“Oh, I thought you said we were going to the zoo.”

“No, that’s not what I said.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea,” Jack jumped in. “Beats this place.”

Danny’s eyes lit up. “Can we, Mommy? I love the zoo.”

“I don’t know—”

“My treat,” Jack said before she could utter anything about the admission price.

“It’s kind of far away,” Jessie pointed out.

“Which means we need to get a move on.” Jack tugged her elbow. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. I haven’t been to the zoo in years.”

“Your dad lives on a ranch. You probably see animals all the time.”

“Horses and cows. Not lions and tigers and bears.” Jack’s expression was as hopeful as Danny’s. She hated always being the spoilsport, the voice of financial reason. The bad guy.

“C’mon, Mommy.”

Jack knelt down to Danny’s level and smiled up at her. “Yeah, c’mon, Mom. Danny and I haven’t been to the zoo in forever.”

Oh lord…Jack’s dimples combined with Danny’s hopeful smile were her undoing.

“OK. Let’s go.”

Danny jumped up and down, grabbed Jack’s hand, and raced for the door.

Jessie ran to keep up with them.

Chapter Eight

Danny munched on popcorn and peered through the animal nursery window at the baby monkey sleeping in a crib. Jessie stood back with Jack at her side.

He had insisted on driving, so they had dropped Jessie’s car off at her apartment and taken his truck.

“We can take my truck,” he’d said.

“Oh, I can drive.”

“No offense, darlin’, but I think my truck is in a little better shape than your car.”

She’d tried to act offended when she said, “It’s just old. Your truck isn’t exactly young.”

“Honey, your car is a senior citizen in a retirement home playing bingo while my truck is still young enough to line dance at a honky-tonk.”

Jessie laughed, and then Danny had the final word.

“You have a truck?”

It was all over but the driving.

She offered to pay their way inside the zoo, but Jack refused. It was his idea, his treat.

Still, with him paying, him driving, it was starting to feel too much like a date. “This isn’t a date,” she told him once Danny moved to another window.

Jack slid her a sly look. “Of course it isn’t. We’re not dating. We’re friends.”

Oh, but he said “friends” in such a sensual manner, Jessie felt her knees wobble. “Right, friends.”

Jack leaned close to her ear so no one could hear him. “Friends that don’t kiss.”

“Exactly.” Only with his lips so close to her ear, she was having a hard time forgetting about his incredible kiss.

“Exactly,” he parroted before pulling away.

“I wanna see the snakes. Hey, Jack, did you know they have a whole building with nothing but snakes in it?”

Jack winked at Jessie and reached for Danny’s hand. “Lead the way, partner. I love snakes.”

Danny led Jack around the snake pavilion and the monkey and gorilla habitats, and through the aviary. Jessie squirmed while viewing the snakes, which resulted in some serious razzing from the guys. “I’m a girl, girls don’t like snakes,” she’d told them.

Then in the aviary, Jack used her words to their advantage. “We’re boys, we don’t like birds.”

But they walked inside the enclosure anyway. One flying friend left a tiny present on Jack’s shoulder, and both Danny and Jessie laughed until their guts hurt. “You hurt the bird’s feelings,” Jessie told him, laughing.

Jack found the humor and tossed back the teasing every chance he got.

They had a late lunch/early dinner at one of the concession stands. The warmed-up hamburgers and fries were actually pretty good. Jack bought Danny a stuffed animal in the form of a snake, which he carried around all afternoon. “I’m going to call him Tex.”

“Why Tex?” Jack asked.

“Cuz you bought him and you’re from Texas.”

The day couldn’t have been more perfect. Danny was in heaven, and he led Jack around like a long-lost friend whom he couldn’t get enough of. She realized him being drawn to Jack might have more to do with Jack being a man than anything else. No matter how much Jessie wanted to be able to be everything for her son, she couldn’t be his dad.

Not that she was casting Jack in that role, but Danny needed some male influence. A friend like Jack in her life might help make up for some of what Danny was missing.

As the sun started to set and the zoo was about to close, Danny was holding Jack with one hand and Tex with the other. “I’m in a Christmas play at my school,” Danny told Jack. “Can you come and watch it?”

Jack shot her a look. Jessie realized he was asking for her take on the invitation. She didn’t mind, but didn’t want Jack to say yes just to please her son. “Jack has to work sometimes, Danny.”

“When is it?” Jack asked.

“Next Friday. It’s at ten in the morning.”

“Well, if your mom doesn’t mind…” Jack held her gaze.

“If Danny wants you there, I don’t see why not.”

“Whoo hoo! My aunt Monica is coming, too. I go to Foothill Elementary, do you know where that is? It’s really easy to find.” Danny rattled on about the play and the songs they’d learned. Danny had them singing Christmas carols as they walked out of the zoo.