Page 29 of Saltwater Memories
Chapter 10
They had dinner at Amanda’s favorite seafood restaurant in town. She agreed to let Will drive – there was no sense in taking two cars – and she was unsurprised to see that he drove a sleek black BMW.
It wasn’t until they were enjoying an appetizer of local oysters that Will admitted that he was “new” to seafood.
“What do you mean by new?” asked Amanda.
“Well,” he said, reaching for an oyster. “This might be the first oyster that I’ve ever had. So I hope I’m not allergic.”
Amanda’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious? Should I be concerned? Do you have a history of allergies?”
He tapped his chin with the oyster shell. “Not really. Just tree nuts, shrimp, wheat, eggs, shellfish…”
Her eyes widened and she snatched the oyster from his hand. “You can’t eat that, then!”
He laughed. “I’m just kidding. About the allergies – I don’t have any. But I’m not kidding that I’ve never had an oyster before, so who knows how I’ll react.”
“I see,” she placed the oyster back on his plate and crossed her arms. “You were just testing me, then.”
“Testing your reflexes, yes.” He scratched at the oyster with his fork before dislodging it from its shell.
His form wasn’t great, but he had the general idea. She watched as he placed it into his mouth. “And?”
“Your reflexes were impressively fast,” he replied, mouth full. “I was pleased with the results of my test.”
She laughed. “No, I mean the oyster. What do you think?”
“Oh. I think they forgot to cook mine.”
The look on his face made her laugh again; she even surprised herself with a little snort. “Sorry, I thought you knew these were raw oysters.”
“Ah.” He set his fork down and straightened out his napkin. “I didn’t realize. I think I wasn’t expecting the texture.”
She nodded, taking another oyster for herself. “It might be an acquired taste.”
“Rubbery sea snot? Yes, it must be.”
She laughed again, covering her mouth so that the oyster wouldn’t shoot out. “Well, I did grow up here, so I don’t know what it’s like to try all of this stuff as an adult.”
“Yeah. My parents wandered into a Red Lobster once during my childhood – it was for my aunt’s anniversary party. They left hungry, as did my sister and I. We’re more of a chicken tender sort of family.”
“If I’d known that, I would’ve taken you somewhere else. Or at least gotten them prepared differently – you can get them pan fried, broiled…”
“Oh,nowyou tell me?”
She laughed. “I am sorry, Will.”
“Don’t be,” he said with a smile. “Everyone raves about them, I wanted to give it a shot. Not for me.”
Amanda decided to splurge on her meal and got the seared scallops, and Will ordered something safe – the fish and chips.
They were both happy with their meals and in the end, Amanda made sure to get separate checks, taking the appetizer onto her bill. She didn’t want Will getting any ideas that this was a date.
They were there as friends, that was all. Truth be told, she was grateful for his company. Despite having a lovely evening with Rupert on Thursday, Amanda hadn’t heard much from him since. She had hoped that he might suggest a weekend activity, but he never did. They were still chatting over text, which was nice, so she told herself not to rush things.
After Will dropped her off back home, she retreated to her email and set her mind to seeing Rupert again. She managed to contrive a reason for needing to work at the Seattle office that week.
It was easy enough to do – Erica answered her email within the hour and agreed that having her on site for the client meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday would be helpful. Amanda also asked one of her work friends to let her crash on her couch Tuesday night, so she wouldn’t have to come all the way back to San Juan both days.
