‘I always hate this bit,’ he muttered, his accent as heavy as ever. ‘But I have to tell myself that every sample is a step closer to finding a solution that will make my countrymen realise how valuable these snakes can be and therefore encourage them to cherish the animals instead of merely fearing them.’
Carefully placing the pot in another, sealed container, Flávia exited the cage and handed it off to Raoul, who promptly turned to Brady, who had been waiting outside in safety, with Jake. The passionate little boy appeared to have captured yet another heart.
‘Come,’ Raoul said to Brady and Jake, ‘I show you where this goes now.’
‘This is amazing,’ the young boy enthused. ‘I’m going to make a project as soon as I get back home.’
‘To the UK?’ Raoul guessed. ‘Are you looking forward to it?’
Brady’s face darkened instantly.
‘No, I don’t like it there.’
‘Excuse me,’ apologised Raoul hastily. ‘I was thinking...’
He tailed off but it didn’t matter. Brady hadn’t taken offence. He never did.
‘I meant home to where Vovô Eduardo is. And Julianna and Marcie.’
‘Ah...’ Raoul looked over Brady’s head with a knowing smile. ‘Flávia’s family are being very kind. I, too, am liking them very much.’
‘I wish I could stay with them for ever. I don’t want to go back to England next week.’
Next week!
As Flávia went hot, then cold, she watched Jake stiffen, and in that moment she would have given anything to know what was going on in his head.
It didn’t matter how much she’d been reminding herself of the truth, and schooling herself to keep her distance; the truth sounded that much less palatable when she heard it spoken aloud.
She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even breathe. All she could do was stand, motionless, watching as Raoul led Brady and Jake out. Pretending she wasn’t standing there, staring at the door long after they’d left, and it had slammed shut behind them.
Why had Jake reacted? Because he didn’t want to be leaving in a week’s time? Or because, for him, it couldn’t come soon enough?
She was desperate to know.
But worse, she was terrified that he might give her the wrong answer.
‘Ready to get more samples?’ Cesar’s voice at her shoulder made her jump.
‘Yes.’ She snapped sharply back into the present. In this job, there was no time to be distracted. ‘Ready.’
For the next half hour they worked quickly and systematically, collecting sample after sample, and packing them away carefully. She fought to focus, using the space as a chance to remind herself what really mattered in her life. Her career, and her snakes. Not some fling who seemed to have got inside her head, however much he felt like more than that.
What really mattered was her work with Cesar. With VenomSci. And slowly, slowly, she managed to calm her racing heart and throw herself into the task she knew so well. They worked steadily, going from enclosure to enclosure and collecting venom from each bushmaster, treating the snakes with care but always respecting them.
By the time they had finished and made their way back through the sanctuary, Jake was sitting at the battered old picnic bench in the staff area and being treated to Raoul’s homemade dessert using the most succulent exotic fruits.
‘Where’s Brady?’
‘Fabio took him to look at something snake-related.’ Jake shrugged.
‘So you guys are leaving next week.’ She tried for upbeat and breezy as she slid in opposite Jake.
It had been the little test she’d set for herself as she’d been working. And she’d passed. But now it was getting harder as she sat there whilst Jake studied her for a long moment.
‘Brady wouldn’t be, if he could get his way. Your sister would be ending up with a third kid all of a sudden. And not the baby she keeps teasing Luis that she’s going to have.’
She tried to echo his low laugh, wondering if it was just her imagination that it sounded more forced than usual.