“I know you’re mad right now.”
“Yes.”
“But it’s like this. Imagine if I acted like a total pushover who was worried about the answers to every question.Thatwould be more suspicious. A little light-hearted joking? Not suspicious.”
“He literally kicked us out of the office,” she responded. “Yeah, I’ll take the nigiri special and the salmon.”
“You know what? I’ll have what she’s having,” I said.
The server nodded and went away with our order.
Cat looked at me and shook her head. “You know what the worst part is?” She paused and sighed, for dramatic effect. “I actually did think it was a little funny. Alittle,” she stressed.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Honestly, I was worried we were going to get caught up being asked questions that wereallydidn’t know the answer to, andthatwould be suspicious.”
“Really? You were thinking that?”
I nodded.
She exhaled loudly. “Dammit! Just when I want to be all pissed at you, you actually come through with a sweet motivation. Damn you, Dustin LeBlanc!”
I shrugged as the server came over with two plates.
“Damn, that was fast!” I remarked, and then stared at the food in front of me. “Um, excuse me, sir?” I said, waving our server back.
“Yes?”
“This fish is raw. Why didn’t you cook it?”
Cat looked mortified. “Have you never eaten sushi?”
Our server looked equally dumbfounded. “Um, we don’t normally cook the sushi.”
“You’re telling me it’ssupposedto come like this?” Dustin remarked.
“How on earth have you not had sushi before?”
I shrugged. “I’ve had oysters. Those are delicious. I mean, I’ve been to places that have sushi. It’s not exactly a big thing in the Midwest, though.”
“Thanks, we’re fine,” she said to the server, and he left. She turned back to me. “Where did you grow up again?”
“Middletown, Ohio. I don’t think there was a single sushi restaurant in that town.”
She took her chopsticks out of the paper and was rubbing them together.
“Why do you do that?”
“It makes them smooth? I don’t know. I just always saw my mother do it.”
“So you know all about sushi?”
“I grew up in a small coastal town outside Barcelona, but yes. Have you ever been to Europe?”
I shook my head. “Never.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged as I rubbed my sticks together the same way. “Just didn’t seem like something I was interested in. Do you want to go?”
