Page 77 of Blush
I don’t let myself finish the thought.
Mandy and I leave her building and walk together to another little sushi bar a couple of blocks away. We know all the sushi places near her place.
We find two seats at the bar, and Mandy walks toward them, but I say, “Let’s get a table.”
“Jack, we always sit at the bar.”
“I know. Let’s do something different.”
She shrugs. “Okay. Whatever.”
We wait for the hostess to seat us at a two-top. I was actually hoping for a four-top, but since we’re a party of two, I can’t make a fuss. A two-top seems so…intimate.
The contradiction inside me is driving me to drink. For a moment, I feel like that mythical creature fromDr. Dolittle, the Pushmi-Pullyu.
Before I can say a word to Mandy, a waiter accosts us, asking for drink orders.
“Sake?” I say to Mandy.
She huffs softly. “You know I hate the stuff, Jack. I think I’ll have a…dirty martini.”
I widen my eyes. “Not a sidecar? I thought you said martinis taste like rubbing alcohol.”
“It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.” she says coyly. “Make it a dirty vodka martini.”
“Dirty vodka martini for the lady,” the waiter says. “And for you, sir?”
“Konteki Tears of Dawn, please.”
This time Mandy widens her eyes. It’s an expensive sake, but it’s one of my favorites. Mandy makes decent money working for her romance author, but I probably make four times what she does. Still, she winces whenever I buy something expensive.
It’s kind of how we’ve always been. She grew up a lot more modestly than I did. Our mothers were best friends, and when they both got married, they lived in the same neighborhood on Long Island. But then my father made it big in a tech start-up, and we moved to a different neighborhood. A much more expensive neighborhood, but still close enough to Mandy that we went to the same schools.
Our moms were pregnant at the same time, too. Mandy came early, and she’s actually a month and three days older than I am.
When I say we’ve been best friends since we were in diapers, I’m not exaggerating.
The waiter nods and heads to the bar.
Mandy picks up her pencil and her menu. “I’m in the mood for some unagi today.”
“You’re always in the mood for unagi.”
“It’s my favorite.”
“But it’s cooked.”
“So what? Sushi doesn’t have to be raw to be good.”
“Let me guess. Dragon roll, right? Salmon skin roll. Plus a few pieces of nigiri unagi.”
She shakes her head, sighing. “You know what? No. No unagi tonight. Just like no sidecar.”
“Mandy…”
“It’s time to expand my horizons, Jack. I’m wearing a corset, and I’m having a dirty martini. Let’s change things up in the sushi area as well.” She glances at her menu and makes several checkmarks with her small pencil.
And I’m ridiculously curious. I wait for her to tell me what she’s ordering.