Page 118 of Spiced!

“Like what?” Benji said. “This is my fond expression. I am regarding you with warmth and affection.”

I approached the bar as a lion tamer might an open cage door, setting my bag down and bracing myself for the attack to come. “You’re looking at me like you’ve been saving something juicy.”

“I’ve been saving several things, now that you mention it,” Benji said. “I’m deciding which one to lead with.”

“Okay,” I said while stepping behind the bar to grab a Fanta.

Benji’s eyes followed my every movement. “How’s the vet?”

“Fine,” I said.

“Good, good.” A pause. “You know, it’s funny. I was thinking about it this week. A man who works with animals all day seems very comfortable with the whole domestic situation—”

“Benji.”

“He’s probably very experienced handling something wild that needs a patient hand.”

“Benji.”

“You know, he’s probably good at building trust slowly, making sure the creature feels safe before attempting anything—”

“Benji!”

“I think that’s a very admirable set of professional skills,” he said innocently. “Don’t you think that’s admirable?”

Jacks was nodding along. “It really is,” he said. “Brendan seems really good at his job. Adrian said he’s great with Mofongo.”

Benji cocked his head at Jacks, shook said cocked head, then returned his gaze to me without shifting said cocked head’s position.

Jacks blinked, earnest and bright-eyed.

“Yes,” Benji said, after a moment. “That’s exactly what I meant.”

I pointed at him. “You’re disgusting.”

“I’m celebrating,” he said. “There’s a difference.”

Rod made a sound from the doorway that might have been a laugh and might have been commentary on some food delivery situation. With Rod, it was genuinely difficult to tell.

“I don’t get it,” Jacks said, looking between us. “What’s the joke?”

“There’s no joke,” I said. “Benji is being inappropriate.”

“About what?” Jacks repeated, then looked at Rod. “What’s the joke?”

Rod looked at Jacks for a long moment, then he looked at Benji and shrugged. Finally, he looked at me. I suspected he was composing something in the space between his first language and his second.

“The vet,” Rod said finally, “he knows how to handle the—” He paused and made a vague gesture with one hand that was somehow both completely unclear and entirely too clear. “The sexy giraffe, yes?”

Jacks blinked.

Rod nodded once, satisfied with this explanation, while continuing to do his giraffe-neck gesture.

Jacks cocked his head and blinked more rapidly, then his face went through approximately four distinct expressions.

“Oh,” he said.

“There it is,” Benji said.