A Bushel and a Peck

"And a hug around the neck, is how the song goes babe." I shoulder my bag, wobbling a little at the weight.

I should've left it in the car, but I was insistent on bringing it in.

He holds the door open for me, grabbing the bag despite saying earlier I had it.

"Which commercial was that from again," he follows after me into the shop, "it's been on my mind since we got up this morning?"

I pull out my list and start gathering some flowers.

"It was for one of those commercials on life insurance I think. Can you grab some of those bluebells please?" I head to the front to ask for a pen.

"How many?" He stands in front of the pail full of the flowers.

I thank the owner and turn back to face him. In his hands are a huge bundle of bluebells . He starts smiling at me the minute I make my way to him.

"What are you looking at?" He's peering down at me under those gorgeous lashes. I reach up on my toes a little, kiss him, and reach for the camera in the bag.

"Baby, don't." He's trying to reach for it, but his hands are full.

"Come on, you look absolutely gorgeous with those flowers." I'm already snapping a candid shot before he can object.

"Thank you, honey, " I return the camera back to the bag, rubbing his arm, and grabbing a good amount of flowers from him.

"Mhmm, better be glad you're cute." He says, following close behind grabbing my hips.

"Down, down, and focus" I tease, marking off the flowers as we go along.

We're collecting and going around the shop after a few minutes. I stop and smell the ones I've never seen before to see if I can catch their scents. I hear him stop and look deep into a bundle of hydrangeas. He smiles and cups them softly, rubbing gently at their petals.

"Remember that time we got drunk at Soph's party and confessed that no one has ever brought us flowers before?"

I came up behind him, resting my head on his back, kissing his shoulders.

"I remember when you told me I didn't believe you. I remember that." He turns his head to look at me.

"What I remember was you telling me these were your mom's favorites and so the next day, 'cause you know I remember everything after I drink." I smile into his back.

"Of course, of course." He nods. I poke his side, stepping away to avoid him grabbing me.

"Well, I got you those flowers right there because they also were my favorites and I got them in my favorite color so you wouldn't forget me." I reach over him to grab some for the bouquet.

I turn to give them a sniff, and for a second I close my eyes before peering back at him.

He snaps a picture of me.

"Evil," I gasp, trying to swipe at the camera.

He meets my lips instead.

"I was never gonna forget you even if you didn't get me flowers. It's awfully hard to forget you." He steals another kiss from me.

I cover my heating face with our flowers as we make our way back to the front.

He comes up behind me, whispering in my ear how he loves me and thank you baby, while I try and pay for our stuff.

"Would you actually mind splitting those please?" He leans over my shoulder to ask her at the counter.

"Of course," she starts dividing the flowers so we have an even match.

"Where are we heading next?" He turns to look at me.

I pull out my list while he pays.

"Duncan's for the cake. We have the fruit and wine in there right?" I pat the bag lightly.

"Mhmm, thank you." He says to me and then the owner.

I grab our bouquets as we turn and thank her for putting up with us. She smiles, tells us we’re very cute, and waves goodbye.

We make our way down the street heading towards the boardwalk. Along the way, several people stop him and try to make conversation. I smile and hide my laugh as he tries to walk away politely.

"Alright, I'll catch you later man. Yeah, it's been a minute. I'm with my girl now, but yea man I'll catch you later." He calls over his shoulder.

I finally laugh, pushing his side a little as he starts mumbling under his breath.

"You sure you weren't "Mr. Popular" back in high school?" I bump my hip against his. He catches my waist and pulls me along as we walk.

"Nah, I usually do a better job to avoid my old classmates whenever I'm home, but today it seems to be the day they all wanna show their faces." He's looking over his shoulders now to see if more people who might recognize him might intercept him from behind.

"Poor thing," I rub his side and grab the door to the bakery.

"Ahhh Benny boy, look how you've grown." The owner, Mr. Castle, shouts out to us, rounding the corner to see who entered the store.

"Hey, Mr. C, how you been?" He sets the bag on one of the tables in the corner to hug the man.

They embrace each other, Mr. C almost lifting Ben off his feet.

"I'm doing much better now that I've seen you, oh and is this the lovely lady I talked to on the phone?" He turns to face me.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." I go in for the hug and he does lift me in the air, " this one introduced me to your cupcakes and I have high praises." I smile up at him, peeking back at Ben.

He looks at me, under low lashes and soft smiles. I walk over to him and set our flowers down, pulling him over to our conversation.

"Ahh, will I have to be making wedding cakes soon?" He teases Ben, giving me a wink.

"Uh, Mr. C, is that cake ready yet?" He coughs a little, peering at me in apology.

"Of course, let me go grab it." He rubs his hands along his apron and heads to the back.

Ben squeezes my arm, before I let go to grab napkins at the front.

"I'm sorry about that. I know-"

"Hey, don't apologize baby. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here. I will." I wrap my arms around his waist. He winds his arms around me too.

"Thank you. What did I do to deserve you?" He kisses the top of my head.

"Just being you." I mumble into him, leaning back a little to look up at him.

Mr. C makes his way out to meet us, opening the cake for us to see.

"Ahh, it's perfect. You’re an angel. How much was it again?" I reach for my wallet.

"No, no. I won't allow it. Your money means nothing to me here dear. It is a beautiful day, enjoy this cake, and I'm throwing in those cupcakes, no objections please." He holds up his hands as both Ben and I start to say something.

"Thank you, so much." We say. I grab a ten from my wallet and shove it in the tip jar.

"Don't take it out please." I smile at him.

"I like this one," he gestures to me.

"Me too," Ben grabs the box and my waist.

By some miracle we grab all of our stuff and make our way out.

"Okay, we need to get to a spot quickly before we drop all this stuff." I say, hiking the bag this time over my shoulder.

"This way is quicker," he nods to the right between a lane of palm trees.

We cut across the walkers and roller skaters to the path that leads down to the beach.

It's not too crowded in the patch we find several yards from the water. It's the afternoon, a little cool breeze picks up the hem of my cover-up, and the sun beats a little down on us at an angle.

I set our stuff down gently and start unfolding the blankets and towels. He runs off to pay for an umbrella.

"Unbelievable. Umbrellas are like ten bucks now." He shakes his head like an old man before thrusting the umbrella into the ground behind our stuff.

"The taxes on umbrellas are insane I know," I peer up to smile at him.

He flips me off.

We set up our ensemble as I smooth out my towel on the blanket and start taking some of the contents out of the bag.

"Wanna sip before you go in?" I offer him the wine.

He strips, lifting his shirt over his head before reaching for the bottle.

"Ooo, hubba hubba." I flick my foot at him.

He hands back the bottle, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You wanna help me put on some sunscreen?" He squats down so that he's eye level with me, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Boy, turn around." I shove him down by his shoulders and move him to turn.

I start massaging the sunscreen onto his back, rubbing his arms as he gets his face. I then make my way to the front,  hugging him from behind.

"I think you've got me covered, baby," he laughs as my hands slip away.

"Aright, go ahead. I'll get in a second, I'm gonna get situated here and relax a little."

He pats my leg and heads off to the water.

I clean up a bit and pull out my book, but I'm not really reading it. I peer over the top and watch him. He makes his way to the water, watching the waves a little bit before taking a step in and going under. A little bit later he resurfaces and swims for a bit. I fold the book over my lap and look around at those enjoying the beach. I spot a little seagull making his way over to me curiously.

"Oh no, go away. I know how you work." I shoo him away with my foot.

I sneak a look back to Ben getting out the water to make his way back to me. He's intercepted by a couple of girls. He talks with them, doing the little thing where he messes with his neck whenever he doesn't know how to avoid talking to others. I hide my smile behind my book. He starts to scoot around them, but they move with him, touching his shoulder and laughing. I can tell from here he is shuffling to get away. He looks at me and I smile at him. He says something to them, points to me, and then practically runs away from them.

I grab my stomach with laughter as he gets closer.

"Aww baby, you are just so freakin' cute." I get up to meet him.

"Please join me in the water. I need my shield." He grabs my waist and pulls me close.

I start taking off my shirt, covering myself in sunscreen before shaking out of my shorts.

"Ooo baby," he mumbles behind me, " I didn't know you were wearing that one." I turn to see a glimmer in his eyes.

"You better get away from me." I laugh, trying to avoid his arms.

I juke him, ducking under his arms, running towards the water. He chases after me, raising me up in the air before turning to drop us in the water.

The water is so much warmer than I thought, so when I pop back up for air I'm not grabbing my arm to cover chills. He hasn't popped back up yet, so I look around and below to see him. He's grabbing my ankle, then moving his way up my legs to lift me a little out of the water.

"You are silly, put me down." I lean over to get close to him.

"Whatever you say." He smiles once I realize what I asked for.

We stay in the water for a little bit mainly trying to flip the other and taking turns seeing who can hold their breath the longest. I won both times.

The sun has gone down a little once we get out the water and dry off. I'm lying on my back, him on his stomach as we pass the wine bottle and fruit I've packed back and forth between us.

I look to my left to see him staring at me. I turn on my side.

"What's up?"

"I wanna do it now, but there's so many people," he says.

"I know, we'll wait as it gets a little darker." I hold up my cupcake to cheers him, he leans over and takes a bite instead. I'm about to say something, but he hands me his to take a bite.

He's writing in the chair by the time I get back from the water again. People start to clear out. It's probably dinner time somewhere. I think about what we'll eat after to round out this day. Maybe his mom's lasagna or some take-out from that one place she always recommended whenever I was in town to visit them.

"You find anything good?" He asks, looking up from his notebook.

"A few things," I kneel near his feet, dropping the shells and rocks I've found.

He sets his things aside to look.

"That one's nice, still intact," he points to my sand dollar.

"I know, I'll have to add these to the jar I have for this beach," I sort through some more, "how's the writing going? You almost done?"

"Yea, I think I'm good." He's not looking at me, so I grab his hand between us. He looks up to meet my eyes.

"Hey cutie." I kiss his knuckles.

"Hey," he leans his forehead to meet mine.

Soon there was only us and a few stragglers left on the beach. The moon starts to shine as we start packing up. He returns the umbrella as I start folding up our towels. We take a corner of our blanket and drag our stuff a little closer to the water. He's weighing down our blanket with some books and shoes as I pull out the cake and what's left of the wine.

"We really tore through this thing huh?" I ask up to him, grabbing my own notebook.

"Should've got two like I said." He teases.

"We still need to get home." I laugh.

"I thought you said you could handle your liquor." He shoves my legs. I shove back.

We start slicing up cake as I pull out her urn.

We eat in silence for a second. I focus on my cake and the sound of the waves to avoid crying.

"I was doing fine before because we were doing what she loves and we got this amazing cake, but now that we're here it feels so..."

"Real." He says.

I peer a look at him as he chews on his cake, tears already streaming down his face.

I set my plate down and move to sit on his lap. He holds onto me, leaning into the crook of my neck. I feel his breathing slow a little before he leans back to look at me.

"I think I'm ready now."

I nod, getting up to grab the urn. He joins me, grabbing our flowers as we make our way to the water. We're about thigh high in, the water a little cooler now. He looks up to the night sky and laughs a little.

"You know we wrote all those things and left them back on the blanket." He looks at me.

I start laughing too, soon we're laughing until the tears roll naturally.

"We can get them." I suggest, after he leans to wipe the tears that won't stop from my eyes.

"No, it's okay. I think she knows. All she's seen us do today. I think she knows, Lo." He smiles at me.

I nod, then I open the lid.

"Thank you for raising an amazing son.” I reach in and grab a handful before scattering them.

He reaches in to grab some ashes too.

"Thank you for teaching me how to be a good man." He scatters them.

"Thank you for cutting my hair when I was too scared to do it." I laugh a little.

"Thank you for long talks and quick hugs," he says.

We each speak and scatter. Speak and scatter until we've reached the bottom. He hands over my bouquet and we hold them for a little. Looking out to the water.

"Loretta," he says after a moment of silence.

"Yes." I turn to face him.

I feel a calming sense from him and relax my shoulder.

"With my mom's ashes as our witness," he says, laughing as I cover my smile, "will you marry me?"

All I could do was nod my head. I cradle her urn in one hand and wrap my other around his neck. I kiss him deep and smell the hydrangeas surrounding us like a hug.