Amanda shrugged. “Sure.”
“We’ll be back.”
Havoc and Analise stepped off the gazebo and into the crowd, accepting congratulations and hugs from everyone as the photographer followed them, snapping candid shots of everyone they interacted with.
The females cried intermittently, the males whistled and whooped and hollered, and everyone celebrated with them. Except Remi. Remi stood in place, his eyes glued to Cristie, as they had been since she’d stepped up onto the floor of the gazebo for a photo with her family.
“Remi?” Bailey asked.
Remi continued to stare at Cristie, who had left the gazebo and was visiting with everybody as she took her time moving among their families.
“Remi?” Bailey said again, laying her hand on his arm.
Remi startled just a little and his head whipped down as she called his name and touched him.
“Are you alright?” Bailey asked.
“Fine, why?” he asked with a little attitude to it.
“Just asking. You seemed to get real quiet all of a sudden.”
He turned and looked over to the last place he saw Cristie once more before taking Bailey by the hand and leading her over to have a seat.
“You have a huge family,” Bailey said.
“Yeah, family and extended family. And it just keeps growing.”
“That’s good, though. All I’ve got is my parents and an aunt. The few cousins that I do have are older than me and I’m not even sure where they’re living now.”
“Have to start your own family, then,” Remi said, searching for Cristie. He hadn’t seen her since the photo at the gazebo and was anxious to see if she had the same effect on him.
“Who you looking for?” Hellen asked, wandering over and sitting down beside Bailey and Remi.
“You,” Remi said. “You good?”
“Yep. Never better,” Hellen answered.
“You sure?” Bailey asked. “You don’t look very enthusiastic.”
“She’s been weird for a while now, or is it she’s always been weird?” Remi asked, trying to tease Hellen.
Bailey took a second to really look at Hellen. “You do look sad. But not weird.”
“Told you I’m not weird,” Hellen said, pretending to hit Remi’s arm. “I’m just not in the greatest head space.”
“Can I do something?” Bailey asked.
“No, I wish you could, but even I can’t do anything about this.”
“You still worried about that animal you were trying to save?” Remi asked, refocusing on the conversation happening around him.
Hellen shrugged. “He just disappeared. I can’t help but worry that someone hurt him. He was too weak to go far on his own.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. He just went off to be alone. Wild animals don’t like nursemaids,” Remi said.
“Hope so,” Hellen said. “This one wasn’t as wild as one might think, though,” she said, looking pointedly at Remi.
“Really?!” he asked, realizing what she meant.
