Page 119 of Pucking Matt
I shake my head.
“A card?”
I shake my head again.
“What is wrong with you? Let’s go get her one. Come on.”
I walk beside Amber across the store to the greeting cards. I take a few, reading them.
“These are brutal,” I mutter.
“What, you don’t like cards?”
“You know these end up in the trash, right?” I ask, placing a card back where I got it.
“So, what if it does? The point is the gesture.”
I lean down to look at one that’s caught my attention. “I’ll leave it to you to choose a good one.”
She picks one and says, “Let’s get her a thoughtful gift. Something for the kitchen. Maybe some wine.”
“That’s a bit overboard.”
She scoffs. “No, it’s not.”
I throw an arm over her shoulder and say, “The card is enough.”
She looks up at me, staring into my eyes.
I continue, “Trust me. The card is thoughtful enough. Do you need anything else before we leave?”
She looks forward. “Maybe some nail polish.”
We walk across the aisle into the beauty section. We walk down a few until she finds the nail polish.
“Any color I shouldn’t do?” she asks.
“White,” I joke.
She shakes her head. “I want a complimentary color like blue.”
“Or,” I grab the yellow. “You could paint them this color.”
She grabs it and asks, “Yellow?”
I nod. “I think your boyfriend plays for the Honey Badgers or something.”
“Okay,” she rolls her eyes. “That’s something a cute girlfriend would do. And I like it, it’s like a honey yellow. Fitting.”
She’s chewing her bottom lip as she observes me for a moment.
“Bandages?” she asks.
I follow her, expecting that she knows where to go. And she does. We walk down the aisle as she looks at my face.
“Oh, it’s bleeding,” she says, walking up to me. She reaches for my cheek as I peer down at her. She taps my cheek very gently. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, observing her.
