Spiral Bound Journal

Hiding in Plain Sight

"Looks like you know all the nice hidden spots in Lincoln Park," Morgan said as he and Dana plopped down under a tree.

"Well, all the ones I learned from a local, anyway," Dana replied as she set her camera bag off to the side.

"Mister Pond?"

"You guessed it."

Morgan watched Dana as she cocked her head to survey the area. The sneak peck on his cheek surprised him, and Morgan could not suppress his grin to save his life.

"Is that why you wanted to hang out here?" he asked.

"Sure, at least a little bit. It's also a tad warm out, and I could go for some shade."

"Seventy degrees is not warm!"

"Sure it is."

At that, Morgan shoved his hands into the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie. "Maybe in Minneapolis, but this is the Windy City."

"Oh, Minnesota has just as much wind, if not worse. And you're one to complain about wind given that you're from Texas. There are plenty of wind farms down there."

"Not out east!"

"True. Well, not now, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to try setting up a closer farm to boost Texas' grid, given its apparent independence."

"Fair point," Morgan conceded. "After the last few winters, I'm getting real tired of Texas' decision to not connect to the rest of the country."

"Yeah, y'all aren't used to the winters you're getting, which maybe you should."

"Maybe. How the hell did we get to talking about winter in May?"

Dana giggled. "Well, you're the one complaining that it's not warm out in spite of a ton of sun shining down on Chicago today."

"Touché."

With that, Morgan scooted closer to Dana so they could lean on each other. Both were still a bit full after a hearty brunch at a Cuban restaurant neither of them expected to find in North Chicago (or really anywhere in Chicago). Dana had stunned Morgan by ordering a massive plate of breakfast ropa vieja. Seeing that almost made him regret his double cortadito. Almost. The necromancer levels of caffeine chased away the last remnants of his hangover headache that persisted in the face of both Advil and a long snog session. He felt Dana rest her head on his right shoulder, and he rested his cheek in her hair.

"This is definitely better than brunch with the rest of the group," Dana said.

"Agreed," Morgan sighed with a smile. "I've really needed a break after all the con activity. It's been nice to meet up with friends and talk on the panels. It's just so much happening all at once."

"I feel a movie coming on."

Morgan chuckled. "I really should have seen that coming."

"Yes, you should have. But I get what you're sayin'. I didn't have to talk to many people, but after a while I was getting tired having to focus all the time. Yes, that was a bit of a pun."

"It was as terrible as I expected."

"Good. But seriously, hauling a camera around is physical labor, not to mention running from ballroom to ballroom and fighting crowds along the way. I relished any opportunity to hide in the media room."

"Yes, the green room was my friend, too."

"Now I just gotta make sure I get enough sleep tonight. I have an early-ish train tomorrow."

"Don't remind me. I have to get my rear to Midway by ten at the latest. I really don't want to go home."

At that, Dana lifted her head, causing Morgan to follow suit. She took Morgan's hand and gave him a a serious look.

"I can't imagine you wanting to go home right now," she said. "It's not easy for you down in Texas. And unfortunately, I think we both made it a bit more complicated."

Morgan squeezed Dana's hand. "I rather like this complication."

That got a grin out of Dana. "I know you do. Still, we'd be remiss to not acknowledge our new relationship could make your divorce proceedings more difficult. Yes, I know I'm a buzzkill, but if this is going to be as serious as I think it is, there is no getting around the fact that you're still married."

"And so are you."

"Yes, there is that."

"Does Quinn know you have feelings for me?"

"Yes," Dana replied with a slow nod. "He took one look at the photo in Time before he and I went to see my Dad back in December and actually called me out. It wasn't necessarily a bad calling out, but I still cried when he figured it out and spelled it out like that. Even with all of the other guys that have shown interest so obvious Stevie Wonder saw it, he's never done that."

"Even Mister Pond?"

"Even Mister Pond, although speaking of him I get the impression he's starting to wonder. I think Fiona might suspect something, as she seemed a bit less tense last night when I gave Mister Pond a thank you hug for ensuring my jacket didn't get shredded."

"Think they said anything to anyone?"

Dana shrugged. "I'm not sure. I did promise to meet up with them at least once before I left for Minneapolis. I was planning on dinner, but I'm wondering if I can push that back to after dinner drinks or something. I should at least try to gauge what they suspect and heard."

"Especially at the brunch call we blew off."

"Yeah, for real."

"So getting back to Quinn, he knows you have feelings for me. Does he have any idea that we'd end up getting together like this?"

"Sort of. I did tell him that I wanted to wait until after your divorce was finalized, but said divorce is still taking what seems like forever. I feel like given all these delays the dam would have ended up breaking at some point this year, and I imagine Quinn has entertained similar thoughts. I do have to tell him, though."

"Yeah," Morgan replied. "What do we do after this?"

Dana sat and pondered this question in silence for a moment. As she mulled this over, Morgan shifted to try to take some pressure off his bladder.

"Something similar to our previous routine," Dana said. "Any more or less interaction will tip off even less observant fans. We can maybe shift more...emotional conversations to Signal or something like that."

"Seems like a start. Say, is there a bathroom around here? Much as I'd like to continue this conversation, the cortadito is kicking in again."

"Say no more. I think if you walk southeast a bit there should be some bathrooms, if I remember right."

"Sounds good. Be right back!"

To Morgan's relief, Dana's memory was in fact correct. After using the head, he took his time walking back to the tree where they had claimed a secluded seat. As more people wandered the grounds to savor the mid-May sun, Morgan wondering how much longer their spot would actually be secluded. It also struck him that there was plenty to scope out in the park, including the conservatory and zoo. While Dana was right that they needed a game plan for when they returned to their respective homes, Morgan felt they had enough time to have fun, maybe even be on a bit of a date.

As he got closer to the tree, he saw Dana had stood up and was facing the trunk. Arching an eyebrow, Morgan rushed over and stood just a bit off to her right. He saw her holding her DSLR while pointing it at one specific part of the tree trunk. For a good minute, he watched in silence, afraid to disturb her. All the same, he had no idea what captivated her so much, and he leaned on the tree to see if she would catch the movement in her peripheral vision. Even with her glasses she was able to spot anything happening off to either side of her. Sure enough, she lowered her camera and faced him.

"Bet you're feeling relieved," she muttered. "Hopefully in the proper place and not in some random shrubbery."

Morgan chuckled. "No, thankfully. You were right about the bathroom location, so the landscaping is safe."

"Good."

"Speaking of plant life, what are you looking at?"

Dana pointed to a random spot on the tree trunk. "I stood up to make sure my knees didn't lock up, and I saw this knot that looked like a face."

Morgan peered closer at the spot. While he couldn't really see anything that resembled a nose, he did find two dark spots and some curved lines that did resemble eyes and a mouth. He fished his phone out of his pocket and snapped a couple frames for himself.

"If you weren't so busy already I'd ask you to help the art team a little bit," Morgan told her.

"Oh, you. Flattery will get you, well, in this case, it will get you somewhere."

"Ha! Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind venturing elsewhere in the park. It seems like a pretty interesting place, and I've never been."

"Oh, all right. We can wander around. Probably best to forgo any PDA, at least in really open spaces."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Perhaps I can get a hug before we start roaming the park."

"I think I can handle that. Let me just stow my gear first. Don't need my camera trying to interfere."

"I suppose that would be uncomfortable," Morgan remarked as Dana tucker her camera back in the bag.

"Trust me. Neither of us would be happy."

With that, Dana stood up and wrapped her arms around Morgan's waist. As he reciprocated, Morgan felt the weight seep from his shoulders, only to be replaced by a lightness he hadn't felt in years. He just hoped he could keep that lightness to himself long enough to get out of his marriage (and Texas) unscathed.




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