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“What time will I be home?”
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s two questions.”
She practically snarled at him and he laughed. “Okay, okay. How late we get home can vary. Some of it will depend on dinner, but if you hate it, we can head home anytime. I’m not kidnapping you. Though, we can arrange it if you’re into that sort of thing.”
To his surprise, she said, “I do like a little dress up, but we’ll have to work our way up to that.”
Okay. That was unexpected. It was one of the things he loved about Marsie, from the time he’d learned that she helped get one of the cafeteria ladies’ kid into college. “I will keep that in mind.”
“You’re not going to blindfold me on the drive or anything like that.”
“I thought we’d decided that we’d have to be a little further into our relationship before we played dress-up games. Not that I’m not interested, just…”
She actually tossed her napkin at him. It was probably one of the most unexpected things that had ever happened to him. He held up his hands in surrender. “No. I won’t make you wear a blindfold. It’s not that big of a surprise. You can even have your phone out the entire way and try to figure out where we’re going.”
“Ah, but can I drive?”
He glanced to the front of her house where she had a Prius parked in the driveway. “Man, it would save me a ton on gas. And if I save on gas and you’re buying my dinner, then I’m getting a great date with a hot, smart, awesome girl for free.”
She was trying to scowl again, but she couldn’t keep it up. No matter the frown her face was trying to make, her eyes were laughing.
“Here’s the thing. The problem with you driving is that you don’t know where we’re going. I’d have to give you directions. And that’s inefficient. Or I’d have to drive. I’ll drive your car, if you want. I’m sure your little Prius will be more fuel efficient.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” He hadn’t really expected her to give up control of the driving of her car. She was clearly struggling with giving up control of the decision making. The driving of her car had seemed like a bridge she wouldn’t cross.
“Sure. My car is fuel efficient. Your truck…isn’t. I’m a fan of the environment, and I like my air quality. I’m not going to quibble about you driving my car. You’re right that you know where we’re going and I don’t. And you’re also right that it’s more fuel efficient. I like to be in control and I like to know things, but I’m not unreasonable.”
“No, you’re not.” Hell, he felt like the unreasonable one now for even doubting her. It was a neat trick she played on him. He’d have to be on his toes around her at all times.
It was awesome.
“So we’re set. I’ll be back in about an hour. And I’ll drive you to an unknown place for a date. You’ll pay for dinner.”
“Do we get lunch?”
“How many questions do you have stored up in your head that you’re not asking?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure someone has figured out prime numbers that high, but it will be years before they manage a prime number higher.”
“Okay. I don’t know what that means, other than I’ll be about fifteen extra minutes so that I can look that up online in the privacy of my own home.”
“Ha.” But she was pleased. He could tell.
“I’ll make sure you get lunch. Sandwiches, or would you like something special?”
“Something special, of course. What kind of idiot woman would take sandwiches over something special?”
“I’ll see you soon, then?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll clean this up.” She sounded disappointed.
He looked back, horrified that he’d brought over breakfast and then wasn’t staying to help deal with the mess. His mother had raised him better than that.
Then she laughed and all but slapped her thigh. “God, it feels good to get someone else for a change.”
“What do you mean? You snookered my friends something good.”
“Yeah, but they didn’t know me. I’m not so good at snookering people who do know me.”
