Page 58 of Rogue Wave

Thankfully, it was still mild, so all I needed was a light jacket and a hat, since the humidity did not work well with my hair.

Hank and I had taken Shadow on a walk this morning through the fog before parting ways so that I could get a few things done before work, and Hank said he had yard work to do. He made it clear that he wanted to get it all done so he could take me out to dinner tonight.

As I walked out to my car, the smell of dew and pine surrounded me, and I loved how it soothed and relaxed me from the inside out.

Dougie was rolling down the sidewalk in his wheelchair in front of my house just as I made my way down the driveway.

“Morning, Dougie!” I called out cheerfully. “What are you up to today?”

He jerked his head in the direction of Hank’s house. “I’m supervising to make sure Hank doesn’t break his neck.”

I whipped my head over in that direction to see Hank up on a ladder, pulling what appeared to be leaves and sticks from his gutters.

More importantly, Hank was shirtless while doing this task.

“Hey, darlin’,” George called out. Mind you, he was also shirtless, though I wasn’t sure why since he was just standing next to the ladder, doing what appeared to be supervising—or just dictating to Hank.

“What are you two up to?” I hollered back, smiling and feeling the flush of my cheeks as I thought back to what Hank’s bare chest had looked like up close—under me and on top of me.

“Sometimes they let the sheriff take the day off to finish yardwork,” George replied.

“With fair warning to the public, I hope,” I said, pointing to his shirtless body.

“Nothing bad about a shirtless man’s physique,” George hollered back. “Many women have seen my half-naked body, since I used to be an underwear model back in the day.”

I stared blankly at him for a moment before Dougie’s whisper next to me shook me back to the real world.

“I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.”

I tried not to chuckle at Dougie’s comment and instead focused on the sexy man in front of me—the younger one, that was.

“Well, just be careful,” I called out. “We don’t need to have a mob of hormonal women on our street just because you two can’t be bothered to wear shirts.”

Hank snorted, and George replied with a big, proud grin.

“This would go a lot faster if you got your lazy ass over here and helped,” Hank said to Dougie.

“No can do, neighbor,” Dougie said, shaking his head but with a big, mischievous smile on his face. “Physical therapist says I gotta take it easy for a few days. Bound to my wheelchair, so I’ll just supervise.”

The sly look on Dougie’s face told me his physical therapist likely had told him no such thing, but I wasn’t going to call him out on it.

“You boys have fun,” I called out, retreating back to my car. “Try not to get injured while I’m gone.”

“Call me when you’re on your way back from work,” Hank yelled to me, and I felt those butterflies again.

“Okay,” I said, though it sounded more like a croak.

As I turned to get into my car, I saw Dougie grinning at me like a loon.

“Zip it,” I told him, rolling my eyes but with a small, goofy smile on my face.

“I didn’t say anything,” he teased.

I was too happy to even bother saying anything else.

I loved my job, but I was even more excited than normal to come to work today because I’d gotten a text that a new baby penguin had hatched overnight, and I couldn’t wait to see it.

After scoping out the nursery and taking copious amounts of cute baby penguin pictures to send to my sisters, I made my way over to the other side of the aquarium so I could check in with Bernie and Nigel today.