The Dating Plan(34)

“I don’t need raita,” Liam scoffed. “I have a tongue of steel.” He flipped his card over his fingers—a party trick he’d learned in high school—making Amina giggle.

“This promises to be an interesting date,” Daisy said after he’d paid for his meal. “First, you try to seduce my second cousin, then you’re going to burn your mouth out of stubborn pride. What other surprises do you have in store for me?”

Liam gave her a slow smile. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

After waiting only five minutes, they were seated at their table. Liam munched on the free poppadums while Daisy chatted with the waiter. He’d forgotten how well the Patels were connected. It had been the same with Sanjay. It was a rare occasion that they were out and didn’t meet someone his friend knew.

“I took the liberty of ordering you a Kingfisher beer,” Daisy said after she finished her conversation. “This date will be a waste of time if you can’t talk.”

He lifted an eyebrow in censure. “So, what should we discuss since we’ve already talked about the first half of the dating plan?”

“The second half of the dating plan.”

Liam pulled out his phone and sent her the spreadsheet he’d amended while they’d waited in line. “I’ve sent my changes to you so you can have a visual of what I do and do not like.”

Daisy studied her phone, eyes narrowing. “I don’t appreciate all my hard work being defaced with juvenile comments.” She read off the screen. “‘Seriously?’ ‘Yawn.’ ‘Snoozefest.’ ‘WTF.’ ‘OK Boomer.’ And my personal favorite, ‘Kill me now.’”

“I tried to be creative.” He took a crunchy poppadum off the plate and nibbled the edge.

“I thought I was very accommodating,” Daisy said. “I even allowed you to have a sports night. But Magowan’s Infinite Mirror Maze? Alcatraz?” She drew in a ragged breath. “We’re supposed to be going on dates to get to know each other. How can we talk if we’re focused on solving a maze? And who takes a date to Alcatraz?”

“I’ve always wanted to see the inside of the world’s most infamous prison. What if I wind up there one day?”

Daisy snatched a poppadum off the plate and bit into it with an angry crunch. “It’s closed.”

“Then it won’t be hard to escape.”

“What about the textile exhibition that’s going on right now?” she asked. “Or the Nerd Nite talk on metagrobology? I thought you liked puzzles.”

“I liked doing puzzles with you because you could finish them before I could even find the corner pieces,” Liam said. “Now my interests veer toward drinking, dancing, sports, motorcycles, gaming, and sex.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “We discussed sex.”

“I’d like to discuss it some more,” he said. “Talking about sex is my second favorite thing next to actually having sex.”

Daisy sighed. “We agreed on sports. I’ll put that in as Date #3.”

“Date #3 has to be meeting my family,” he said. “I have relatives who came here for my grandfather’s funeral and they’ll be leaving soon. It’s probably best if you meet everyone at once.”

Her face softened. “Of course. I’ll put that in. Sports will be Date #4. We should try to get tickets to see a hockey game at the SAP Center. My aunt and uncle and their boys have season tickets and we can arrange to accidentally bump into them, like we just bumped into Amina.”

“Go Sharks!” Liam pumped his fist in the air. “I’ll handle the tickets.”

Daisy’s lips curled in a smile. “And since you got what you want, how about a lecture on tamale-making for Date #5?”

Liam shook his head. “No tamales.”

“But it would be so interesting. Did you know that San Francisco residents ate twenty-five thousand tamales a week in 1890?”

God, he loved this. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine himself back in the Patel kitchen as Daisy told him all sorts of weird and wonderful facts. Even now, he could remember the height of the world’s tallest man, and the size of the world’s biggest ball of string.

“I’d eat twenty-five thousand tamales right now if it meant we didn’t have to go to the lecture. How about going to a bar for Date #5 instead, and then a motorcycle ride for Date #6?”

“I don’t know anything about riding.” She bit her bottom lip. “And I don’t do that kind of stuff anymore.”

“Exciting stuff?”

“Risky stuff. I like to play it safe.”

Liam wanted to know why she’d given up the fun things she used to do with her father, but this wasn’t the time to ask. Still, there was nothing he loved more, and he desperately wanted to share it with her.

“What if I take you to a motorcycle shop and you can quiz my friend Hamish about safety and bike mechanics, wind velocity, and safety gear? If you’re still not comfortable after that, I’ll go with you to listen to one hundred years of tamale-making history.”

Her face lit up with a smile. “One hundred and thirty-one to be exact, and I agree to both #5 and #6. For Date #7, we’ll be meeting my family and my dad to get their approval. And Date #8 isn’t really a date, but it can be our wedding. I’ll book a time at city hall.”