Page 197 of Seasons of Love
I hear the sound of a camera.
“Am I being arrested, officer?” I ask.
“I ask the questions here. Now turn around slowly.”
I do and try to keep a straight face when I see Ellis wearing Benji’s police officer hat and toy badge. I keep my hands raised.
“Now, what’s going on here?” he asks.
I look around and bite my lip, knowing how turned on he gets when I do my whole innocent look.
“It seems, Officer, that I am looking after your…backyard. Is there a problem?”
Sara reaches out to hold the toy badge.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to take you in. My deputy here will be doing the interrogation. Do you have the right permit to carry out this type of work?”
I look down and pat the nonexistent pockets of my shorts.
“It’s here somewhere, Officer. Maybe you’d like to carry out a search?”
He comes forward and takes my mouth in a kiss. He keeps it baby-rated, but it doesn’t have any less of an effect on me.
“Ah, of course, that’s where I keep my permit sometimes,” I say. “Maybe when your deputy is off duty, you can do a more thorough search?”
He kisses me again and then murmurs against my lips. “You bet.”
I follow him inside. “Did you really take a photo of my ass?”
“I did.”
I’m not surprised to see a stack of pancakes and a fresh pot of coffee waiting for me.
“It’s a good thing I’m doing so much physical work these days because your brunches are going straight to my ass,” I moan while adding three pancakes to my plate.
“In that case, there’s a free daily brunch available. Just stop by, and it’s yours. Come to think of it, maybe you should just move in, and then I’ll make sure you have all the brunches you need to keep your ass in top shape.”
He looks up, just realizing what he said.
I laugh. “If you didn’t mean to say it, that’s okay. I still love you. If you meant it and you’re scared I’m going to say no, then don’t worry because I’ll say yes.”
He twists his lips. “Wait…what question did I ask?”
“Doesn’t matter. The answer will still be yes.”
“So…say I suggest we drop Sara with Florrie, go out to The Academy for a light meal, then come back here to celebrate you passing your GED exams…naked…will that be a yes?”
“Did you buy a new pot of Reed’s honey?”
“Yes.”
“Then I reserve the right to change my answer to hell yes,” I say, stuffing my mouth with pancakes, chocolate syrup, and strawberries.
It feels like a lifetime ago, but it’s only been two weeks since we completed the work on the playground.
Arlo and Fletcher are still working on the photography exhibit because they had the idea of making it into a permanent installation. Each new generation will know the history of the playground and how it was saved by the community.
Plus the anonymous donator, of course.
