The Dating Plan(30)

Liam scrolled through his phone. “Date #1: Buy wedding outfits. Not my favorite thing, but okay. Date #2: The Dosa Palace restaurant. Not a problem. I like to eat and I like Indian food. But Date #3 . . .”

Daisy let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “What about Date #3?”

“Dinner at Puke. That’s a big no.”

“It’s pronounced the way it’s spelled,” Daisy said coldly. “Pewque. And what’s wrong with it?”

“I checked out the menu,” Liam said. “I can’t get excited about a faux-rustic meal of fromage-frisée, bone-gel bream, and liver-sauced jowl.”

“I see you haven’t changed.” Layla’s voice dripped sarcasm. “Once an ass. Always an ass.”

“That’s what I thought when I read the house special for this week,” Liam said. “It doesn’t matter if you house-ferment, dehydrate, and then pulverize your eel. Sprinkle it on your pigeon roulade and it’s still going to be eel.”

“I’m going to check the racks near the front.” Layla narrowed her gaze at Liam. “Try and be nice. I know it’s an effort, but if you hurt her—”

“Are you threatening me?” Liam’s lips quivered at the corners. “You’re only half my size.”

“There are many ways to hurt a man,” Layla said quietly. “And our choir does need a new soprano . . .”

“She’s changed,” Liam said, after she’d gone. “She used to be so . . .” He shrugged. “Actually, she hasn’t changed at all.”

“You could have just sent me a message to let me know you wanted to change some things around.” Daisy moved to look at the beautiful lehenga, glistening with beads and jewels.

“I thought it would be better to say ‘no fucking way’ as soon as possible.” He leaned against a pillar, his biceps bulging in a most distracting way beneath the sleeves of his T-shirt.

“Do you swear to shock me, or are those words part of your normal vocabulary?” She couldn’t let him know his physical presence was doing strange things to her stomach, so she feigned an intense study of the beading on the nearest salwar suit.

“I swear when I get a list of dates that includes things I would never do at places I would never go.” He leaned in, so close she could smell the leather of his jacket and the rich scent of his cologne. “For example, Date #4 is a movie. Two hours of sitting in the dark not getting to know each other. What about a bar or club? Somewhere fun.”

Heat flooded her face. “It’s not just any old movie. If you’d looked at column J, you’d see I’d planned for us to see Pufferfish, an acclaimed Belgian absurdist dystopian black comedy that challenges us to be bored while refusing to be boring.”

“Yawn.” Liam tapped his hand over his mouth. “I’m bored already. No need to be challenged.”

“Clearly I expected too much.”

Far from being insulted, Liam just laughed. “The only reason men agree to movie dates is so they have a chance at getting to second base in the dark. So unless you want a little loving between the seats—”

“I’ll cross the movie off the list,” she said quickly, although her mouth had gone dry and all she could think about was Liam in the dark with his hands under her clothes.

“Appreciated.”

“What about Date #5: coffee?” She pulled out her phone to make the necessary adjustments.

“People don’t get to know each other over coffee,” Liam said. “It’s like trying to get to know someone while they’re brushing their teeth. It’s a non-activity. You walk into the café. You order your venti seven-pump vanilla soy twelve-scoop matcha 180-degree no-foam green-tea latte. I order a simple filter coffee with cream and sugar and send the world of overpriced designer drinks into a tailspin. We make awkward, banal conversation with the fifty other people who are waiting for the newbie barista to figure out how to steam the milk while her colleagues gossip over at the panini press. By the time we get our drinks, there is nowhere to sit. So we say goodbye and drink our now cold coffees alone. Fun.”

“When did you become so hard and bitter?”

“When I realized I didn’t fit in. So, around three years old.”

He wasn’t joking, she realized, but his absent expression made her wonder if he even knew what he’d said. She decided against sharing that she also knew what it felt like to be an outsider, and brought him back to the plan instead. “Fine. No coffee. What would you like to do instead?”

“Oh. I get a choice?” He feigned shock, thudding his hand against his chest. “In that case, let’s have a sports night, and don’t even think about shaking your head because I know for a fact that you like sports.”

“I like to watch sports, not play them. If you remember, I’m lacking in body awareness.”

Liam’s voice dropped to a sensual purr. “I’m very aware of your sexy body, so that’s not a problem.”

He thinks I’m sexy. She shoved that delicious little nugget away to savor later. “Fine, you can have your sports. What about Date #6? You can’t possibly have any objection to a walk.”

“We’re walking now. What amusing anecdotes will this delightful date provide?”