Page 112 of Bishop's Queen

Manny rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to hang out with us.”

“I think it does.” Not putting Locke in a super-awkward spot would be awesome. “He probably has other people to save and protect.”

“Eh.” Locke shrugged. “I’d be down to see what you guys do.”

“Yes.” Manny put his hand in the air, searching for a high five from Locke. “You will love this.”

“Or not.” Ella worried that Locke had been guilt-tripped into a yes and that Manny wasmaybeidealizing this more than he should. “It’ll be a little boring. We’ll map out what we’ll say, shoot the video, probably have a few bloopers. It’ll be cool—”

“Nothing with Muscles and ol’ Locke and Key over there will be boring.”

Shit. Her cheeks flared again.

Bishop tilted his head. “Lock and Key?”

Manny nodded. “You know, for the strong silent type.”

“I like it.” Locke slapped Manny five.

“How often do you two talk about us?” Bishop’s inquisitive look bounced between her and Manny.

“Never,” she said.

“All the time,” Manny countered simultaneously and giggled as though he wanted the nickname Crazy. “You two are the best thing to come along since the camera crew forUnder the Roof.”

***

An hour later, Bishop and Locke were posted on the side of a steep hill, far enough away that Ella felt confident their voices would not be picked up by her video recording. Whatever supersonic speakers she had on her audio set were a bit much, but far be it for him to questionthe process. At the base of Seneca Park’s longest hill, the woman was on a mission with a tripod, a boom speaker, and two video recorders for different angles. And apparently, it required a significant amount of distance, as he and Locke watched from afar.

“Boring,” Locke said.

“Yup,” Bishop agreed.

“I like it here, though. Good to get out of the condo and into fresh air.”

“Amen.” Bishop thought her place made him feel like a sardine packed into a tiny container, especially when the four of them had been standing in her living room.

Manny had driven his van, which apparently was outfitted with everything FB and LK could dream about needing—food, water, snacks, poop bags. Who knew pets needed so much? Brick didn’t need shit. When he was home, Bishop let his dog run around outside then threw some scoops of chow in a bowl and filled up another bowl with tap water. When he couldn’t get home, Bishop’s neighbor did what he would’ve done on his behalf. There was never a plan, certainly not a van stocked full of necessities.

Locke and Bishop had driven separately, Ella with him, and their vehicles were lined up in the lot on top of the hill. Somehow, all this had happened without much of a carbon footprint lecture.

The gray sky was scattered with angry clouds.

Locke tore at a piece of grass, and Bishop watched a trail of ants on the bench that they’d kicked back on, choosing to rest with their boots on the seat. They both leaned forward, elbows on knees, watching Ella and Manny gesticulate, smile, and laugh. They would hold up the plants and pass them back and forth.

“Man, they are super into it,” Bishop muttered.

“Yup.” Locke reached down, tearing out another long piece of grass, and went to splitting it.

Watching Ella work, while not riveting, was pretty cool. Just as cool as the bikini video from Costa Rica, because her passion bled through even from over here.

Manny and Ella donned headsets, sitting on the ground, pointing back and forth between the screen and something, almost as if they were disagreeing, or maybe searching for something on screen. Who knew? They wereinto itin a major way.

“I don’t get it,” Locke said. “Have you ever been that excited about anything in your life?”

Maybe about getting her back into bed again soon. “Nothing that I’d share with you.”

Locke laughed. “Right.”

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