Aaron looked at the time—almost eleven—and messaged Jay before he could overthink it.
AARON: Not sure if you have plans this afternoon, but I’m going furniture shopping and I’m graciously allowing you to join me.
Jay’s response arrived before Aaron had a chance to panic.
JAY: That is most magnanimous of you. Will I be allowed to offer my opinions or is my role restricted to following you around with a palm frond?
AARON: You will be allotted three opinions at a time of your choosing.
JAY: Deal. Send me your address, and I’ll pick you up in an hour.
Aaron sighed in relief, hoping their easy back-and-forth would help skip past any awkwardness. He sent Jay his address and started getting ready.
The first hurdle was deciding what to wear. A boring weekend errand didn’t warrant a suit, but he hated wearing jeans and T-shirts, his body rejecting the feel of rough denim and bare arms. After examining his choices, Aaron settled on a silky lavender button-down and a pair of thin gray slacks that looked formal despite the comfortable, stretchy fabric.
There was still time, so he skimmed the list of furniture he’d made earlier and walked around the apartment, appraising each room to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. He had a lot of empty space to fill. This shopping trip would be expensive.
When his phone chirped with Jay’s message, Aaron flew out the door in nervous anticipation, finding Jay casually leaning against a truck.
“How many cars do you own?” Aaron asked with amusement. Despite being out of it when Jay drove them to the diner, he distinctly remembered a practical blue sedan.
“Borrowed it from my sister.” Jay stepped up to give Aaron a brief hug before opening the passenger door. “In case we needed to move some furniture.”
“We?” Aaron climbed in and waited for Jay to walk around to the driver’s seat. “You know I have a bad back and a good job, right? I amnotmoving anything heavy. It’s delivery or nothing.”
“Fair enough. But if there’s time, I want to take you to this cute little shop that sells vintage pieces, and they definitely don’t deliver.”
His days of picking up heavy things were over, and no amount of cute vintage furniture would change that, but Aaron loved that Jay went to the trouble of borrowing a truck for him. It made his heart flutter. “That’s sweet of you.”
“I’m a sweet guy,” Jay smirked. “Where to?”
Aaron had a few stores in mind. Ideally, he’d get everything he needed at one store, but Jay laughed at that plan, joking that they’d be lucky to get it done in one day.
He was proven wrong almost immediately.
Though it couldn’t be done at one store, Aaron took pride in impressing Jay with his efficiency by picking everything for the guest bedroom within the first thirty minutes. Furnishing the living room took longer, since he wanted to match his existing decor—a few abstract paintings he’d collected over the years, a glass sculpture, the giant turquoise vase from his wedding reception. Eventually, he settled on a minimalist look of clean lines and muted colors.
Jay surprised him by chiming in with insightful opinions as they strolled around, picking out the perfect coffee table and even suggesting a matching liquor cabinet. Aaron asked how he knew what to pick, to which Jay shrugged, saying he could just tell.
Being with him was easy, as if they’d known each other for years instead of weeks. There hadn’t been a trace ofawkwardness in their conversation, and Aaron’s earlier concerns slowly faded away, replaced with the coil of heat in his stomach that flared every time Jay’s gaze lingered on him a second too long.
“This is going to be quick.” Aaron rubbed his hands in anticipation as Jay pulled into the parking lot of the next store on the list. “A dresser, some bookshelves, maybe one of those fancy benches that interior decorators put at the foot of the bed for some reason. In and out.”
Jay chuckled. “You don’t have to tell me. I’m now a believer that it is, indeed, possible to furnish an entire apartment in three hours.”
“After this, I’m taking you out to a late lunch slash early dinner for all your help,” Aaron promised as they walked into the large space filled with a crowd of people navigating around the closely crammed furniture.
Jay looked around. “Wow, this is a zoo.”
“It’s not ideal,” Aaron agreed. “But I know what I want from the website. I just need to look at it first.”
Jay pointed to the nearest employee, and Aaron mapped out his approach before squeezing between two nightstands and skirting a giant couch. Jay got stuck behind, his broad frame too bulky to fit in the narrow space, and Aaron watched in amusement before turning to the employee and reading her name tag.
“Hi, Jackie! I’m looking for the dresser from the…” He checked his phone. “The Infinity Collection? The one with the fun handles?”
Jackie beamed at him. “Oh, that’s a good one. All theInfinitèhas been moved to the showcase. The dresser’s in the main bedroom area.”
“Oh, like those tiny little cubicles that are set up like real rooms? I love those,” Jay said from behind, finally caught up.
