“What about food?” Marla asked. “Should we bring snacks? I can probably get Monica to whip up some amazing treats for us.”
“Make sure she bakes a cake with a nail file in it,” Mimi said. “Just in case.”
When our four hours were up, I said goodbye to Mom and Dad and Chase drove us back to his place. The seniors were all sticking around the center for Zumba later in the afternoon.
“I forgot to tell you,” Chase said. “I got a call from the station about twenty minutes ago. It seems there’s been an outbreak of food poisoning. Two officers had to leave today. They want to know if I can cover tomorrow and Friday.”
A ball of disappointment filled my belly. “You said yes, right?”
He sighed. “I did. I hope that’s okay.”
I smiled and laid my hand on his arm. “I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”
“Popcorn and Netflix?”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll get everything around,” he said. “You go on and get off your ankle.”
The truth was, my ankle was almost back to normal. I could actually walk on it with only a slight limp. But if he wanted to pamper me, who was I to disagree.
“Here ya go,” he said, handing me a bottled water and popcorn while he carried a beer for himself.
“C’mon,” I whined. “Just one beer? It’s my last night of prison. I’ll be a free bird tomorrow.”
Chase frowned then took a swig of his beer. “No. You’re on house arrest, remember?”
“Are youalwaysthis much of a square?”
“You mean do I always follow the law? Yes.”
I rolled my eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“You get thrown back in jail and then have to come back here for house arrest.”
“Fine,” I huffed, crossing my arms and sitting back against the couch. After a few seconds of silence I gave him my best innocent look. “Not even a celebratory sip for finishing my community service today?”
Chase stared stonily at me as he lifted his beer to his mouth…never saying a word.
“Fine! What are we watching tonight?”
Smiling, he set his beer on the coffee table. “We have more episodes in season one ofOrange Is the New Black.”
I laughed. “Sounds good. Although, now that I’m addicted, I don’t know what I’m going to do about the other seasons? How will I watch them? I don’t have a television in my little shed.”
Chase set his beer down and lifted me onto his lap. Tucking a piece of hair back behind my ears, he placed his forehead against mine. “I was thinking, maybe in a couple weeks you could come back down for the weekend or something? I mean, it’s only a little over two hours drive. Plus I have popcorn and Netflix.”
I lifted my palm to his cheek. “You think that’s a good idea? I mean, we’re so different.”
“Not where it counts.” He placed a finger against my chest. “Not in here. It’s taken me a week to realize it, but I don’t want you to just walk away after this.”
I grinned “Really?”
“Really.”
“Well, I suppose I can come around for a while. I mean, there are a ton of these Orange and Black seasons, right?”
He grinned and gave me a quick kiss. “There sure are.”
