The head server hustled back in time to witness me sliding the drink as far away from me as possible. He settled two tiny bowls full of an odd gelatinous liquid on the table, and then he handed each of us a teeny gold spoon that reminded me of the ones my grandmother used to collect.
“This is squid eye, processed to remove the lens. Widely considered inedible, the eye has been prepared just for you, a singular experience available nowhere else in the world.” Our server beamed at us and seemed so pleased with himself that I ended up nodding. Flynn appeared shocked.
“Is it a good experience or a bad one?” he whispered to me, and I snickered as he cleared his throat and smiled at our server. “Thank you, but we didn’t order this? Can you give us the menu for the night?”
The server took a step back and heaved out a heavy sigh. “If you would’ve arrived on time, you would’ve received an explanation of tonight’s service along with everyone else. There is only the chef’s menu at Cardigan’s. There are fifteen courses. Would you care to have the paired wine?”
Flynn looked at me, and I huffed out another laugh. “Please. Bring it on.”
The server nodded with a small smile that was more of a cringe and rushed off.
“How mad are you going to be if I don’t eat the squid eye?” Flynn asked, poking at the wobbling goo in his bowl. I set my spoon in my bowl and shoved the mess to the side.
“Zero mad. I’m not touching it.”
He snorted. “Maybe we should try it? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” His eyes widened, and I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not.
“I can’t, it looks too much like cum. I can only eat friendly fire. There’s stranger danger here.”
At that he slapped a hand over his mouth, and the server was scowling at our full bowls ten minutes later when he set dainty plates stacked with tiny cubes of what I hoped were more delicious bread in front of us. The food we hadn’t eaten was whisked away by one of the men wearing black. When I made the mistake of tasting the new substance, I found out it was a cross between rotten banana and pudding. Flynn had also tried it in a show of support and winced at me. Thankfully the server brought the wine, and we were able to wash the taste away.
“Well, this is excellent,” Flynn said, and I groaned, clinking my glass with his.
“I’m going to end up being a worse date than that Corey guy, aren’t I?”
His face flushed and he sipped his glass of wine. “Even if I can’t eat a single thing here, you’re still a better date.”
“And I was trying to impressyoutonight.” My face heated and I was certain it wasn’t from the alcohol.
He shook his head and glanced away, draining his glass. One of the other servers in black stopped circling the room and came over to pour another round.
“Careful, they might be relying on the booze. Maybe that is why so many people pretend to enjoy this.”
Flynn snorted, and the server gave me a dirty look.
We joked our way through several more courses—none of it was anything we ended up eating, only nibbling—and finally, after his third glass of wine, he blurted out, “We should be getting to know each other. What can we talk about that won’t make me feel guilty?”
I stared at him and shook my head. “What do you like about teaching?”
He groaned and hung his head. “That topic will make me feel guilty.”
“Too bad.” I shrugged.
“Why did you decide to go to law school?” he flung back at me.
“Easy, Jury wanted to go.”
His mouth fell open. “You went to law school because your brother wanted to go?”
Leaning forward, I crossed my arms, and he smiled, so I dropped the defensive act. “Yeah, why not? Our parents do it. Nothing else ever really jumped out at me. It’s okay.” I shrugged. “It’s only something for me to do for money so I can do whatever I want during my downtime.”
His eyes widened and he gripped the edge of the table as if I’d shot him. “You could do anything that makes decent cash and have the same freedom.”
“Yeah, but this way I can go to work with my dad or papa.”
“Nepotism, that is why you chose law school?” He blinked at me.
“Is that so wrong? Work is work. That isn’t where your real life is.”
