“Telly?” Sally breathed.
“Yes, telly,” Prentice replied.
“But you don’t like us watching telly,” Sally reminded him.
He pulled her up his chest so her face was closer to his. “This morning, you get an hour of telly.”
Sally lifted up with both her hands pressed in Prentice’s chest and she shouted, “Hurrah!”
Then she scrambled out of the bed, not about to miss the unusual opportunity to waste time in front of the television.
“Close the door,” Prentice called, rolling to Elle who had immediately begun struggling. Sally closed the door and Prentice shouted, “Close the other one too.”
“Okay!” Sally shouted back before he heard the other door slam.
Then his full attention diverted to Elle because now she was full on struggling.
“Elle, relax.”
Her body went still and she stared at him.
Then she breathed, “Relax?”
His face went into her neck and, with lips below her ear he replied, “Yes, relax.”
“I can’t relax!” she snapped then started struggling again. “Oh my God, I can’t believe that just happened! Sally caught us in bed.”
He rolled on top of her to control her thrashing, caught her flailing wrists and pinned them to the bed beside her head. His face neared hers and he touched her lips with his.
“Baby, relax. It’s okay,” he assured her.
She glared up at him.
Then, eyes wide with horror and disbelief, she declared, “It is not okay!”
He grinned, “Why no’?”
“She’s going to freak!”
Prentice started chuckling.
“This isn’t funny!” Elle clipped.
Prentice was still smiling when he asked, “Did Sally look upset to you?”
He watched as Elle’s horrified face became thoughtful before she replied, “Well… no.”
“She’s no’ going to freak. She’ll be fine.” His head bent and his mouth went back to her neck. “She loves you,” he said there.
And he meant it.
He figured Elle didn’t hear him or didn’t process what he said because her wrists pushed against his. He pressed her wrists deeper into the bed.
She stopped pushing but declared, “Prentice, I know how this works. Sure, she seems fine now. But in fifteen years when she’s standing on top of a clocktower with an automatic rifle mowing down innocent bystanders, don’t call me asking what went wrong.”
At the thought of his effervescent Sally picking off innocent bystanders in a murderous rampage, Prentice burst into laughter as he rolled to his back, taking Elle with him. Her hands released, Elle immediately pushed up on his chest. His arms locked around her waist, holding her captive.
She stopped pushing and glared down at him. “I need to get up. I need to make pancakes. I need to find out how to erase Sally’s memory.”