Page 54 of Tutored in Love
“I’m starved,” Garth said. “Are we eating soon?”
Noah’s stomach grumbled in agreement as Jane answered. Any trace of the sack lunch he’d eaten as they drove was long gone. “There’s an Indian place nearby that’s supposed to be amazing.”
“Mmm,” one of the twins said. “Do you think it’s as good as Prasanna Palace?”
Noah had heard people rave about the Indian restaurant in Oak Hills, but his budget didn’t accommodate eating out often. Hopefully, he’d still have enough cash after this to get some authentic Mexican food south of the border.
Once the gas tank was filled, it was only a few blocks to the restaurant. Chad pulled the van into a strip mall and parked. Stepping out onto the piping-hot asphalt, Noah spotted the restaurant wedged between a hearing center and a hair salon. Bright-red letters above the door flickered against the afternoon sunlight, announcing the Indian cuisine that seasoned the air and made Noah’s mouth water.
Once inside, Chad asked if they could combine several smaller tables to seat them all in the middle of the tiny restaurant, and Jane ordered a variety of dishes for them all to share. Noah tasted everything, from the mild shrimp korma to the hot chicken curry—that one lit a fire on his tongue that required a chocolate from Emily’s stash to put it out. His favorite was the medium chicken tikka masala, with its delicate blend of spices and just enough heat to make it interesting.
They lingered over dinner, enjoying the food and waiting for the traffic to thin as the sun dipped closer to the horizon. Eventually, Jane deemed the roads passable.
“I amnotready to get back into that van,” Brianna said with a groan.
“Remember,” Alec said, grinning and putting an arm around her shoulder as they exited the restaurant, “it may only be another two hours tonight, but we get six more tomorrow!”
This prompted grumbling from the rest of the group, along with a slug in the arm from Garth, but Alec laughed it off. “Come on, guys! If you keep this up, I might start to think you don’t enjoy my company.”
Garth muttered something that sounded violent but refrained from hitting Alec again.
Emily offered herself as a guard against boredom once they were back in the van by relating some of her worst dating experiences. “So an hour later,” she said on her third or fourth why-I’m-still-single story, “I’m standing with my friends, just talking, and I feel thistap, tap, tapon my shoulder again.”
“No way,” Alec said as he saw where the story was going.
“Same guy! Skinny as a straw, same exact line.” Emily lowered her voice to a more manly range. “‘Excuse me. I’m sorry to interrupt, but would you care to dance?’”
The twins let out matching groans.
“But wait! There’s more!” Emily held out her hands, imitating an infomercial announcer. “He takes my hand and leads me onto the dance floor. And asks my name. Again.”
“Stop!” Vanessa said through her laughing tears. “I can’t!”
“What?” Emily asked. “You’ve already heard this one!”
“I know, I know! It’s just”—she gasped for air—“it gets better every time!”
Emily swatted her playfully and continued. “I figure, okay, I’m not the most memorable face here, and he’s probably danced with a lot of girls tonight, which is good—there are always girls waiting to get asked. And it’s nice to just get on the floor sometimes, right? I mean, swing dancing is not good solo.”
“So not good,” Brianna agreed.
“Benefit of the doubt. I give him my name. No big deal. But then”—Emily paused for effect—“he proceeds to retell me thewhole storyof his driving the moving truck to Mississippi in twenty-four hours and how he ate chicken nuggets so he’d stay hungry because he has such a high metabolism and that would keep him awake.”
More groans erupted from the group.
“Right as he’s getting to the end of the story, he looks at me and says I look familiar and did we already dance tonight? Yes. Yessir, we did.”
“That’s terrible!” Brianna said.
Emily shook her head, making her now-even-messier bun wobble. “Nah. Being forgettable totally has perks.” She waved off the contradictions from her captive audience, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. “If I ever need to rob a bank, I won’t even have to wear a mask!”
Noah laughed along with the others, enjoying Emily’s lightheartedness and the camaraderie of relationship failure, but he couldn’t quite ignore the ease with which Emily laughed off the snub—another pointed reminder of how unfair he had been to Grace.
Chapter 28
Hotel Arizona
They made good time toTucson, entertained by Emily and having missed most of the evening traffic. Chad slowed the van and took an exit, then wove through the streets toward the rolling foothills.