“I like weird.”
He nods, like this helps. “So… I’m a walking encyclopedia of what animal groups are called.”
I tuck my purse into a cubby and turn back to regard him, angling my head. “What does that mean?”
“You know how, like, a group of horses is called a herd? And dogs are a pack? Pretty much every animal has its own category name, and it’s very possible that I know them all.”
I’m just standing there, blinking at him. “I think I need an example.”
“A group of bats is called a cauldron. A group of squirrels is a dray. Ferrets? A business.”
“A business?”
“Yep.”
“What about sharks?” I ask. I feel like I should know this already.
His eyes light up. “A shiver.”
Ooh, I like that. “You’re right, this is weird. I like it, but it’s weird.”
He groans. “I know. But during family game night sometimes we’d play this trivia game that had a category for it, and it was usually double points. I never beat my brothers at anything, but I can memorize facts pretty easily. When I realized I could ace that category every time, I made a point to learn as many of them as I could.”
“That’s dedication.”
“When you have two brothers who are good at everything, you take your wins where you can.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” I raise a hand. “Only child.”
He gets a far-off look in his eye. “That must have been nice.”
“Sometimes it was,” I say. “Sometimes it’s lonely.”
Myles nods. “Yeah, I could see that. When it really comes down to it, I wouldn’t give them up for anything, but there are times when I wish we had come in a different order. It sort of feels like being last in everything.”
I hold up a finger and raise my brows. “Except in animal group trivia. Quick, what’s a group of lions called?”
“Easy.” He gives me a look like I threw him a softball. “A pride.”
“Whales.”
He glares at me. “Pod. Come on, Amelia, let me show off a little. I need this.”
I laugh and try to think of the most random animal I can. “Zebras.”
His eyes light up, and at the look of pure joy on his face, my heart does a little thump. I swear, that dimple is lethal. “A dazzle.”
My eyes go wide. “Adazzle?”
“Yup.” He’s so proud of this, it’s like he coined the term himself.
“I’m obsessed with that.”
“Fun, huh?”
“Maybe that should have been our code word,” I murmur, almost to myself.
Myles just laughs, and it’s one of his real, uninhibited ones. I like those the most.
