She glanced over at him. “Aww, that’s sweet.”

He smiled. “Sweet but intense.” He looked back toward the owls. “They take that mating-for-life thing seriously. I had a friend in vet school who did a paper on the bond. He told me that if one of the partners dies, the other owl goes into a depression and basically wills itself to die.”

She frowned. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” His tone had gone grim. “The owl goes into an almost catatonic state, and it often ends up dying as well.”

Kincaid gasped and turned back to the owls. The female had flown to meet up with the bigger male in the tree. “Wow, that’s romantic but terribly sad.”

“Yeah.” He frowned at the pair of owls. “The Romeo and Juliet of the bird world.”

She watched as the bigger bird nuzzled the smaller one. They really were cute together, but she couldn’t help thinking of their inevitable end. “The smart owls might want to stick to the singles scene. Save themselves the dramatic ending.”

“I don’t know,” Marco said, tone pensive. “You could make the opposite argument. Wouldn’t it be better to have known that kind of love before you go instead of never having experienced it at all? Even if it’s intense and short-lived.”

Intense and short-lived. Something heavy and sharp lodged in Kincaid’s chest, making it hard to breathe for a moment.

Marco glanced over at her and cocked his head. “Sorry. That was a bleak note to end on. Come on. It’s time to leave the zoo when I start getting philosophical.” He gave her an apologetic smile. “I can be insufferable if you get me started on the wonders of animal behavior and how humans can learn from it.”

Kincaid forced a smile even though her fingers and toes felt tingly and her body had gone cold, some sort of silent panic attack waging a war inside her. “Good idea. I need to get back anyway. I have an early morning.”

They headed toward the parking lot and got into his truck. The trip to Long Acre was filled with Marco’s easy chatter. Usually it was her job with people to fill the silence, to entertain and keep the stories going. But to her relief, Marco took the reins tonight and guided the conversation, making it easy for her to coast. The bad feeling that had overtaken her at the zoo was like a cloud of smoke in her brain. She couldn’t pay attention to much else no matter how much she tried.

Once they arrived in Long Acre, Marco turned onto the street where The Stuffed Shelf was located. She’d had him pick her up from the store this afternoon because she’d still been working. Plus, picking her up there guaranteed that she wouldn’t let this date take the typical Kincaid course. This date with Marco was supposed to be different, not just a prelude to a hookup. She wanted to take things slow. This was going to be New Kincaid. Patient Kincaid.