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Axel nodded out the window.

I turned to see the Uber take a turn that went in the other direction of my apartment. We drove along the side of Central Park. “Are we going for a walk?”

Axel didn’t respond. But he didn’t need to, because the Uber pulled to the curb. I smiled. A romantic walk through Central Park sounded good to me. I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed out.

Axel grabbed my hand as soon as he reached the sidewalk.

“I don’t think I could count the times I wished we could walk hand in hand through Central Park.”

“We used to do it all the time,” Axel said.

I smiled. Yeah. I remembered holding his hand when we were kids.

“But this is definitely better. Come with me.” He started to run, pulling me with him.

I laughed. “Axel! I’m in heels!”

He stopped and lifted me up into his arms.

Yeah, this was so much better than when we were kids. I stared up at him. “This is even better than a romantic walk through Central Park.”

“It’s about to get a whole lot better than that.”

“What are you talking about?”

He smiled down at me. “We’re going to your favorite place.”

I just stared at him. “Um...where exactly are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.”

I was so confused. Where was he taking... Axel made a turn. Oh. I smiled when I saw the sign for the Central Park Zoo.

He carried me underneath one of the arches and slowly set me down in front of the entrance.

I laughed. “This really is still my favorite place. But it’s closed, Axel.”

He leaned over and put his hands down as kind of a step for me. “Then we better be quiet.”

I stared at the black iron gate. Which was definitely shut. “Axel, we can’t break into the zoo.”

“We can’t with that attitude.”

I laughed.

“The gate isn’t even tall. Come on.” He kept his hands down for me to step into.

“But my dad will kill me if we get caught.”

“I think your dad owes us both a little grace. Don’t you?”

I bit the inside of my lip. I really didn’t want to be grounded again.

“It’ll be fun. Come on. I won’t let us get caught. I won’t let anything ever happen to you.”

I smiled. There really wasn’t much to think about. Axel knew I’d go anywhere with him. All he had to do was ask. I looked around to make sure no passersby were staring this way. And then I stepped into Axel’s hands. The gate was short and pretty easy to hop over.

Axel hoisted himself up and hopped down on the other side next to me.