Page 109 of Let's Talk About Love

“You’re pretty when you’re petty.”

“You only said that because it rhymed.”

“Just because you’re right doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

“Look, either write a children’s book or cut it out.” She laughed. “Here. Happy anniversary. Again.”

“We agreed no presents this time,” he said, taking her hastily wrapped gift.

“I know, but technically this one is old and overdue. Open it, please?”

He unwrapped the dark green scarf she had struggled to make. Turns out, knitting wasn’t as easy as YouTube tutorials made it seem. She thought the color went well with his newly dyed hair—a rich auburn that took some getting used to (she may or may not have screamed when she saw it), but it made his brown eyes even more extraordinary.

“There are a few gaps where I messed up. But if you wear it like this”—she took it from Takumi, looping it around his neck and tucking it into a half bow—“you can’t see them.”

“You made this? When?”

“In between classes. Sometimes in class if I could get away with it.I wanted you to be surprised.” She showed him the tag she’d made with the date, their names, and the scarf’s number. “This was attempt number six.”

“What did you do with the other five?”

“Gave them to Glory to play with. I didn’t want to feel like I’d wasted the yarn.”

“Thank you. I love it.” He tucked in his chin and held the scarf up to his nose. “It smells like you.” He wrapped his arm around her and she all but jumped into the embrace to hug him.

After they’d eaten dinner and finished their movie, and after they had their moment, when the apartment was quiet and the lights were off, after Takumi told Alice he loved her seven times, and right when Alice had run out of things to tell him to keep him awake, she said, “This was a good anniversary. I mean, sure it wasn’t a red-eye flight to Tanzania so we could hike up Mount Kilimanjaro or whatever extreme sporty thing tickles your fancy—”

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“I’m still trying to figure out what possessed you to take me to an underwater hotel. There were sharks, Takumi.”

“It was an amazing deal. How was I supposed to pass it up? And of course I wanted to go with you.” He yawned. “I thought it’d be fun.”

“Do you even know me?” She snuggled closer to him, trying to absorb some of his sleepiness. She was wide-awake for some reason.

“I know you make me happy,” he said, seconds away from falling asleep. “I know you love me.”

“I know you love me, too.”