Page 19 of Flirting Lessons

Taylor nodded. She still didn’t understand how Avery had managed to drink wine and eat tacos outside and keep that dress perfect.

Erica’s eyebrows raised in amusement.

“Taylor Cameron. You come up with a different way of seducing people every single time. This is some sort of long con to get her into bed, isn’t it? This poor woman, she doesn’t even know what hit her.”

Taylor glared at her.

“ ‘Seducing people’? Who do you think I am, some old-school movie villain? I’m not trying to seduce her! I’m just helping to bring her out of her shell a bit.” Yes, fine, she wasattractedto Avery, but she wasn’t trying to get her into bed or anything. Even aside from the bet, Avery didn’t seem like she was ready for that. “I’m just trying to help someone learn how to date women. It’s my gift to the queer community, which has given so much to me.”

That sent them both into another fit of laughter.

“Okay, how are you doing this?” Erica asked. “Tell me everything.”

“That’s why I was at the bookstore, actually. I brought her there for a book event for a queer author and made her talk to people there. Not quite flirting yet, but baby steps.”

Erica put another piece of broccoli into her mouth.

“I can’twaitto see how this goes,” Erica said. “And I especially can’t wait to see what happens when our friends—and some ofyour exes…two groups that overlap quite a bit—see you going on these flirting dates. Please, keep me posted.”

Taylor grinned.

“Oh, I will.”

After Avery got home onTuesday night, she’d picked up her phone at least three or four times to text Taylor. She was going to say thank you for everything, but she didn’t want to keep learning how to flirt. This was going to be too hard, too stressful. She could tell Taylor had gone easy on her this time, and yet she’d had to talk about her fear of people making fun of her and her fear of rejection? How humiliating.

But then she’d thought about what Taylor would say—and what Taylor wouldthinkbut not say—if she got that text from Avery. She wouldn’t say anything bad; she’d let Avery off the hook easy and would probably text back something likeok, no problem, good luck, and that would make Avery feel even more terrible. Ugh.

The fourth time she picked up her phone, she made herself look up community gardens in Napa, just to see what Beth had been talking about. The garden was only a few blocks away from her building, and the class Beth had mentioned was at two on Sunday afternoon. Should she go? Gardening was a hobby, wasn’t it? And she’d liked Beth, who was also trying to do new things and meet new people around here.

For days, she’d gone back and forth about whether to go to the garden, even on Sunday, while she was getting dressed in her oldest jeans and a plain gray T-shirt. (That’s what people wore to garden, right?) She hesitated again right before leaving her apartment. Why was she doing this, anyway? The whole prospect of itseemed overwhelming, chaotic, dirty. Shouldn’t she just stay home and rearrange her bookshelves again?

She thought of what Taylor would say if she knew that Avery had chickened out about something so simple as walking into a community garden. She wouldn’t say anything mean, or judgmental—Avery barely knew Taylor, but she knew that much by now. No, she would just ask Avery, in that friendly, open way of hers, why she hadn’t gone, and Avery would have to tell her that the prospect of going to a garden seemed too much for her. Avery let out a frustrated sigh.Fine, Taylor. You win this one.She pulled open her front door and walked outside.

She followed the directions on her phone to the garden, just to make sure she went the right way, even though she’d driven down that street a million times. She’d never noticed the garden there, after all; maybe there was some secret to finding it.

As it turned out, it had been hiding in plain sight all along. There was an unobtrusive wooden gate, with a sign that readCommunity Gardenon top. Avery could hear what sounded like friendly chatter behind the gate. She paused before opening it. Like Taylor said, she could always just leave if she hated it or if people were unfriendly. That’s why cell phones had been invented, so you could pretend you got an emergency call and escape. She made herself push the gate open and walk inside.

She stopped just by the garden, her eyes wide. How had she never known this place was here? It was wild and overgrown, neat and orderly, busy and calm, all at once. There were rows and rows of raised garden beds, most of which had many varieties of plants growing in them, of different shapes and sizes. Some were drooping over the edges of the beds, spilling their leaves and fruit almost to the ground; others were standing up high, full of brightred and yellow and orange and white flowers. The dirt paths were neatly raked, but growing along the sides were tiny plants. (Or weeds? She had no idea.) Trees lined the perimeter of the garden, a few of which were clearly fruit trees. Maybe they all were. In the middle of the golden-brown, sun-bleached Northern California summer, where they hadn’t seen rain in months, this place was lush and green and vibrant. She’d lived around here for so long, had driven by countless times, and this garden was just here all along?

There was a buzz of activity, with people industriously hoeing or weeding or whatever you did to plants, at many of the beds and more people milling around the exterior of the garden. Some gardeners were chatting and smiling and showing one another plants with more excitement in their faces than Avery thought possible. Only a few were just silently working in their beds. It was very cool to see this level of activity at a place in her neighborhood that she hadn’t even known existed. Almost everyone looked friendly and like they were having fun, and like they might be welcoming to a new person.

But…where was she supposed to go for the garden club? Honestly, she hated being in situations where she didn’t know what she was doing, so this situation was like one of her anxiety dreams. Should she turn around and leave right now?

“You seem confused. Are you here for the garden club?” Avery looked down, and a petite woman with short gray hair and more muscles in one arm than Avery had ever had in her whole body was standing in front of her.

“Um, yes?” Avery said.

“This way.” The woman set off down one of the long dirt paths at a fast clip. She was wearing oversize khaki cargo pants and a slim-fitting green T-shirt, and she carried a large canvas tote bagover her arm, with all sorts of gloves and tools sticking out of it. She walked so fast that Avery scurried to catch up with her, but she didn’t look back to see if Avery was following her. She stopped abruptly near the center of the garden, where a small group was gathered under a tree. One of the women in the group turned around when they approached, and Avery was both thrilled and relieved to see that it was Beth. She’d liked her as soon as she’d met her; she was so glad she was here. But wait, oh no, would Beth think she was stalking her or hitting on her or something?

But a wide smile spread across Beth’s face as soon as she saw Avery.

“Hi! Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you came. Now I know at least one person. You’re Avery, right?”

Avery smiled back at her. Taylor had said to trust her instincts about people; maybe Taylor was right.

“Yeah. You’re Beth, aren’t you? I never even knew this place existed; thanks for mentioning it. It always takes new people to show you stuff about the place you live.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Beth. “But I have to confess: I don’t know anything about gardening.”

Beth grinned at her.

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