Page 66 of Later Bloom

Her hair is different, shorter. She’s not quite as tan as she was, and she’s not wearing any makeup, which is new. She sets down her rag and circles the island with her arms outstretched.

The air is fresh and smells like lemon. Aubrey draws in a deep inhale and immediately feels as if she’s never left. Maybe it’s been a day or two, tops. Not half a year, not even a little. The apartment looks the same except for the kettle, which is a fancy brand-name model now, and the clutter, which has grown and spread but in a good way.

“Well, look at this!” Aubrey says, which pleases Maggie tremendously.

They lean in for a familiar hug. Then it doesn’t feel like it’s only been a day. Aubrey lingers. Against Maggie’s shoulder, she says, “Very cozy.”

“How was your flight?”

“Fine. Just agitated enough to remind me of my own mortality.”

Maggie steps around Aubrey to wheel both of her suitcases past the threshold. “What about Louise?”

“Headed to my mom’s. Very weird to think that she’ll hang out with my mom before I get to speak to her myself, and what Louise might tell her about the last few months, right?”

Maggie shuts the door as Aubrey kicks off her boots. It’s impressive how quickly they return to their routine. “What do you mean? You hung out and explored a bit, made a couple friends. It’s not exactly a wild life you’ve been living. I don’t mean that in a bad way, obviously.”

“No, no, I know. I’m just saying.” Aubrey’s back is turned to Maggie now. She fixes her eye on the window, tries to breathe somewhat normally, and says, in an almost normal tone, “Oh, by the way, I’ve had a sort of realization. About Arthur.”

There are footsteps behind her—Maggie must be in the kitchen again. “Jesus, this Arthur guy. You talk about him so much I’m fully convinced now you’re in love with him.”

The silence that follows is long. Very long. It keeps on lengthening. Finally, Aubrey says, “Not in love with him, obviously.” It echoes like she’s just run up a flight of stairs. Weakly, she adds, “That would be ridiculous.”

She hears herself, obviously she does. She knows it’s safer to keep her back to Maggie, because turning around would render her efforts pointless. Maggie would see it in her face. She would feel it in the way Aubrey smiles, a little off like she’s forgotten how to do it properly, and the way she can’t settle her eye on one thing for too long.

“You’re joking,” Maggie says.

“What do you mean?” It’s a genuine question. Maggie’s inflection is difficult to read. Aubrey’s not so sure about this now.

“Are you actually into him?”

Aubrey pivots a little. Reluctantly, she says, “Yes, well. It seems I am. Just woke up one morning, and there it was.”

“There it was?”

“Ah, you know. The feeling. Thinking about him, wondering if he’s thinking about me. Rehashing the last thing I told him and coming up with ten alternatives that would’ve been better. Wondering what it would be like to wake up next to him, and also knowing where he might be that day and thinking it might not be too insane to go there too and just happen to run into him, like at the supermarket. I don’t know.” Aubrey winces. “Well, I do know. That’s what I’m saying. I know—I know I like him.”

“Fuck off!”

Aubrey can’t find much else to say, so she offers a shrug and outstretched hands. She knows she looks cartoonish, but suddenly Maggie is squealing and leaping in her direction, and they’re hugging again.

“Fuck off!” Maggie says again, a danger to Aubrey’s eardrums. “You’re kidding me!”

“Afraid not!”

“Jesus.” Maggie drops the hug and sighs in relief. “You’ve done it.”

“I’ve done nothing.”

“You’ve fallen for a man.”

“Oh. Well, that. You know I’ve had crushes before.”

“That’s not the same. It’s—I can tell this is something else. Full honesty, I wasn’t sure the day would come.”

They’re just standing there in the living room, which feels comical. Aubrey wants to sit, but she’s not sure which spot would be hers now. “I wasn’t sure either,” she confesses.

“So you know.” There’s a lot in the way Maggie says these words—relief, finality, maybe joy. “You see what I told you—you know.”