"For someone who says he never wants me to go away, you sure aren't in a hurry to come after me."
I looked up at Mary with astonishment. She was a bit sweaty, but not breathing hard. She must have run around the block and stopped to catch her breath.
"You came back!" I must have looked like a first-class idiot because Mary cracked up immediately. She laughed with her whole body, flipping her head back and bellowing with laughter.
I closed my mouth finally and started scrambling to my feet, my face burning red as people turned to stare at us.
"Wait." Mer gasped, putting a hand on my shoulder and pressing me back down. Mary slipped down to kneel in front of me. Breathing deep now to get her breath back. She was flushed, and the deep breathing was stretching the material of her top across her breasts.
I was a bit mesmerized by them, but eventually collected myself and scowled at Mary. She had her head to the side and was sizing me up about the way she had the dress behind me.
She nodded slowly a couple times before smiling widely. "You'll do." She settled back on her heels, still smiling, a glint in her eyes. "But you're going to have to get me a real engagement ring, not something you won at the fair when you were twelve, okay?"
"I--" I tried to maintain my scowl. A little crowd had formed around us, and at Mary's words a few clapped and several laughed. I blushed darker and crossed my arms over my chest.
"I wouldn't give you this ring now if you paid me!" Mer looked stricken, all the blood running out of her face. The crowd gasped. "It's my good luck charm, and if we're getting hitched I'm going to need all the luck I can get!" I shoved it firmly onto the ring finger of my right hand.
The blood rushed back to Mer's face as she dived toward me. "Steve! I'm gonna make you regret that every day of our lives!" What started as tickling quickly became an embrace and a lingering kiss. Eventually I became aware of someone clearing his throat and remembered the crowd.
Mary and I were lying wrapped around each-other in front of the bridal shop window. The crowd was, if anything, bigger. The person clearing his throat turned out to be another cop. Behind him I could see the lights of his patrol car.
"Steve?" Mer flipped her hair out of her face and turned to see what I was looking at. I silently wished we were somewhere that lying together like this making out wasn't going to get us in trouble.