Page 42 of Indescribable
He says it with such surety that I can’t help but believe it myself.
ChapterNine
Naomi
“I can’t believe you guys are staying an extra day just so we could have dinner together,” Paisley says to us in the lobby of Local Goat.
“Why wouldn’t we? Besides, we kind of got lucky being able to stay an extra night in the same room so it seems like it was meant to be.”
“Well, you certainly didn’t have to put off getting your nails done until today,” she adds with a blush. “But I’m glad you did.”
I wink. “It was Brock’s pleasure.”
She laughs. “One day I’m going to have to come to Red Oak so I can thank him.”
A twinge of jealousy sparks in my gut but I know she didn’t mean it the way I immediately thought.
“Maybe a teaching position will open up in Red Oak!” Corbin cheers. “I know that there’s some teachers retiring in the next year or two.”
“Really?”
Corbin nods. “Yeah. I know of four, actually. But only one in the middle school. I’m pretty sure it’s Language Arts, though.”
Paisley squeals. “I’m going to research this for sure. I like the idea of a smaller town.”
“Red Oak is definitely small,” I agree just as our name is called for our table.
We trail after the hostess who seats us in a booth. I sit next to Paisley so she doesn’t feel like the odd man out and like we’re grilling her if we ask her questions.
“Your server will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you,” we all tell her, opening our menus immediately.
My mouth is already watering.
“We can all agree to skip over the salads, yeah?” Corbin says.
“Definitely,” I agree.
I turn to Paisley. “You’re the expert here. What do you suggest?”
“Let’s start with drinks and an appetizer or two. Do you like beer? Mixed drinks? Wine?”
“Yes.”
She laughs. “All right then. The fried green tomatoes are the bomb. But so is everything else. I haven’t tried the fried deviled eggs, though.”
“Hmm. It all looks good. For sure the tomatoes, but I’m kind of intrigued by the cheese fondue, too. And the stuffed peppers. And the BBQ shrimp.”
“Are we just ordering appetizers for our meal?” I tease Corbin.
She shushes me. “I’m on vacation. Let me enjoy my life.”
“I wasn’t judging. Just don’t want to end up with food we can’t eat.”
“Should we pick two?” Paisley suggests.
“Good plan. Or maybe three?” I amend, after reading the descriptions.