Perfume
He took her silence as uncertainty. That brief moment where she wasn't sure what to say, how to tell him that his decision had been wrong. The anticipation was worse than if she had simply rebuffed him.
Yet, the gleam in her eye as she raised her head, a faint glimmer of a smile tugging at her lips, Bert felt relief in the same way someone could be dunked into the ocean and yanked back out again.
"Oh, Bert, this is too much!" she protested, although she made no move to return the gift. It was left sitting in her lap.
"I like to think tha' it's just enough," he answered, cheekily.
She shot a warning glare, although it was more playful than serious. Opening the bottle, she had already sprayed some of its contents onto her wrists when he called out in alarm.
"I mean, it's nothin' fancy but it's meant to be quite popular. I thought you'd like it… I can always get another one…"
Mary sprayed the perfume around her in a precise flurry, the scent hovering in the air. Anxious, Bert was sure it smelt nice, yet it was difficult to know if his standards matched up to hers. He did the best he could with the money he had.
She stood amid the misted cloud, allowing the final remnants to rest atop her hair, face, and blouse. Pleased, she leant forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. The act itself made him grin, even as his heart continued to beat rapidly, partly due to his nerves. As for the rest, it was from pure, unadulterated joy that she had kissed him.
"Don't be ridiculous," she lightly chastised, carefully placing the bottle inside of her bag. "I shall keep it for special occasions. We wouldn't want to waste it all at once, would we?"
He supposed not. It may have been that he paid little attention to such detail or that it was, what they called, a man's trait, but he began to realise months later that she had done just that. Every Jolly Holiday, every Evening Off, every birthday and anniversary, Bert caught the slight hint of her perfume. And it made his heart lift to know that she cherished him as much as he did her.