Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(33)
“I’m Lily, by the way.” The woman held out her hand. “I think you need a friend. You should come with me to Safari Town for dinner tonight.”
“I don’t think so.” Maura had made herself feel even worse. It was nice hearing someone else say John was a jerk but now she was thinking about it again. She just wanted to curl up with a big bottle of wine and cry in the hot tub.
“No, you should come with me. By the time you get back to your room, it will be all the way un-romantic. You aren’t going to want to stay in there right now.”
Maura considered. This was a good time to get a look around Safari Town. She had planned to take it easy and keep to herself until Jimmy Tony got to the island. This was better. At least she would have something useful to add to the mission. As painful as the thought was, she nodded. “Sure. I’d love to come with you.”
“Great. I get off work in ten minutes and you can have the bellhop take all your stuff upstairs. Wait for me in the hotel bar?”
Maura nodded. She gave the bellhop her room number and found the Blue Sky Bar. She took a table alone to wait for her new friend. It was already an interesting trip. She’d somehow managed to stray from the plan. She would need to be careful after this. After this little trip to town, she would stick to the plan.
***
“And that concludes our tour for the day. You guys have all been great.” Branch Dunkin was giving his end-of-tour speech for the millionth time as sweet old ladies and young families disembarked from the tour van.
“That’s all of them.” Chet Gallow got up and walked to the back of the bus. He checked to make sure the van was empty while Branch counted the tips. “Looks like we’re all clear too. Want a lift home?”
Branch nodded and kept counting. “Not as good as the last one. Enough for a nice night out with Addy.”
“She’s not in a going-out mood right now,” Chet said as they walked from the van to a golf cart. “The heat is making her really uncomfortable.”
“The giant rhino calf she’s making probably doesn’t help.” Branch grimaced as he thought of Addison’s giant baby bump. He loved putting his hand on her stomach and waiting for the baby to kick him. The little guy was going to be great at football one day, but carrying him wasn’t much fun for Addison anymore now that the summer heat was settling in. Branch felt bad for her having to lug the extra weight around.
“True. Do you mind if I stop to grab a carton of ice cream? I want to surprise her.”
“No way. I could go for a cone myself,” Branch said. “You want to go out for dinner with me? I bet you’re getting cabin fever being cooped up with her all these months.”
“Not at all. I like spending time with my wife.”
Not as much as you like saying ‘my wife’, Branch thought. His two best friends had gotten married within six months to women who were best friends. While their working relationship was the same, personal time had changed drastically. The men used to go out to clubs and have dinner together frequently, but those dinners were a thing of the past. Last summer, Branch had never had to call around to find someone to go out with. This summer, he was having a hard time finding people to even answer his texts.
Chet’s wife was heavily pregnant and the twins preferred to stay in with their new wife. He understood. When he found his mate, he would get right down to business making a calf. He would never leave his single buddies out in the cold though. You could have friends and have a wife too. His thoughts on the matter didn’t change the fact that it was shaping up to be a lonely summer for the elephant shifter.
There were still lots of single guys on the island to be friends with, but it wasn’t the same. He, Chet, and Finn had been the terrible trio. They mixed together just right. It was depressing trying to recreate that vibe with all new people. Most frequently he ended up with Shane Cole. The hyena shifter had been Max Nunez’s best friend before the twins got married. Shane knew Branch’s pain and was usually free too.
But Shane wasn’t Chet or Finn. Shane was more of a gym rat and fist-pumping partier than Branch. Quiet dinners weren’t something Shane did, and Branch couldn’t be the third wheel at another dinner with one of the couples. Or sixth wheel on their double dates. He shuddered at the thought. It seemed like the only option was to find a girl of his own to settle down with and join the happy couples’ group.
The only problem was, he wasn’t looking to settle down anytime soon. He was happy with the way his life was going excluding the friend problem. He was making good money as a safari tour guide on the island and his job was very secure. The company couldn’t find qualified tour guides fast enough to keep up with demand for tours, so they fought hard to keep the tour guides they already had. That meant Branch made way more money than he’d ever expected to see from guiding tours. He wasn’t about to walk away from all of that to settle down and be boring.
“You want to come over to our place for dinner?” Chet asked.
“I’m good.” Branch opened his phone to text Shane and another friend Brent.
Chet stopped the golf cart in front of Branch’s rental home. “If you change your mind, you know where to find us.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
Branch hopped out and was already opening a text from Brent. Shane texted him back a second later. Both guys were down with going out. Branch suggested the bar in Safari Town, since they’d gone to Club Safari twice that week already and Branch didn’t feel like making it three. The table waitress outside was starting to think he had a thing for her. She was a nice enough girl, but Branch wasn’t about to ruin the club for them.