“Ilovefood. Who doesn’t?”
“I dated this girl in undergrad who wouldn’t eat in front of other people.”
“Like, at all?”
“Yeah. We only dated long enough for me to figure that out. We’d go out to a restaurant, and she’d order a meal, eat none of it, and ask for a doggy bag.”
“I will admit to ordering a salad on dates sometimes so the handsome stranger I’m dining with won’t judge my choices, but I can’t imagine just not eating.”
“You haven’t ordered a salad any of the times we’ve had dinner together.”
“We’re not dating, are we?”
“Fair.”
Lauren didn’t want to dwell on that point, so she said, “My friend Lindsay is a food writer, so she’s gotten me into some pretty swanky restaurants.”
Caleb smiled. “I’ve gleaned from talking to the other vets at the clinic that an important component of being a New Yorker is talking about the best meals you’ve eaten.”
“Lindsay got me into Gramercy Tavern to try their tasting menu because she went to culinary school with one of the sous-chefs. So good. I didn’t know food could taste like that.” She mimed drooling. “What was your best meal in New York?”
Caleb laughed. “My ex and I ate at Morimoto for our last anniversary. The sushi was actually a little plain, but the rest of the seafood was some of the best I’ve ever had. Clean and fresh. And remember that I’m from Maine. I grew up eating seafood right off the boat.”
“Yeah?”
“One of my cousins is a lobsterman and has a little mussel farm off the coast.”
“You can farm mussels?”
“Yeah. You drop these ropes into the water that are covered with what is basically mussel seed, or baby mussels. Then they grow right there on the ropes.”
“And they’re safe to eat?”
“Yeah, totally. They grow bigger and taste better than mussels found in the wild.”
“I had no idea. You know about all kinds of animals, don’t you?”
“It’s true, I do.”
“What’s the weirdest pet anyone brought you?”
Caleb chuckled. He appeared to think about it for a moment. “One of my patients in Boston was a fennec fox. Those are the ones with the huge ears.”
“You can have those as pets?”
“Not legally, and I wouldn’t recommend it. This guy was tame, but they’re little predators.”
“I mean, so are cats.”
“True, but fennec foxes belong in a desert climate, not a house. House cats have adapted to indoor living over many generations. The fox was a cute little guy, though. About the size of a Chihuahua. On the other hand, he had this squeal that would blow out your eardrums.”
Caleb cleaned up after they ate and then invited Lauren to his bedroom. As he closed the curtains, she said, “Thiswasn’t a date, was it?”
“No,” he said. “This was two…people…eating dinner.”
“Is that what we are to each other? People?”
“People who sleep together.”
