Page 193 of Seasons of Love
She crosses her arms. “Are you trying to set me up, Milo Allen?”
I gasp. “Moi? I would never.”
She gives me a kiss on the cheek and one on Sara’s hair.
“I can see you’re not yourself, despite your awful sense of humor. Don’t worry, I’ll entertain Brian.”
“I’ll bet. Just keep it down. The walls are paper thin.”
I manage to get away from her swat just in time.
“I know just how paper thin the walls are. I wish I didn’t,” she says.
The rest of the evening is carried out on autopilot. Bathing Sara. Giving her formula. Reading her a story. Putting her to bed.
And when it’s just me alone with my thoughts, I start to panic.
What if Ellis got a call from his ex, who wants to get back together? It sounds so ridiculous when I think about it, especially when I know how hurt he was. But just like I can’t bear the thought of losing Sara, I can’t imagine what it would be like to think of a baby as mine and then have it taken away before I could even meet him.
I must fall asleep at some point during the night because I wake up to a knock on the door.
Rushing to it, I forget I’m in only my underwear.
“Jesus Christ, son. And they wonder why I don’t like leaving my house,” Brian says, covering his eyes.
I hide behind the door. “Sorry, Brian, I thought you were someone else.”
“Clearly.” He snorts.
“Florrie asked me to come get you because there’s a bunch of people at the playground trying to stop the work. We need all the help we can get.”
“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I open the curtains in Sara’s room to let her wake up while I jump in the shower.
Thank god she always wakes up in a good mood. I get dressed in record time and prepare Sara’s breakfast while also checking for any messages from Ellis.
Still nothing.
With Sara in the stroller, I walk to the playground as fast as I can.
I want to cry when I see all the people standing on the freshly prepared soil. At least I didn’t plant the flowers because they would be destroyed.
As I approach, I see there’s a clear standoff.
On one side are all the community members who’ve spent the last few weeks gathering materials, begging, donating, and doing everything possible to ensure we could carry out the work over just one weekend.
Tyler is in the middle, facing a woman, and behind the woman is a group of people. Some of which I recognize from the store.
I don’t want to get too close to people in case things get messy. I need to keep Sara safe first and foremost. Florrie sees me and comes over.
“What’s going on?”
“That Martin woman has brought her rich friends, and they’re protesting against the playground. Tyler is trying to keep them away, but they’re pushing.”
“Florrie, can you take Sara and stay as far away from the crowd as possible? I’m going to see if I can help Tyler.”
She does as I ask, and I navigate the crowd to get to Tyler.
