“Erykah, Ash, this is Kimble. Kimble, meet the ladies.” Kimble chucked, never leaving the perch of Chris’s shoulder.
“You have a real-life animal on your shoulder,” Erykah said.
“Nodifferent than Charlie lying on my lap.”
She snorted. “Likely story.”
He loved when her snarky side came out. She kept it so close to her vest it was easy to forget sarcasm was one of her love languages.
“How about we put Ash in the floor seat and let you hold Kimble?”
“Yes!” Cheye clapped her hands. “Can we make a YouTube video too? I’ll direct.” Cheyenne made a shooing motion to her aunt.
Chris bit down on his tongue, trying to keep his laughter in.
“Uh, I don’t know,” Erykah said.
“The floor seat is in my office.”
“I’ll get it.”
Cheyenne took off before he could say otherwise. “Walk,” he shouted after her, then turned back to Erykah. “He’s harmless. He’ll love you.”
Determination coated her brown eyes. “Okay. I can do this.”
“You sure can.” He grinned, and all of a sudden, she was looking at him like she had before. No guardedness in her eyes, just pure ease.
Erykah set Ash in the little baby seat while Chris got his phone set up on the tripod so Cheye could direct their video. He doubted it would be good enough to upload, but if it excited her, he’d let her play around.
“Hey, guys, I’m Chris Gamble, bringing you another Gamble on Nature video. Today I’ve got a special guest, Dr. Erykah Kennedy.” He turned toward her, and she waved at the camera. “Dr. Kennedy isn’t an animal doctor. She’s actually an orthopedic surgeon and one of my good friends. It’s her first time meeting Kimble.” He paused. Maybe he should’ve thought this through.
“Hold hands so Kimble can go across your arm onto her shoulder,” Cheyenne suggested.
Chris laughed. “Great idea, Cheye.”
“I don’t know.” Erykah’s voice shook.
“It’ll be great.” He laced their fingers together, ignoring the way his body seemed to relax with relief. Never mind the way his senses came alive under her touch.
He sidestepped, then lifted their hands. “You ready?”
“Um...” She bit her lip.
“Do you trust me?”
Her gaze met his. “Yes.” She paused. “I’m ready.”
“Kimble, go.”
The ferret went down his shoulder across his arm, then scrambled up Erykah’s. She squeaked out an unintelligible sound that had the girls laughing. Kimble stopped on her shoulder, curling up.
“You did it, Auntie Erykah.” Cheyenne clapped with glee.
“I knew you could,” Chris said. Hearing his voice drop down an octave had his throat drying out. Was holding her hand really affecting him that much?
“I think you can call him back now,” she said.
Chris blinked. “Right. Kimble, come.”
