Flower Shop

A Day at The Park

-September-

The thing is, Ebony notices Aldo staring at Voltzson's sister. She does notice it. It isn't subtle. But she doesn't think much of it because it's Aldo. It's when Karen brings her two kids into the city because it's Charlie's tenth birthday and she's taking him to the Natural History Museum and the New York Hall of Science, and they come to the firehouse, and Ebony notices Aldo staring at Karen. She does notice it. It isn't subtle. But she doesn't think much of it because it's Aldo.

But three weeks later when Aldo comes upstairs and sheepishly asks Voltz if it would be okay for him to ask her sister out on a date, it all makes sense.

Voltzson stares at him for a long time, her mouth slightly opened, a rare moment of pure speechlessness. Ebony looks at him, standing there with his hands pushed into his pockets, waiting for some sort of answer.

"Aldo, you know that she lives in Pennsylvania, right?" Ebony asks him gently.

"Oh, yeah, I know! I thought that through! It can be a day date during the weekend," he explains. "So she can come and you guys can watch her kids and then when it's done, there's no pressure for her to stay the night or anything and she can just go home."

It's surprisingly well thought-out, all things considered. Voltz still hasn't closed her mouth or stopped staring or made any sort of noise.

"Um. Aldo?" Ebony says to him. "Maybe give us a little bit to talk it over?"

"Okay," he nods, but doesn't move.

"Oh. I mean like...a day. Give us a day," she clarifies.

"Oh. Okay!"

"It's actually kind of sweet that he asked for your permission," Ebony says to Voltz later when they're upstairs, and she's sitting on the sofa, Ella at the table with a book, and Anne downstairs in case a customer shows up. Ruth is curled up in her lap, and she pets her absentmindedly.

"It is," Voltz agrees, dropping down onto the sofa, hand automatically moving to the cat. "But... Aldo? And my sister? It's... what am I supposed to do?"

"Do you not want him to ask her out? If you don't want him to, then just tell him," Ebony says.

"But...," Voltzson begins, frowning. "He thought out the whole thing. Aldo thought something out! And it's...sweet. He's sweet. He's a sweet guy."

"Mmhm," Ebony nods in agreement.

"But it's Aldo!"

"It is Aldo."

"He's not the most...intellectual person ever, but... neither were Karen's last few boyfriends, and at least Aldo isn't a jerk."

"You know what we need?" Ebony asks, and at the same time that she yells out "Pros and cons list!", Voltz is also yelling " Not a pros and cons list!"

But Ebony is already standing, dropping the cat from her lap onto Voltz, and then rushing towards the kitchen to grab the small, magnetic whiteboard from the refrigerator, ignoring Voltzson's whine of protest and wiping away a doodle from the board with her sleeve.

When she returns, Voltz is face-down on the sofa, sprawled out with Ruth on her backside.

"I've been compromised," she says, her voice muffled by the sofa cushion. "Ruth has taken me hostage. I can't participate in list-making."

"You can still speak so you can still participate," Ebony assures her, pushing Voltz's feet off of a cushion so that she can sit down. Her feet come to rest on her lap. "I don't understand why you are so against pros and cons lists. They're very helpful."