"And ah, yeah, open this one."
"Goodness, you shouldn't have," April gushed. "You've already made my day, sweetie."
"One more goodie won't hurt, will it?" Larry smiled benignly as he handed her the final wrapped package.
"Well," she said, smiling brightly. "I suppose I won't let it."
He laughed. "Let's hope not."
The Phaidon coffee-table tome truly did make her birthday. Never mind the DVDs ("His Girl Friday" and "Gigi"), the Merriam-Webster thesaurus, the Godiva chocolates, and the Mikasa tea-pot to complement their wedding china. Or even the chilled-just-so cannoli they brought home and enjoyed with a couple of glasses of a pricey vintage port. Larry wasn't one to tie a bow around an SUV and surprise you with it in the drive-way; and anyhow, April wasn't one to covet a new vehicle, or surprises. His gifts were always thoughtful, personal, and almost certain to gratify.
"This one's just a bit of an add-on," Larry said with a grin as April began gently tugging on the wrapping-paper. It was her way to extend the suspense of gift-opening for as long as possible.
"An add-on?" She smiled. "You've been adding them on all evening. You're spoiling me!" She pouted theatrically. "Well, at least this isn't too heavy," she added, giving it a childish shake as if to try and guess its contents.
"This one might be sortof a gift for me too," he added, with a genuine, if slightly frozen grin.
"A gift for you too," she repeated teasingly. "Well I might've hoped for a new toaster oven. But then again," she continued wryly, "I think I might know where husbands like to go to get gifts for themselves to give to their wives, no?" She laughed and looked at him inquisitively. His face answered her with a devilish, inscrutable grin that gave her a little flash of excitement. Silently she thanked herself for having allowed Larry to drill her for her sizes as she freed the box of its wrapping and opened it up in her lap and looked within.
"Erm," she said blankly. She looked up at Larry.
He smiled idiotically. His cheeks looked flushed.
April looked down again into the box. "Ah, where did this come from?"
"You know, the ah, the Hot Topic at the mall."
April released a forced little laugh. "I thought when most men wanted to buy a little gift 'for themselves', as you might put it, they went to Victoria's Secret."
Larry straightened out his mouth and took a breath. "Well, that's true I suppose, but what I wanted was a little different."
April curled her lip in an attempt to show amusement. Going through this effort helped her decide, somehow, that she was amused. Yes, she should be amused.
She held up the glossy pair of black trousers. "I take it this isn't real leather or something?"
"Oh god no, it's PVC. Your own pair of vinyl pants."
April suddenly exploded with laughter. "Oh, goodness! I hope you're not planning on dragging me to some rock concert or a nightclub. You know that's not my thing."
Larry produced a look of indignant denial. "Oh god, no. I wouldn't expect you to wear them out of the house, of course not. Why ever would I want to offend your modesty?"
April laughed, not knowing quite how to read this. "Erm, I should think this goes beyond 'modesty' to a question of, oh, taste or discretion or--" she shook her head, "--acting like a grown-up or something. Certainly not out of the house. . . ." She laughed wanly. "Erm, you're not expecting me to wear them at all, I hope."
"Well-- I mean, they're a present for you. You wouldn't want to waste a present completely, would you?"
April raised the pants out of the box and held them up above her head as she sat crouched beneath the love-seat, letting the folded pair of patent vinyl trousers fall full-length before her eyes with a crinkle. "Is the receipt in the box, dear?"
"No, it's not in the box. They're a real gift. They're meant to be kept."
"A real gift, indeed," she said, continuing to smirk with a show of good-humor. "How much did these cost?"
"Oh, never mind that. Not a lot. C'mon, be a sport. I might want to see you in them."
"Well if you see me in them I'm not sure how I'd feel about returning them because these look like the kind of thing that'd give a girl an infection. Not that I--"
"April, you're not returning them, dear. Have some fun," he goaded. "It's just a frivolous little thing and I thought we might enjoy it."
"What, you want these to be my new house pants or something? I kinda doubt that'd be too comfortable."
"Why don't you try them on? They might be comfortable enough. And ah, you know, I kinda like the look, which is why I got them in the first place."
She got a little flushed now, looking at them. Suddenly she folded them back into the box.