Page 31 of Two Friends in Marriage
“Fine with me.What about a Boston fern?”
“Put it in the cart.”
“Ooh, look!”I say.“This one is called a Swiss cheese vine.Don’t you like cheese?”
She considers the hole-y plant for a moment and nods.“Sure, why not?”
By the time we leave the store—five minutes before closing—we’ve spent over a hundred dollars on plants and a variety of other things, and I laugh as I jog with the cart toward the car, Jane jogging beside me despite her heels.
She starts to load our purchases into the car.“Shit.”
“What is it?”I ask.
“The mass—whatever.The tall plant.How are we going to get it home?”
I look at my hatchback, then the plant, and start laughing.“Maybe we should return it?”
She twists her lips.“No, we’ll try to make it work.We’ll put everything else in first, and I’ll sit in the backseat to babysit it.”
In the end, we push forward the passenger’s seat, set the mass cane on the floor behind it, and tip the plant to the side.Jane sits behind the driver’s seat and holds on to the plant’s trunk.She moves a leaf out of the way so she can close the door.
“Ready?”I ask, fastening my seatbelt.
“Let’s go,” she says.
We manage to get the plants into our house with only a small amount of spilled dirt, which I promptly clean up.
“Where should we put them?”I ask.
“We’ll need to look up what conditions they prefer.Or ask Yvonne.We can do that tomorrow.For now…” Jane sets the largest plant near the back door and carefully places Watson underneath.
For some reason, seeing Jane in her going-out clothes, gently positioning a large plushie, causes a rush of amused fondness in my chest.If I’m honest with myself, the intensity is unlike what I would have felt if I’d seen her doing such a thing even a few weeks ago.
I’m not sure I want to be honest.
“What do you want to do now?”she asks.“I need to get out of these clothes…”
She says something after that, but I’m not paying attention.I’m thinking of her sitting on the bathroom counter as she did my makeup.I’m thinking of removing that shirt with the same care she showed Watson.Brushing her nipple—
“Evan?”she says.
“I was just thinking…we didn’t take any pictures of us.That seems like a mistake.Since we both look nice.Even if you have dirt on your pants now.”
She looks down and wipes it off, and I try to get myself under control.
“You’re right,” she says at last.“You look really good tonight.You deserve a picture.”
I hand her my phone before sitting beside Watson and the plant on the carpet, which earns me a chuckle that I find more delightful than I should.Especially after her compliment—though I tell myself she was just complimenting her own work.
She takes a couple of pictures, and then I beckon her onto the couch.When she sits down, I join her, and I hold my phone up for a selfie.
“Is this really necessary?”she mutters, but she leans closer to me for the picture.
I take a few before telling her that I need a shower.“Want to watch an episode afterward?”I don’t say which show, but she’ll know.
“Sure.”
Upstairs, I inspect my face in the mirror before removing the makeup, then pop a gummy.I take a cool shower, which I hope will be enough to douse the physical attraction I feel toward Jane, since this was very much not part of the deal.
