needed rehab.”
Teagan’s lips flattened as he looked to Darcy for support. It sent a little thrill of agency through her. Yes. They were a team. They would handle this latest snafu together.
Just get her home, Darcy tried to mouth to him. She had three otters and a cuckold to place tonight; she’d worry about Sloane tomorrow.
