Page 84 of Time Stops With You

Jenna seems bothered by that.

We’re outside now and I realize I haven’t called a driver. I open the app on my cell phone, but Jenna spots what I’m doing. “I can give you a ride.”

“No need.”

“I was hoping to discuss my satellite signal readings with you,” Jenna says, blinking innocently.

I hesitate. Even if Nardihadn’tmade it a point to bring up Jenna earlier, clearly indicating that she’s bothered by her, I would react the same. As much as I enjoy talking with my team about work, my social batteries are totally depleted.

But that’s not the only tank that’s empty.

My stomach growls in the middle of my contemplation and Jenna overhears it’s pathetic wail.

She laughs. “I haven’t eaten yet either. We can stop somewhere for lunch. My treat.”

“No.”

She winces but bravely tries again. “Don’t tell me you have a rule where you don’t eat with employees.”

“I don’t eat out at all.”

She stares at me like I just admitted to shooting spider webs out of my nostrils. “Really? You don’t eat out? At all? Fromanyrestaurant?”

I tap on the app and select my home address as my destination.

“Comeon.” Jenna steps a little closer and scrunches her nose. “There must besomeonethat you trust with your food. I seriously doubt you like cooking that much and even if you do, there’s no way you have the time. I promise, if you let me, I’ll take you somewhere with a totally clean kitchen and great service.”

Nardi’s kitchen.An image of Nardi’s cooking space blossoms in my mind.

The room had been clean and well-kept. I’d gotten to inspect every inch of it. Besides, I’ve always been curious about how Nardi’s food tastes, especially since she sells at her stall every Saturday.

“Oh, I see that look in your eyes. Youdohave a favorite restaurant,” Jenna squeals.

I pocket my phone, no longer weary. “On second thought, Jenna, Iwilltake that ride.”

Jenna and I discuss work matters all the way to Nardi’s food stall. In the distance, I spot the tent she and Josiah pitched, but I can’t see Nardi yet.

Jenna slows the car and cranes her neck to look around the neighborhood, “Where exactly is the restaurant? I only see that rundown car wash and a liquor store.”

“It’s there.” I point ahead to the food stall.

“You eatstreetfood?”

“It’s not street food. It’s food from a curbside vendor.”

“But…”

“You can drop me off here,” I say.

Nardi almost bit my head off after seeing me walking with Jenna earlier. I can’t imagine what she’ll do to me if she sees me climbing out of Jenna’s car.

But Jenna shakes her head. “It’s okay. I’m too curious to stop now.”

She cruises her electrical vehicle closer to the tent. I spot Nardi immediately. She’s in the very same T-shirt and painted-on jeans from earlier, but there’s an apron covering most of the clothes.

I watch, fascinated, as her lithe, graceful body flits from one end of the tent to the other. Her hands move with purpose, packing up her plates and stacking her pans inside of each other.

It looks like the food’s all done.

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