PUYALLUP, Wash. -- Could it be love? There's no telling yet.

The once-lonely emu is lonely no more. The male emu that was nesting on a rubber ball thinking it was an egg is now in the company of not one, but two ladies.

Friend the emu is up and walking around strutting his stuff. For the last three weeks he's been dazed and confused, sitting on a green rubber ball believing it to be an emu egg.

That's what daddy emus do. In the emu world, the mother simply lays the egg and the father takes over from there.

Friend is no longer sitting on the ball around the clock, but he's dazed and confused in another way. Two female emus have just entered his life -- Violet and Victoria, whose owner saw KOMO's story on the lonely "dad" and offered to bring a little love into Friend's life.

"They were talking together this morning," said Friend's owner Rebecca Akehurst.

What about?

"I don't know, probably 'what's up?'" said Akehurst.

Friend has been alone since 1999 when a cougar attacked his mate.

He's never been a dad, but he's certainly ready for the job. He knew exactly what to do with the green ball, which is the same size and color as an emu egg.

"First time he ever saw an 'egg' and just instinctively knew that was what he thought was an egg," said owner Gloria Morell.

So a real emu egg may in his future, but first Friend has to win a lady's heart. On Monday he seemed a little standoffish, perhaps feeling a little shy after so many years alone or still dwelling on the rubber green ball his owner finally took away for his own good.

So how do you get his eye off the ball and onto what should come naturally?

"Well, you know, you set the straw out, dim the lights," Morell said.

Does she light candles or play love ballads to put the emus in the mood?

"No, maybe that's what I need to do," said Morell.

Once the emus find love, Friend will be one busy dad. Emus can lay up to 50 eggs.

The emu egg-laying season won't start again until the fall so Friend has a little time to get to know his new lady friends.