“I feel like you’re not going to offer.”
“It’s not a spider, bat, or skunk.”
“Close the door,” she told Jack. He darted forward to obey, shutting the door.
Now it was just her and the large reptile that wasn’t a Gila monster or a Komodo dragon.
She squatted beside it. “Okay, I’m going to pick you up now. I won’t hurt you. I promise. I just want to take you somewhere you won’t alarm anyone.” She knew the lizard wouldn’t understand her, but hopefully if she kept her tone soothing and moved slowly…
It didn’t move.
Stepping behind the lizard, she wrapped the towel around its body and lifted it. It didn’t try to squirm. It merely twisted its neck to look at her with mild interest. She kept a firm grip so that it couldn’t twist enough to reach her with its mouth. “Okay, got it!” she called to Jack.
He opened the door, and his lips quirked.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s just…When you arrived, with your suitcase and your hair all wet from the rain and you got yourself stuck in the porch, I thought you were too much of a city girl to stay here even if Auntie Zee did hire you. But here you are, completely comfortable picking up a random unidentified lizard that may or may not be venomous.”
“Just because I’m a city girl doesn’t mean I’ve never encountered an animal. I’ll have you know that, where I’m from, there are rats large enough to eat this lizard for a snack.” Not precisely true. She’d only seen ordinary-size rats, and they were mainly in the subway, not ever in her bathroom, but he didn’t need to know that. “This is fine.”
“Just saying, I’m impressed.”
“So happy to hear it.” Could she say she was not impressed with him? No, that would be rude. He had other good qualities besides lizard wrangler.He’s a good listener,she reminded herself.And he has a nice smile.Right now, that was the sum total of his positive traits that she could think of. “Can you show me where the greenhouse is? Really don’t want to be holding this guy all day. I didnothave this on my bingo card for fun summer activities.”
Keeping his distance from her and the unidentified lizard, Jack led the way out of the inn, through the kitchen door into the backyard. Outside it was still damp from the rain or the dew or whatever, but the sky was robin’s-egg blue, streaked with thin white clouds. The grass in the yard was knee-high, and flowers bloomed within it, daisies and lilies and rosescrowded in by weeds. Jack waded through the grass, past the apple tree, and toward a structure she hadn’t seen from the kitchen window. It was octagonal and all glass, with a small cupola on top, decorated with a weather vane that looked like a bird. As they drew closer, she saw that a few of the panes of glass were riddled with cracks, mostly near the roof.
Jack opened the door—he had to yank it before it budged. The hinges had rusted, and the weeds in front of the door had grown thick, but it opened with enough force. Carrying the lizard wrapped in the bath towel, Calisa followed him inside.
It wasn’t very big, and it had clearly been abandoned, which wasn’t a surprise given the state of the rest of the inn. Several pots with dead plants were on shelves, and the garden equipment—trowels and clippers and gloves—was covered in clumped dirt, dust, and cobwebs. But the place was large enough and sturdy enough for a single reptile, even of this one’s ample size.
“It’ll need water,” Calisa said. “And food—I guess?” She wasn’t sure what it ate. Insects? She pictured herself chasing flies and grasshoppers around the yard. How about the alligator feed from the supply closet?
This was not what I expected to be doing this summer at all.
But she was doing it. She set the lizard down beside one of the empty flowerpots. It didn’t try to run anywhere, just surveyed its new surroundings. She couldn’t tell if it was happy, upset, afraid, chill, or gassy. It was just…a lizard.
Extracting a bucket from the heap of supplies and shaking off the cobwebs, she handed it to Jack. “Can you bring some water? He could be thirsty.”
Several of the pots were seated in shallow trays that didn’t have drainage holes the way the pots did. If she could fill them with water, her new acquaintance would have plenty to drink or soak in or whatever lizards did. When Jack didn’t move, she said, “It’s a bed-and-breakfast, isn’t it? We want our guests to be comfortable. And not, you know, die.”
He broke into a grin, and then he darted out the door. She closed it behind him so the lizard wouldn’t get any ideas about exploring the garden, at least before they were sure it should be allowed to explore the garden. It had to be someone’s pet, didn’t it? How else could it have gotten inside, much less into the bathroom closet?
While Jack fetched the water, Calisa rearranged the greenhouse. She neatened the tools, stacked the pots, and removed the dead plants, piling them in a heap. By the time Jack returned, she had it looking less abandoned and more as if it were patiently awaiting a gardener.
She laid out a tray in front of the shelves, and Jack poured in the water. Interested, the lizard waddled closer to it. “I think that’ll work,” Calisa said. “Do you think there’s anything we can give it to eat?”
“Um, pancakes?”
She glared at him again.
“Or there are worms in the garden,” Jack said. “A lizard this size…probably eats insects and worms, as well as mice and…I don’t know. Whatever it finds?”
She picked up two of the trowels and handed him one. “Let’s find a few worms.” At least it was more likely that the lizard would eat worms than pancakes.
Jack was looking at her with an expression that she didn’t recognize, and she wondered if he thought it was odd that she was asking him to dig up worms with her.It’s definitely odd,she agreed. “He’s been in a closet,” Calisa said. “He’s probably hungry.”
She shooed him out the door before her. She still had to finish cleaning the second-floor bathroom, and who knew what she’d find on the first and third floors? Also, she wanted to figure out a recipe for cake.
