At least, Chris assumed that God was on the same wavelength as he was. Chris had made it down the aisle before and faced the biggest humiliation of his life. He’d figured God was sparing him from a repeat embarrassment. Why else had no other woman sparked his interest?
Except Erykah Kennedy.
He sighed. Enough of that. He’d push past the distraction and start checking off items on his to-do list before he went for a hike.
He stood, left his office, and entered the hallway of his nonprofit.
On a daily basis, Chris’s team took care of various wildlifethat’d been injured in the regional area until they could be turned over to a long-term rehab center. They also had a few animals that remained with them on a permanent basis for educational programs.
Right now, he needed to prepare the kit fox and the black-footed ferret for the second-grade class coming in for a field trip. The ferret had made his home at Gamble on Nature a couple of years after retiring from a breeding facility that was trying to prevent the species from becoming extinct. Students usually enjoyed meeting him. Maybe Chris could even see if their injured beaver would want to meet the kids. A temporary resident, the beaver would be picked up by a rehab facility on Friday. Surely the kids would love to get a look at him up close.
“How are we coming along for the field trip?” Chris asked Cameron.
She pulled out one of the many pencils keeping her bun on top of her head. “Zach put Nick into the small cage, so he’s ready. Kimble stills need to be prepared.”
“I’ll take care of him.” Chris headed down the hall to where the ferret’s cage was. Kimble was about as close to a pet as Chris could get. Not because he didn’t want a domesticated animal in his home. He did. In a perfect world, he’d have a Bernese mountain dog named Bernie. But the travel he did for educational outreaches, animal rescues, board events, and now the docuseries meant he wasn’t home much to give a dog attention. Then again, there was always the option of bringing the dog along as a travel companion.
In a different world. Not now. You’re too busy.
“Kimble, wanna play?” he murmured.
The ferret happily began dooking. The chuckling sound often happened when Kimble played. Just offering the invitationhad Kimble coming out of the cubby he liked to snuggle in. Chris put out a tray of food for the guy so he could eat before engaging with six- and seven-year-olds. He moved on to the beaver, checking on the little guy. He seemed content in the sleeping area, so Chris allowed him to rest.
When Kimble finished his snack, Chris brought him out into the instructional classroom. The kids filed in quietly, their teacher praising them for their good behavior.
“Mr. Gamble is going to talk to us now. Please give him your best Raven behavior.”
Chris held back a smirk as the kids immediately sat ramrod straight in the chairs. “Good morning, everyone.”
“Good morning,” they called back.
“I’m Mr. Gamble, and I run Gamble on Nature with my colleagues, Cameron”—he pointed to the project manager, who waved—“and Zach.” The intern waved.
“Sometimes we have a couple more people in-house, but right now, they’re out in the wild tracking animals.”
“Ohhh,” the kids chorused.
Chris clucked his tongue, and Kimble scurried from the little cat carrier to his shoulder. He instinctively slipped his arm through the short leash he’d fashioned for the ferret. Kids loved seeing animals, but ones that weren’t leashed always unnerved a few students. In fact, a couple of the girls’ eyes widened in horrified fascination.
“Does anyone know what kind of animal Kimble is?”
Hands shot up around the room. Chris pointed to a little boy with the straightest cowlick he’d ever seen.
“A cat!”
“No!” some of the others groaned.
Chris pointed to a little girl with pigtails in the front row. She motioned toward herself in question, so he nodded.
“Um, a ferret?” she said.
“That’s right. Kimble is a black-footed ferret. Does anyone know what he likes to eat?”
“Berries!” a kid shouted.
“Try again.”
Someone correctly guessed Kimble to be a carnivore, making the transition to how Kimble ate in the wild and how they fed him here. Once his introduction of the ferret was over, Chris asked the most popular question in the educational outreaches.
