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One year later, and Dani still found herself helplessly staring at her overall-clad girlfriend. Normally, Jamie dressed up a bit more for work, but she’d recently instituted “causal Fridays”, mostly as an excuse to not have to do laundry as often. And Dani certainly wasn’t complaining.
Jamie looked especially cute at the moment because she had multiple smudges of dirt on her face: one by her eyebrow, another on her cheek, a third on her nose and the most recent addition on her chin. They were entirely self-inflicted, of course. Jamie had a rather bad habit of touching her face — especially, ironically, when she was tending to her plants.
Dani still didn’t fully comprehend everything that went into caring for the plants, which only made Dani even more in awe of her. So, when things were slow, Dani would just stand behind the counter and watch her be in her element.
Unfortunately for Dani, two customers, a woman and her teenage daughter it seemed, had just walked in. For the moment, they appeared to be browsing, but Dani still had a job to do. And loathe as she was to do it, she didn’t want Jamie to be embarrassed in front of the customers, so she walked over to her now, wet paper towel in hand.
“Hey,” Jamie said, grinning.
She made a few finishing touches on the plant and then turned to face Dani, who couldn’t help her smile widening as she took in Jamie’s face up-close. Jamie had apparently smudged her other cheek in the few moments Dani had looked away to grab the paper towel, which she raised now in a display of incredible willpower.
“C’mere.”
Holding Jamie’s head steady, Dani gently got to work. She could see Jamie blush even under the dirt.
“Oh… ” Jamie laughed awkwardly. “Thanks.”
Dani bit her lip to keep from giggling. This was not the first time she’d done this, but Jamie still got adorably flustered every time.
“Mom! Do we have to do this right now?”
The duo had been bickering since they’d walked in, but it had been passive-aggressive enough for Dani to be able to tune out. Now, evidently, that would no longer be the case. Dani saw her own discomfort mirrored on Jamie’s face, but neither of them looked over.
“You’re going to college.”
“Why?! I don’t need to to get a job!”
“Yes, you do. To get a respectable job.”
“What does that even mean?!”
“Lower your voice.”
In her periphery, Dani saw the woman glance over at them. Having worked her way down, Dani was now wiping Jamie’s chin.
“You’re the one who started this!”
“Because you need to hear it. If you don’t go to college, you’ll end up… like her.”
The last bit had been said as a stage whisper at best, and the woman’s voice was so grating that it carried quite far across the room.
Dani immediately felt Jamie tense up. Her cheeks turned from pink to red, and her gaze plummeted to the floor.
“Jamie?” Dani whispered, not wanting to draw any more attention to her but desperate to help her.
But Jamie stepped back, clearing her throat.
“Thanks, Poppins. I’ll just, uh, get back to it, then.”
She cleared her throat again and turned around to work on a new plant. Dani, letting the anger she’d felt instantaneously boil to the surface now, turned to their customers as she squeezed the paper towel in her clenched fist.
“What did you say?”
The woman glanced over.
“Oh, I wasn’t talking about you, dear.”
Then, she turned back to her daughter. Dani felt her face flush.
“This woman right here is the reason this place exists. I’m not her boss. She’s mine.”
“Dani - ”
Dani had seen Jamie turn back around out of the corner of her eye. Dani reached for Jamie’s hand without taking her steely gaze off the woman, squeezed it and pressed on before Jamie could object further.
“All of this.” Dani gestured broadly with her other hand. “All of this beauty. It’s all her. And it is a privilege that you get to see it!” Dani took a breath to steady herself. “And maybe you should try listening to your daughter, instead of assuming you know better. Because if she ends up anything like Jamie… she will be better for it.”
The woman looked dumbstruck at first, then outraged. But just as she went to speak, her daughter cut her off.
“We were just leaving.”
The woman turned to her, scoffing.
“You’ve made your point, Mom. Please, can we go?”
The woman turned back to Dani, harrumphed, then turned around and stormed out. Her daughter followed but glanced back when she reached the door, trying for an apologetic smile, it seemed. Dani knew it well. It had become muscle memory to her growing up. The girl looked like she wanted to say something, but then she turned back and walked out.
Dani exhaled, frustrated but relieved. Then, she turned to Jamie and felt her face fall. Jamie was crying softly.
“Oh, honey, I’m so - ”
Just then, the door reopened. Dani swung around to give the woman another piece of her mind.
“Oh, sorry. I can - I can come back.”
It was a different, apparently more empathetic, woman.
“No.” Jamie cleared her throat and turned inward toward Dani so the woman couldn’t see her face as she wiped it. “Can you… ”
“Yeah… of course. Are you - ”
“I’ll be in the back room if you need me.”
“Okay.”
Jamie squeezed her hand, then released it and walked away. Dani plastered on a smile.
“How can I help you, miss?”
*****
Unfortunately customers just kept coming after that. Admittedly, it was strange to view that as a problem as a business owner, but Dani was itching to check on Jamie. She also knew, though, that Jamie would be more embarrassed if Dani held up their customers or even turned them away on her account. So, Dani pushed through.
Finally, about an hour later, they hit a lull. Without a second thought, Dani locked the doors and flipped the sign and slowly opened the door to the back room.
“Sounded busy out there.”
Jamie didn’t look over and continued doing inventory. She didn’t seem to be actively crying anymore, though.
“Yeah.” Dani walked in and closed the door behind her. “I’m sorry I would’ve come soon, but - ”
“No, I’m sorry for leavin’ ya to handle it on your own.”
“Jay… ”
“Won’t happen again.”
Dani sighed and walked over to her.
“You know that’s not why I came in here.”
“No?” Jamie finally looked up from her clipboard, smirking. She raised an eyebrow. “What’d ya have in mind, then?”
Dani tried and completely failed to keep a straight face and could feel her cheeks roasting. Jamie laughed and then looked away again and got back to work.
“I don’t care what that twat said.”
“Jamie… ”
“Sorry, WASP.”
“Jamie!”
Dani tried to say it firmly couldn’t help laughing a bit. She saw Jamie smile briefly.
“Okay, maybe I do… a little… But that’s not… ” Jamie sighed, put the clipboard down on the counter and looked back over. “I was cryin’ ’cause ah what you said.”
“Oh.”
Dani wanted to facepalm. She should’ve known. Granted, most people would react more emotionally to scorn than support. But Jamie wasn’t most people.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to worry ya.”
Jamie was blushing again. She looked down. Dani stepped closer and rubbed her back.
“No, no. It’s okay.”
“Thank you, by the way.”
Dani smiled.
“I was just stating facts.”
“Dani!”
Jamie whipped her head back up. Dani’s hand froze on her back.
“What… Oh, sorry!”
Jamie’s eyes were still red-rimmed, and Dani could see now that new tears were starting to glisten. Dani pulled her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry!”
Jamie laughed shakily.
“I won’t say anything else for the rest of the day, I promise.”
Jamie laughed harder, then sighed.
“I love you.”
Dani smiled as she cradled Jamie’s head and rubbed her back. It had been a couple weeks since Jamie had said it for the first time, but Dani could tell she was still getting used to it. She usually said it once a day now, right after they would turn off the lights to go to sleep. It was becoming her routine, and Dani was so proud of her.
She’d even heard Jamie say it in her sleep a few times, too, and felt her heart burst out of her chest. This was the first time Jamie was spontaneously saying it while she was awake, though — the first time since that first day, at least. She’d said it quite a few times that day.
As her smile widened, Dani breathed in and then remembered what she’d just said.
“You can say it back.”
Dani giggled.
“I love you, Jay.”
Dani felt Jamie smile into her shoulder, then pull back.
“Are you okay?”
Dani cocked her head.
“I just - what ya said. Wasn’t all about me, right?”
Dani just stared at her for a moment and then raised her eyebrows. Even in the midst of her own emotional turmoil, Jamie had picked up on something she herself had already forgotten.
“I - yeah, but I’m fine. It was… it was kinda cathartic, actually.”
“Yeah?”
Dani laughed humorlessly.
“Closest I’ll ever get to confronting my mother.”
“Doesn’t have to be.”
Dani gaped at her.
Dani had told her everything there was to know about her mother. And Dani hadn’t even talked to her mother in nearly year, not since she’d mentioned Jamie during a phone call.
She hadn’t even had the chance to fully explain who Jamie was to her before her mother’s tone had caused her to slam the phone back on the hook. And here Jamie was offering to meet her, full well knowing what that would entail.
Dani shook her head.
“I could never put you through that.”
“I don’t mind.”
Dani smiled and cupped Jamie’s face.
“I do.”
“All right… but if ya change your mind - ”
“Thank you.”
Jamie smiled, then laughed.
“So should we reopen, or?”
It was early afternoon still. Dani laughed.
“Right… Are you - ”
“Thanks to you.”
Dani smile’s widened. She leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss Jamie’s forehead, then took her hands off Jamie’s blushing cheeks.
“Wait, what if we stayed closed… a little longer?”
Jamie’s smirked returned as she raised an eyebrow.
“Poppins… ”
Dani rolled her eyes.
“I meant to go get ice cream.”
“Oh.” Jamie’s face lit up. “Yeah, all right.”
Dani beamed, took Jamie’s hand, turned around and walked back into the main room.
“Can I get sprinkles?”
Dani scoffed as she grabbed her purse off the coat rack.
“What?”
“It’s offensive that you felt the need to ask.”
Jamie giggled, then kissed Dani’s shoulder.
“Sorry, Poppins.”
Dani sighed.
“You’re lucky I’m not crying right now.”
Dani once again failed to keep a straight face. Jamie stopped dead in her tracks.
“Oi!”
Giggling, Dani released her hand and ran out the door. Jamie followed a few steps behind.
“Just for that I’m makin’ mine a double!”