Page 85 of Where You're Planted

“Sure,” Tansy said.

“Except that’s not what happened.” Omar smiled at Amy with so much affection, it radiated off him. And as much as Jack complained about this story and acted like his sister getting with his best friend had been a huge hardship, it genuinely moved him how Omar looked at her, still. It was hardto remember right now why Amy’s pregnancy had felt like a force field, shocking him back from them.

“No,” Amy agreed, “what happened was that the power was out forfour days, and for the first two, I ate stale peanut butter crackers and sweated my ass off in that hotbox of an apartment until I couldn’t stand it anymore and drove to Jack’s place to see ifhispower was on. Plus, I knew he had a generator and probably six months’ worth of nonperishables. I got over there, raided his pantry, and tried to start the generator, but first of all, the directions were very confusing, and once I figured them out, I could not for the life of me pull the cord hard enough to get it going.”

Tansy was smiling so wide, her eyes shining, fully entertained by Amy’s story, even as she hummed sympathetically.

“For a full hour, I yanked on that damn cord. And it was so incredibly hot and humid. I was drenched in sweat, and I hadn’t had enough water, and I had this heart thing…” She touched her chest, where her scar was. “I needed to cool off, so I came back inside, stripped off all of my sweaty clothes, and just starfished on the kitchen tile, naked as the day I was born.”

Tansy was laughing so hard now, she had to swipe tears from the corners of her eyes. Even though Jack had heard this story a dozen times, he couldn’t hold in his own chuckle at Amy’s dramatics.

“So at this point, I should tell you that Jack had a roommate.”

Omar raised his hand, sending Tansy into another fit of giggles. “No,” she gasped.

“He had been on long shifts with the fire department since the hurricane made landfall, so by the end of day three, he was exhausted and filthy—”

“Desperate for a cold shower,” Omar said.

“As in, he was already pulling off his clothes as he came in the door, thinking no one would be there.”

Tansy turned and buried her face in Jack’s chest, laughing so hard she snorted and then laughed harder at that. He pulled his arm around her tighter, smiling into her hair, until she gathered herself and returned her attention across the table. “Okay, oh my God,” she sighed. “Continue.”

“So I’m tits up on the kitchen floor, possibly about to pass out, contemplating all of my life choices, and suddenly thisnaked manwalks right past me, doubles back, anddivesover the couch into the living room, where he crashes through the coffee table. I thought I must be hallucinating, so I didn’t even react.”

“Which mademethink she was severely injured or possibly dead. So I go over to assess her condition—”

“Still naked,” Amy added.

“And she says—”

Amy covered her face as if she was embarrassed, but she also beat him to the punchline, wailing, “Don’t tell Jack about my tattoo!”

“What was the tattoo?” Tansy gasped, absolutely beaming with delight.

Amy couldn’t get it out for a full minute, finally squeaking, “The Disney Robin Hood. On my hip.”

“What?The fox?”

“It was a dumb, drunken dare thing my first semester of college that I fully intended to take to my grave. That damn cartoon fox was my sexual awakening, okay? I’m sorry.”

“Ah, come on,” Jack muttered.

“No, you’re not wrong,” Tansy whispered conspiratorially. “That animated Robin Hood was way hotter than he had a right to be.”

“On that note,” Jack said, pushing up from the table and then dropping a kiss on Tansy’s head.

“See?” Amy pointed out. “He getsstressed.”

Jack ignored her, gathering the plates from the table and taking them into the kitchen. Omar followed with the empty beer bottles, and Jack rinsed them for recycling.

“This is good, man,” Omar said, leaning back against the counter. His gaze was directed back to the women at the table. “Been a while since I’ve seen you like this.”

“Like what?” Jack joked. “Traumatized by one of Amy’s stories?”

Omar chuckled. “Nah. Happy.”

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