Page 85 of Why Not Both?

“Isn’t this something you might want to do with someone else?” she asks.

“No,” I say, standing. I know she means Lis. She also knows that Lis isn’t exactly speaking to me right now. “This is something I need to do for myself. And as my best friend, you are contractually obligated to assist me.”

She raises one eyebrow. “Contractually?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t remember signing a contract.”

“Okay. Maybe not a contract.” Then I smile. “It’s the law. The federally regulated best friend law.”

“I’ll need you to show that to me.”

“No time,” I say as I bring my single mug to the kitchen and load it in the dishwasher. “We have to get going if we’re going furniture shopping.”

I usher Vic out of the apartment and she agrees to drive us. She takes us to a few places. I look at couches, tables, and chairs for indoors and outdoors. But I don’t buy anything.

“We’ve been at this for hours already, Spencer,” Vic says as I drag her into another store. “We’ve been to five stores. Can’t you just pick something?”

“I figure I’m going to have this stuff for a while. I don’t want to choose the wrong thing. And I haven’t found anything that really made me stop. There was that one sectional I liked. I might want to go back and order it.”

She rolls her eyes but follows me inside.

“This should be easier,” I say as we walk into a kitchen supply store. “I don’t think it’s as big a deal to choose the exact right plate.”

She looks at the display of glasses in front of the store. “I guess that depends. I’m sure it would be more important to someone like Lis than to you or me.”

“Hm. Maybe you’re right.”

“Oh no. Don’t start this wishy-washy crap again. Choose something.”

I look through the dishes, finding a simple set that’s white with two blue lines around the edge. It comes with four each of dinner plates, dessert plates, bowls, and mugs.

“Look! More mugs,” I say as I pick the box off the shelf and put it in a cart.

“Congratulations,” Vic says. “What else are you going to get? Pots and pans? Coffee maker? Blender?”

“What do I need a blender for?”

She shrugs.

“No blender. And I was thinking of waiting on the pots and pans and asking Lis’ advice.” We start toward the small appliances. “It makes sense to have a chef give advice. Right?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“She’s going to talk to me again, right?”

Vic casts a glance at me. “She talks to you now.”

I shake my head. “It’s not the same. Not since she found out about my stake in Blue Vista.” We reach the coffee makers and I look through a few of them. “Except for the other day when she mentioned Daze and Sophie’s wedding, she’s only talked to me about business stuff. Nothing else. She won’t walk home with me. And I haven’t seen her smile.”

“She smiles all the time.”

I sigh as I turn one of the boxes on the shelf to read the features on the side.

“There’s this smile she has. It’s like we’re sharing a secret. Like she’s got a joke and I’m the only one in on it with her.”

I turn the box around and look at the next one.

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