"so you do realize that they were just hitting on you, right?" she asks coyly upon returning to the bar where she'd left her girlfriend for ten minutes while she excused herself to the restroom. she doesn't know what's worse, the fact that flora might not have realized or that her drink still isn't ready by the time she got back. "i hung back for, like, two minutes to see what would happen."

"one of these days, i'm going to have to publish an article highlighting your goodies at the bakery. sorry — baked goods, just in case you get any funny ideas."

"of course i don't! do you really expect me to believe that you love me all of a sudden? after all of the fighting, all of the arguing?"

"just because you don't actually have to give a shit about your job doesn't mean you have to be here taking up oxygen while i'm trying to do mine. unless you needed something all of a sudden? i didn't even think you'd be in town today."

eyes narrow a bit for a moment, not necessarily to scrutinize her answer but to internalize whether or now she can accept that. it doesn't exactly provide relief in what she was asking about but maybe that's just in her personality to not be satisfied at first. "that sounds to me like you'll be spending more time over there practicing. which, to each their own i guess, since it doesn't seem to be a one and done thing. i'm perfectly okay with giving you that time back to have more runway with someone else."

❝ is that what she told you? ❞ again, the accusatory tone comes out harshly but in renata's defense, it may have been misdirected. she's pissed at flora's supposed girlfriend more than anything, for treating her like this knowing that her kindness easily invites this sort of thing. deeply, renata inhales, hoping that she can rein in the frustration just a bit - at least enough to keep flora from crying further. ❝ we are friends. i care about you deeply, ❞ because renata really wouldn't spend time with people who don't matter in her life, ❝ but how long do you realistically want to keep this up? are you seriously okay with her not taking you? ❞