True. I was going to place the handles on a new piece I was making.
“I’ll find a use for the sideboard, don’t worry. And I’ll make sure it and the handles can FaceTime every Sunday.”
He elbowed me, and we stood.
We took seats in the middle row. I had the catalogue open on my lap while Remy people-watched. I’d given him the responsibility for the paddle, but it was forty minutes before we could bid on the sideboard. My strategy was to wait and not bid immediately.
Two dealers dropped out early, but one decorator who I’d outbid once before pushed the price past what I was willing to pay. Remy was itching to hold up the paddle, but I put a hand on it and shook my head.
“You lost it.” Remy was so emotional I almost expected him to cry.
“Yeah, that's the way of auctions. You win some, you lose some.”
“It’s so sad. What if that woman wants only the handles and tosses the sideboard?”
I squeezed his hand. “I know where her office is. We could check out the skip in the middle of the night and retrieve it.”
His face lit up. “I love that idea.”
I gave him the same look he’d given me this morning.
“Oh, that was sarcasm. Damn. I need to improve my sarcasm meter.”
I shushed him with a finger to his lips as the auction continued.
“Is this a normal Saturday morning for you?” he asked as we walked to the car. “Attending auctions and having items snatched away under your nose?”
“Pretty much.”
I buckled the seat belt, but Remy pointed to the woman who’d bought the sideboard. She was coming this way as her car was parked beside us.
“Talk to her,” Remy insisted.
I wound down the window. “Congrats, Vivi. You got yourself a nice piece.”
She grinned. “I know you only wanted the handles, but my client fell in love with the sideboard.”
“I’m glad the handles and the sideboard can stay together.” We said our goodbyes, and I started the car.
“Awww, I’m so happy.” Remy furrowed his brow. “Not that you missed out but that the sideboard will be loved, all of it, just as it is.”
“I’d better not bring you again or you’ll be setting up In Memoriam notices for pieces of furniture.”
Remy was still hungry despite the bacon sandwich snack from earlier, but we passed a garden center on the way home and he asked to stop.
“You did your fun thing, and now it’s my turn.”
We strolled in, and Remy breathed in the different aromas, saying he felt more alive here. Each section was connected by a gravel path, and my mate walked and held himself differently here than elsewhere, even when we were in the woods beside the lake.
My mate paused and sniffed some jasmine on a wooden trellis. The scent would be amplified come nightfall, but I caught a whiff of the perfume as I leaned toward the small white flowers.
“I have an affinity with plants too because I work with them in a sense.”
Remy side-eyed me. “They’re dead, though.”
“Yes, but I transform them into something beautiful.”
My mate took off toward the back of the lot where the trees were located. We walked between the maples and birches until Remy reached a eucalyptus. He put his palm on it and rested his head on the bark that was peeling in the distinctive way gum trees did.
