Page 54 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

“Have you been on their Instagram page? There’s a cute picture of us.”

He pulled up the page, and my heart and belly flipped. A candid shot of Leo and I walking through the crowds, his arm around me whispering something funny into my ear. I was smiling like my lips were made of rubber bands. It was an interesting sight to see an objective picture of myself being unabashedly happy. I wanted to be that guy in the picture all the time.

“We look good,” I said, a bunch of nerves twisting their way through me.

“You look good. I’m lucky to be standing next to you.” Leo gave my hip a light pinch. He scrolled to the top of Applefest’s feed. “Holy shit.”

“What?”

“They announced who’s playing the concert tonight. The English Patients.”

“I thought you said it was local cover bands. The English Patients are like a real band. They playedSaturday Night Livelast week.Ocean Cityused their music in three episodes.”

“That’s quite a get. Someone in the Applefest organizing committee must’ve had a connection. Surprised they didn’t mention anything to me.”

“I guess they wanted to keep it under wraps?” I nudged the bag of food closer to him. “Here. Eat.”

“I will.”

“You say that, but then you won’t. Something will come up. You’ll think of another email to write. You run on ninety percent caffeine and ten percent Microsoft Office. I’m surprised you haven’t wasted away.” I took the wrap out of the bag and plunked it in front of him. “I’ll take over while you have lunch.”

Leo quickly figured out he wasn’t going to win. He bit into the wrap, and I watched as hunger faded away.

“You need your energy to conquer Applefest. I’ll cover for you.”

Two people came up to the booth while he ate, and while I could’ve filled in, Leo spoke with them. They gushed with excitement about The English Patients playing. When he finished lunch, things were still quiet. There was a lull on our side of the fest, and Leo was a jittery mess with nobody to talk to and nothing to do. He was a man of action. It was killing him not to be mingling with the crowd, especially since he shared his concern that Rita had something up her sleeve.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I said. “If the people won’t come here, we will have you go to the people.”

“I’m supposed to stay at the booth.”

“Switch things up!”

I wrote out a Be Back in Thirty sign with a black marker and stuck it on the table under a rock. The afternoon was turning late. Soon it would be night, and everyone would gravitate to the concert. We had to take advantage of the sunlight.

Leo and I walked into a more crowded area where there were games. Kids enjoyed hay bales and slides, while carnival games were for the adults.

“So, what’s your plan?” he asked.

“Win me one of those stuffed animals.” I pointed to the booths where they were giving away prizes. The baseball throwing booth had large panda bears hanging up top, tempting me.

“You want a stuffed animal prize?” Leo asked. “Aren’t you a bit old?”

“I’ve gone to fairs my whole life, and I’ve never won one of those things.” I leaned into Leo’s ear. “If I’m going to have a fake boyfriend, I might as well make the most of him.”

Leo smiled to himself, and I could feel his stubble get close to my lips. So I kissed him. Vernita said that every time I kissed him, his numbers went up. Something of mine went up, too.

“You really want that panda?”

“People will like seeing a mayor who knows how to win, and they’ll find it cute that you’re winning me a stuffed animal.”

“I have to win. I don’t want to crap out in front of my constituents.”

“You thrive under pressure.” I rubbed Leo’s shoulder. He was so easy to touch. “I guess I could always ask Rita to play for me. She probably plays softball and could get it no problem.”

Determination stamped across his brow. “Let’s win you that panda.”

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