Page 63 of The ABCs of You & Me

“I was going to try and give Gary a bath,” I say as casually as possible.

“Wait, seriously?” She pulls away, her eyes narrowing skeptically.

“Yes. When I say try, I mean try and make time. The guy loves a bath.”

“Huh,” she says, looking back at the front. “So how long does it take to bathe a cat? Like is this an all-day thing, or would you have time to go to the farmers’ market with me?”

“I’m sure I can squeeze you in. I’ll have to check with Gary, though. He expects to be fully pampered. Nail clipping, massage, tail fluff, the whole shebang.”

“Okay.” She smiles back. “Check with the cat-in-chief and report back. I figured… Who are you call?—”

I lift my finger up to stop her while raising my phone to my ear. “Hi, yes, Gary, I know… yes, I’m aware I’ve interrupted prime squirrel hour. I… go on… No, that was a one-time thing, I promise. Listen, I know Saturday is bath day… Excuse me? I’m a week ahead? No, that can’t be right… Well, alright, if you insist. So you wouldn’t mind if I go to the farmers’ market with Sophie? Of course I’ll get something for you. Geez, you act as if I don’t feed you ever… Go back to glaring at your nemesis. I’ll see you tonight… Love—” I stop speaking abruptly and pull the phone away from my ear to look down at it. “Well, that was rude,” I murmur before turning back to Sophie. “Turns out I’m a week ahead and definitely have time for a trip to the farmers’ market.”

She’s got both lips sucked between her teeth, clearly holding in a laugh.

“I’m glad you were able to confirm with Gary.”

“So, farmers’ market. Is this our F date?” I ask, stepping back beside her just inside the gym doors.

“It’s lame, isn’t it?” she asks sheepishly.

“Incredibly,” I assure her. “But I love a lame trip to the farmers’ market. Especially with a friend.” Her smile falters the tiniest bit, and I try not to let myself wonder why. She’s made it clear she can’t do more than friendship. I’m doing my best to respect that. “How about we do a two-for-one?”

“What do you mean?”

“Shhh.” A student turns back to the front leaving us speechless.

I gesture with my head for Sophie to follow me into the hallway.

“Did we get shushed by a student?” Sophie asks in disbelief.

“We did. I don’t know whether to be insulted or proud,” I say, leaning back to look back through the door. “What I was going to say before I was so rudely and appropriately interrupted, was we can do a two-letter date night. Friend-date night,” I quickly amend. “We’ll get whatever you were going to get, then I’ll get stuff to make a meal starting with G.”

“You’re going to make me dinner?” she asks.

“Well, I’m going to make us dinner.”

“G.” She crosses her arms and tips her head back in thought. “G… g…g…g…g. Gnocchi? That’s a G, right? Or… Gonorrhea.” Her eyes go wide. “Oh no, god, sorry, definitely don’t make that.”

“I don’t even know where to get the ingredients.” I grin back.

Sophie slaps her hands over her face, and I can’t tell if she’s crying or laughing.

“Hey.” I wrap my hands around her wrists and tug them gently away from her face, “Don’t worry about it, we all mix up STIs and food sometimes.” I can’t even get the words out before I’m laughing, thankfully along with her.

The kids erupt in applause and Sophie leans toward the door, raises her finger to her lips, and gives an exaggerated “Shhh,” which has us laughing even harder.

That laughter carries me through the afternoon. It gets me through one of Pete’s meltdowns, which are thankfully rare. It gets me through a lengthy negotiation at the end of the day with a student who doesn’t want to wear their winter coat despite the light snowfall simply because it’s April. It gets me through arriving home to discover three of my hanging plants smashed on the floor in front of the window. I’m guessing I can blame the squirrel for this.

“I hope it was worth it,” I say to Gary as I sweep up the massacre.

My phone lights up with Heather’s name, after I finish dumping the soil into the trash. It’s unusual for her to text outside the group chat so I’m instantly nervous.

Heather

Yo, the team is into the playoffs. We need a couple extra sets of lungs cheering at the game next week.

What night?

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