Page 22 of The Amazing Date

“You guys still looking for the next clue?” she asks. Trey nods his head. Brooke stands and gives me a skeptical look. “We’re doing the cookie challenge. There’s a fortune cookie factory around this corner and up three blocks. Thanks for pointing out the lady for us.”

My jaw drops. I peer at Brooke, whose face mirrors mine. Trey has an I told you so smile on his young face. It takes a beat for my feet to move, and I race to join Rylee.

“There, you happy? Thirty seconds of kindness. That should cover us for the rest of the week. I don’t want to mess with Karma.”

I pace beside her, our strides matching, and I laugh.

“What’s so funny? I can do kindness.”

“I know you. I bet you told them only because you knew you could outrun them, right?” I steal a glance over at her. She doesn’t respond, but she doesn’t have to—her smirk says it all. Her competitive streak still shines bright, but at least she’s taken a small step. The gesture gives me a peek at a woman who is willing to adapt. I relax my shoulders and begin to look at her through a new lens.

She leaps over a kid tying his shoe, never missing a beat, and I follow suit.

Hell, given her competitive streak, it may be me who is the one changed by the end of the week. Maybe that won’t be such a bad thing.

Chapter 15

Rylee

We turn down Ross Alley and spot the large yellow sign of the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. A warm, sweet aroma overwhelms us, and my stomach growls. Roberto must be experiencing a similar feeling as he’s licking his lips with a sugar-glazed expression. I push back an image of him dressed in a tight superhero Halloween costume, pursuing treats. Damn Gabby and her family photo albums.

The doorway is packed with gawking tourists. Most of them are snapping pictures of the long counter stuffed with fortune cookies of every kind imaginable. I take in the variety and navigate through the crowd in search of the It Takes Two envelope containing our instructions. The first counter has traditional fortune cookies of different sizes, including a flat cookie that apparently gets paired with different ice cream toppings. The next counter has strawberry, chocolate, and green tea cookies, each in different colors. Next to each is a glazed version of them, with a swirl of white icing. The final counter has chocolate-dipped versions of the cookies, some with sprinkles. I never knew fortune cookies came in so many varieties.

I finally spot the It Takes Two sign at the end of the last counter. I turn to get Roberto, and he’s frozen in place at the last counter. It’s a look I haven’t seen since the last time we were in Puerto Rico together. Whatever he is looking at is triggering his creative mind. I’ve seen him stare at a seashell on the beach for a full ten minutes, memorizing every detail, his vault of a mind locking in the image so that he can reproduce it on his sketch pad later.

We only have a minute or so lead on Trey and Brooke, but I decide to lead with kindness. I take a slow stroll over to him and nudge him gently, bumping shoulders. “They’re available online. If you step away from the counter, I’ll order you a dozen when we get our phones back.”

A smirk appears on his face. “How much did you want to scream at me from across the room?” He twists toward me and takes me by my hand, leading me down the counter toward the instruction box. “Thank you for not.”

A tingle races up my arm. Holding hands with Roberto brings yet another boatful of memories. If this is what kindness gets me, maybe I will try it more often. We reach the box, and Roberto pulls out the envelope. There is one left. Progress.

“It Take Two,” he reads out loud. “Time to split up. Neither team member can speak to the other until this challenge is over. One team member will go with the attendant into the factory. They will be given three dozen fortunes written on a slip. They will select one that holds meaning to the two of you. It will be placed in a cookie, along with nine others.

“The ten cookies will then be presented to their partner on a tray. The partner will select any of the ten cookies, break it open, read the slip. If they believe it is the selected fortune, they will raise their hand for the attendant to check. If they do not believe it to be a match, they must eat the cookie and proceed on to another cookie. Note, if you ask for a match and are incorrect, a new tray of ten new cookies will be presented to you in a new flavor. You will not be able to open any additional cookies on the previous tray. There are twelve flavors in total. If you do not match after all twelve trays, you will be assessed a thirty-minute penalty, which you will need to wait out before proceeding with the rest of the race.”

“You need a goddamn law degree to follow all these rules,” Roberto mumbles.

“Crap,” I state. It’s not a scavenger hunt but a tasting challenge.

The attendant looks at me sideways and raises a finger to his lip. We aren’t allowed to speak. Gabby and I had worked out a system when it came to tasting challenges, but we never brought Roberto up to speed. He has no clue what I like, our strategy, or my various food allergies. I pray the attendant leads me to the factory. I may have no clue what his favorite flavor is, but I’ve seen him eat a plate of food piled six inches high at Abuela’s. One hundred and twenty cookies shouldn’t be a challenge for him.

The attendant taps Roberto’s shoulder and waves at him to follow. Crap, crap, double crap. Roberto disappears through the factory doorway, and I follow the second attendant to a large empty table.

“It’ll be about eight minutes for all the trays to come out. Can I get you some tea or maybe a cookie or two?”

I kick my backpack under the table and ignore the joke, which I’m sure the attendant has repeated all day as each team has come through. I sit and stew for about five minutes before I notice movement, and Trey sits at the table right next to me.

“I’m starving,” he says as he lands hard on the chair, causing his table to rattle against mine. “Thanks again for the directions. We would have never found this place.”

Great. “Sure.”

His gaze lowers from mine down to my tabletop. “Brooke and I have been dating for nine months before we got engaged last month. But I knew from the very first date. How long have you guys been together?”

I cross my arms against my chest. “We’re not dating. He’s my best friend’s brother.” It should be enough of an explanation, but if Trey thinks we’re a couple, I can only imagine what the other teams think. “My friend got hurt, and Roberto is pitching in.”

Trey takes a swig of his water bottle and pushes his dark, stringy hair from his eye. “Wow, that’s a big ask. My sis would be out of luck if it was me. He must really like you both.”

“He’s not…” I begin to explain, but two attendants return and begin to lay out trays of cookies in front of me. I breathe a deep sigh, thankful the first ten are the traditional cookie. I grab the first cookie on the artfully arranged tray. The cookie is still warm and soft. I pull it apart, much like pulling pork off a sixteen-hour smoked rib. The fortune drops to the table.

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