Page 38

“No.” Esther shook her head. “No, this is plenty to process already. Let’s move on.”

“Great.” He jumped up from the chair and skipped over to her. “Friend level, upgraded. Now, on that note, can we talk about my problems?”

“Oh. Sure, what’s happening?” She dusted off her hands, retuning to the sharp change in focus.

“I have man problems. Did you think this conversation was going to pass the Bechdel test?”

“I, umm…no?”

“Are you free this afternoon?”

This felt like a trap. But he’d just talked her through her fumbling identity crisis.

“I was going to work on my final project some,” she said. “Why?”

“August is being suspicious. He’s invited me to this ‘gardening club’” —Uther used finger quotes— “but he was all cagey and nondescript about it. Something is afoot.”

“Oh.” Esther shrugged. “Maybe it’s a date.”

“To a gardening club?” Uther raised a skeptical brow.

“I don’t kn?—”

“In November?”

“Okay, well, it does sound a little weird.”

Uther snatched her hand. “Can you come with me?”

“What?” Esther pulled her hand back. “Uther, I’m not going on a probable date with you and August.”

“But, Esther.” He propped his hands under his chin to emphasize how large and puppy-like his eyes were growing.

She glared and pointed at his face. “Stop it.”

“Esther, my one true friend and the apple of my eye, come to this thing with me that’s probably not a date for moral support.”

She huffed, resting her fists on her hips. “And if it turns out to be a date?”

Uther scoffed, waving away her concerns. “It’s not a date. You just said. Who takes someone to a gardening club as a date?”

“Ididn’t say it wasn’t a date!Yousaid that.”

“Esther.” He took her hand and dropped to one knee.

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “Uther,” she hissed, looking around to see if anyone was watching. “People are going to think you’re proposing.”

“Iamproposing.” Uther pressed one hand solemnly to his heart. His other remained a vice on hers. “I’m proposing we spend the afternoon together at this gardening club.”

“Stop it. All right, fine. Get up, and I’ll go with you, okay?”

“Yay!” He leaped to his feet and wrapped his arms around her, spinning her so fast her legs lifted from the ground. “She said yes!” he shouted to the two people smoking by the backdoor of the restaurant.

They cheered their support and Esther’s face heated.

She would not smile and encourage his antics. “This better not be a date.”

13