"It sounds bad because it is bad..."
Lisbon gave Jane a stern look, but his apology and sheepish expression had softened her. Inside. Dammit, was she a pushover for him. She kind of wanted to see him grovel a bit though. Jane apologies were not a common occurrence; this was a bit fun for her.
"Yes. I can see why you'd be displeased."
He fidgeted with his wedding ring. An unconscious action, though he halted immediately when he realised what he was doing. Symbolism or whatever, Jane didn't want to think about it, and he certainly didn't want Lisbon to think about it. Too late on both accounts.
"Shall we go exploring? Some place that is not a hotel room? If we're leaving tomorrow morning we should make the most of it." Jane rose to his feet, carefully.
"Do you have somewhere in mind?" Lisbon asked.
"I do."
Lisbon waited for Jane to elaborate. He stared back at her, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Don't tell me then, whatever you do. What if I had somewhere I wanted to go? Did you even think to ask me?" She pursed her lips.
"Yes, sorry, Lisbon. I didn't. Do you have somewhere you want to go?"
"That's besides the point."
Jane reached for her hand, tugged her to her feet.
"Lisbon. Where we are going? There's lollipops and couples holding hands. Trust me, you're going to love it."
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Lisbon held a strawberry lollipop in her hand and watched as the older gentleman in front of her gently grasped his frail wife's hand to help steady her. The pharmacy was busy and Jane had left Lisbon holding his place in the queue while he wandered around the store doing God only knows what. She had insisted he use the crutches and he had already made a spectacle of himself knocking over a soap display. Lisbon pretended not know him then.
Jane reappeared just before they were ready to be served, crutches under his armpits, a box of much-needed painkillers in hand.
"Hi, honey, I was wondering where you'd been!" Lisbon greeted him with a friendly pat on the arm. She spoke a little too loudy and a lot too cheerfully. Jane's eyes narrowed. "I had a look for you, Patrick darling, but they don't have your favourite brand of hemorrhoid cream. Sorry, sweetheart."
An older couple behind them in the queue exchanged glances, smirks.
Jane smiled broadly, sunnily. "I adore you", was all he said.
xxxxxxxx
They sat on a bench overlooking the ocean and ate overloaded, messy hotdogs. The park they were in lay just above the coast and the trees were beautiful, tranquil, tangling down to reach the shore. There were walking paths through the brush, leading to some very pretty clearings and trails leading down to the sand. Summer was on its way, the air was warm.
Sunlight sparkled through the fresh spring leaves, draping their faces with shifting sunbeams. The painkillers combined with the reluctant use of crutches had eased some of Jane's achiness, though the medication had seemingly made him a bit loopy. Er, loopier than usual, as he declared he was going to write a book of poems about Lisbon's eyes. In Spanish. Because it's a more romantic language, Lisbon, obviously.
A man walked past with a lamb on a leash. Jane tried to explain that while 'green as the colour of a glass beer bottle' sounded, well, it sounded like you were comparing her eyes to a beer bottle, but in Spanish, well, transparent alcoholic containers just sounded like magic.
A woman sauntered by leading two baby llamas by their harnesses. She carried a piglet under one arm. Verde coma una botella de cerveza de cristal, Jane announced with a flourish. How pretty does that sound, Teresa?!
A teenage boy passed by Jane and Lisbon's bench pushing a stroller. Six puppies peered over the edge, noses twitching, ears alert to any possible sounds. Three ducklings sat on top of the puppies, fuzzy and soft, looking for somewhere to nap. Jane, amusing himself, began to describe the second book of poems he would publish, this one about Lisbon's lips.
"What's going on?" Lisbon was guarded, quizzical.
"I'm trying to woo you with romance."
"Beer bottles are not romantic."
"Eh", he dismissed with the wave of a hand. "You say that about everything."
"You're telling me you didn't see the animals...?" She wasn't entirely sure she wasn't hallucinating and craned her neck in the direction the animals had come from, only to see a second teenage boy, younger than the first, encouraging a very young foal to follow him. The boy carried a small cage containing a half dozen peeping chicks.
"What animals?" Jane feigned innocence.
"Jane."
"Oh, those animals? Petting zoo, around the bend, behind those trees there." He gestured vaguely beyond the foliage, heavy brush obscuring the clearing beyond.
Lisbon stared at him. "There just happens to be a petting zoo in the middle of a park near the beach in Florida right when we're here?"
"Mmm. Strange, right? We should investigate."