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Mike pulled away from the curb.

“How’s work?” Jesse asked. “You got a lot of clients?”

“Not too bad,” Mike said, taking a right. “Picking up. It died after the New Year’s rush, I was getting like ten hours a week.”

Jesse sucked air through his teeth. “How you paying your bills, bro?”

“Don’t worry about what I’m doing,” Mike said good-naturedly. “Hey, so I wanted to ask you,” he said, glancing at me. “Larissa’s birthday is next month. What do you think I should get her? I was thinking one of those giant stuffed teddy bears? Those big-ass ones?”

“Uh, she lives in an apartment…” I said.

“Those things are a waste of money, dude,” Jesse said.

Mike looked scandalized. “What do you mean? They’re fucking awesome. That thing’s like, seven feet tall.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s exactly the problem—the thing’s like, seven feet tall,” I said.

He deflated. “Well, what the hell should I get her, then?”

“I don’t know. Something personal?” I said.

“Like what?”

“She’s your girlfriend. You know your girlfriend,” I said.

“I’m not good at stuff like this. Help me.”

I let out a breath. “She likes jewelry.”

“Okay, so I should get her jewelry?”

“No. She makes her own. Maybe get her a jewelry box?”

He was nodding. “Good idea. I like this.”

Then I got a vision of him getting something cheesy.

I let out a sigh and got out my phone and went to pull up a woodworker I followed. “This guy in Wakan does custom jewelry boxes,” I said. “They’re not cheap, but they’re really nice, she’ll like it. He can engrave her name in it. If you order it now, you can probably get it in time.”

“Cool, send me that info,” he said.

“She doesn’t wear necklaces,” I said. “Only bracelets and earrings. Tell him that.”

“Yeah yeah. Thanks, dude!”

“Larissa’s been marked safe from the giant fucking teddy bear,” Jesse said. “Good job, Chris.”

Mike snorted. “Might still get it.”

“Do not get it,” I said. “Trust me. It’ll stress her out.”

“How do you know?”

“Because when we were potty-training Woofarine, she barely had room for the crate. You’re just gonna give her something that she doesn’t have room for and she’ll feel bad getting rid of.”

“Kind of like you, Mike,” Jesse said, slapping his shoulder.

Mike laughed, but there was something tight about it.