Turn of the Pipes (A Redpoint One Romance) (6 page)

"I don't think you understand. He wasn't among
the pipes. He was inside a water pipe," Rachel said. She grabbed
her bucket and stood up. "The valves of Redpoint One will not close
if it senses something living might be harmed from the action.
Irvine cut off the water to several apartment blocks
today."

Ignacio rose to his feet, one hand still on
the enclosure. "Are you sure? How would he get inside a
pipe?"

"Of course I'm sure. I had to disconnect two
pipes to fish the little snot out."

Something in her face must have told him not
to pursue disbelief because he turned to watch the newt swimming.
He also appeared to be battling with laughter. Not something she
wanted to hear at the moment now that she was on a roll about the
problem.

"I would like to know how Irvine accomplished
the feat," Ignacio finally said.

"Wonder about it all you want, just keep him
from doing it again," Rachel said. "My job is already hard
enough."

Ignacio laughed, rubbing the back of his head
and succeeding in making his hair stand up even more. "Keeping the
feeding door locked down should take care of it."

"Thank you," Rachel said, not knowing what
more to add, but wanting to linger a little more. A most curious
feeling. Why did she want to stay around newts and salamanders even
more? She preferred other animals, really.

She was surprised to find him not angry with
her request. So many people would make excuses for their pets being
in areas they didn't belong. Offended anyone should call their pets
anything less than perfect in all ways.

"Would you like to see the other enclosures?"
Ignacio asked suddenly into the awkward silence. "I don't have as
many as the big programs, but I'm quite successful with those I do
work with."

Rachel let the handle of the bucket roll
across her fingers, setting it swinging. Part of her wouldn't mind,
but the more she thought about it, the more she knew she needed to
make this another long day. "As much as I would like to, I have to
get back to work. Thank you for letting me watch the
birth."

She turned away to head for the front door,
her mind already turning to the list of repairs. Maybe she could
get some of the smaller repairs out of the way and start with the
big stuff again in the morning.

"Perhaps you would allow me to take you to
dinner one of these evenings to make up for your inconvenience?"
Ignacio said, and then stopped.

Rachel stared at him in shock, not quite
believing what she'd heard, to find red staining his face.
"Dinner?"

He flushed even more, but stood tall and said,
"I'm inviting you to dinner. You saved my newt from possible death
or dismemberment in the piping of the station. Let me show my
gratitude."

Rachel opened her mouth to say it wasn't
needed. She'd done her job. Nothing more.

Then she stopped. A dinner with a handsome man
who did something worthwhile with his life? Who could feel and
display real emotion and passion while also carrying on a decent
conversation with a little wit thrown in? How long had she been
looking for something like that, even if he did breed lizards?
After dating so many losers, maybe this could be the start of
something special.

Rachel licked suddenly dry lips and smiled.
"Dinner it is, then. Day and time?"

***

He must be insane. An angry woman appears at his front door
with one of his runaway newts, and he asks her for dinner less than
an hour later?

A date? A real honest-to-goodness
date?

Working alone with his newts and salamanders
must be getting to his brain.

Before bed he allowed himself to look in on
the Silky Newts. He spotted four of the babies, still looking fine
and healthy. He would need to write up a report to the Wilkins
Conservation Society on the development. They would be thrilled
with the possibility of more Silky Newts released into their refuge
within the year.

He should be thrilled, too. And, he was, but
now something else distracted him. Sleep didn't come as easily as
it should after such a long day. He knew the reason why to both
problems.

He ended up oversleeping. He woke up in time
to make a morning appointment only because he'd programmed a
warning alarm into one of the apartment cleaning robots.

The distraction continued, making his meeting
with a conservation group more stressful than it should. When it
was over he grabbed a fast-food breakfast, eating it on the way to
the site of the upcoming Redpoint One Exotic Pet Show.

Paul Elliott waited for him in the center of
the circle of buildings, tapping the watch on his wrist. "Not like
you to cut it so close."

"Long story," Ignacio said, trying to pull the
wrinkles out of his shirt. He threw the wrapper to his breakfast in
a nearby garbage can, promising himself a decent dinner. "What's
going on?"

"We have the finalized floor plan for the
buildings," Paul said, gesturing to two metal buildings on the flat
hard surface of the fair grounds. "We'll be able to start setting
up the insides by the end of the day."

Neither of the two buildings appeared large
enough to handle the sheer number of exotic animal displays they
would need. "Which one is for the rare animal exhibit?"

"It's not erected yet. It will be on the south
side." Paul handed him an e-pad with the fair grounds marked
clearly, pointing to one elongated rectangle on the plan. "The
committee approved the extra environmental controls you asked for
but decided to set up one of the temporary buildings for it instead
of one of the permanent structures. Thought it could be tailored to
your needs easier."

"Good. Several breeders have said they'll
refuse to come if we don't provide them," Ignacio said, trying to
keep his attention on the design.

The building looked plenty big. The Pet Show
didn't allow pets over the size of large canines, so they should
have plenty of room. Much better than the previous year when he'd
been forced to turn down displays for lack of space. The committee
listened to his complaints and suggestions after the problems last
year. Always a good thing.

He tried to match up the tentative plan he'd
made for the displays with the scale of the building. He even
brought out the pocket computer to refresh his memory, and still he
couldn't get them to work together.

"What's bothering you?" Paul asked. "And don't
try to tell me it's the show. You're too organized to be
worried."

He should have known his friend would pick up
on his mood so fast. He looked up from the pad with a frown.
"Marcie has been gone for four years. It's nothing to be guilty
over. It's only dinner."

"What dinner?" The shocked expression on
Paul's face startled him.

If Paul didn't mean the dinner with Rachel
Henderkito, what was he talking about?

"I figured you were reacting to the Silky
going into labor," Paul said, still staring at him in
shock.

Of course. Why hadn't he thought of that
instead? It would have been an obvious answer to give Paul and end
any questions. "Uh, she's fine. A litter of six, all of which were
swimming strong this morning."

"A litter of six when you would have been in
high-heaven with three. What is this about dinner?" Paul asked, his
eyes sharp on Ignacio's face. "Dinner with who? I'm guessing from
the comment about Marcie it is with someone of the female
gender."

"It doesn't matter," Ignacio muttered,
returning his attention to the map of the buildings, determined to
concentrate this time. "I'm going to call it off anyway. I don't
know what I was thinking when I asked her."

"A woman. You are going out to dinner with a
woman, and you were the one who asked? Where did you meet her?"
Paul demanded.

"She returned Irvine after he escaped. It's
not important." Ignacio took off towards the future site of the
exotic animal building, wanting to pace it out to make sure he had
the dimensions right in his head.

"Oh no, my friend. You are not getting off
that easily. I want all the details. And, did you say you are
calling it off?"

"It won't work. I'm busy with the
breeding."

"Did she freak about the newts?"

"No, she watched the birth. She was fine with
all of it."

"And you don't want to go out with this
woman?" Paul put out a hand to stop him. "Ignacio, what is this
really about?"

"This isn't the right time. We have the show
to get ready and I have a batch of Friskies to get ready for
shipment at the end of the show." As he said the words he tried to
reinforce them in his head. Everything he'd said was true, he had a
lot of responsibilities to take care of right now. It didn't leave
much time to start creating a romantic social life. "Forget I said
anything."

Paul parroted his words back at him before
saying in his normal voice, "Forget it? I'm your friend, which
means I support you. In this case, support means I make you go
through with something in your best interests."

"Paul, the show."

"Ignacio, your life," Paul said, mimicking his
tone. "You are going to that dinner, end of discussion. This is
exactly what you need. Trust me."

Ignacio didn't quite think so, and yet he
found himself not putting up as big of a fight as Paul wheedled out
of him the time and day of the date. Even the excuse of watching
over the new litter was shot down when Paul volunteered to come
over for the few hours he would be away.

It appeared whether he liked it or not, baby
newts or not, he had a date to get ready for.

CHAPTER FIVE

"I FEEL SILLY coming without knitting stuff," Tish said,
fidgeting with her skirt.

"You're fine," Rachel said again, amused at
how nervous Tish was acting. They were meeting up with a knitting
club, not a group of sharks.

The night period for the ring had just
started, casting the fertile center of the ring into deep shadows.
The Northstar Bed and Breakfast sat in the midst of its own wild
gardens, in contrast to the more manicured paths of a park sitting
to one side of the property and the vast formal gardens of a famous
horticulture club on the other. The ground terraced away down to
the bottom U-Valley of the ring, the height of the building
allowing grand views of the other side of the Ring.

The blue and white two-story gabled building
evoked an older time. It should feel out of place in the high-tech
environment of Redpoint One, but in the green of the rings it stood
tall and proud, a natural part of the landscape.

Once again, Rachel envied Velda being able to
live right in the middle of the ring instead of deep inside the
station. To wake up to this scenery every day would be divine.
Others obviously felt the same thing, as Velda rarely had an empty
room.

Rachel hiked up the strap of the bag slung
over her shoulder. "I have you covered. Remember, fun."

Before Rachel could ring the bell, the front
door flung open. Velda stood in the middle of the opening in all
her glory. Bleach blond hair in a stylish bob ending just above the
shoulders with the top fluffed high. A red dress with matching high
heels and decked out in sparkly jewelry. Makeup done just so. She
looked ready to go out to a dinner party.

"Rachel, it's about time. We were about to
start without you." Velda stopped, squinting at Tish. "Who is this?
Do we have someone new?"

Rachel pulled Tish forward. "Tish Douglas,
this is Velda Morgan, the owner of the Northstar Bed and Breakfast.
Velda, this is one of our new maintenance engineers."

"The Tish? Arthur's Tish?" Velda asked, her
eyes starting to gleam.

"Arthur's Tish?" Eddie asked from somewhere in
the room behind Velda.

Eddie and Daisy appeared in quick order,
helping Velda to pull Tish inside. Rachel followed, amused at how
the women took to settling the new person into a comfortable chair
and getting her a hot cup of tea, introducing themselves and
basically being the nice gentle pills that the ladies usually
were.