The Almost Portion of the Evening

February fifth. We were supposed to leave at seven. It was seven thirty-eight when we actually got out the door, which is about right for any evening that starts with Simone standing in my bathroom holding one earring up to her ear and saying, not yet decided.

I had been adjusting my collar for approximately four minutes at that point, which Simone had opinions about. Not loud opinions, she doesn't do loud, just the kind of quiet, one-finger-raised assessment that means almost but you know it. I do know it. That's the annoying part. The collar is fine on its own and not quite right with this blouse and I'd been hoping no one would say so out loud. She said so out loud. We stood there for another several minutes settling both questions, the collar, the earring, which are two separate questions that somehow took the same amount of time.

the 'almost' consultation

Simone registered for the February food photography class last month. She mentioned it at the first Tuesday session back after the holidays, offhand, the way she mentions things, not as news, just as information that happens to be about herself. I've been thinking about that since. Not in a complicated way. More in the way of noticing that she took the class seriously enough to go find it herself, from the other direction, which is different from me telling her it was good. I don't have a clean sentence for what that is yet. Just that we were both finally ready at seven thirty-eight and I set the timer for one more frame before we left, which is also a thing I can't quite explain.

finally ready. forty minutes later.