Page 34 of Decoding Emma

“How about if we do it family style?”

Emma looked up from her menu, tilted her head, and stared at me.“What do you mean?”

“Trust me?”I was taking a chance here.Emma was already thinking I was taking over too much.

“All right, but just where tonight’s food is concerned.”

Leave it to her to put conditions on it, but I got it.“Thank you.”

The waiter returned with our drinks and a basket of ciabatta bread.“Are you ready to order?”

“Yes.Let’s start with an order of toasted ravioli, then two house salads, I’d like ranch dressing.”I looked at Emma.“Emma, what kind of dressing?”

“Ranch is fine.”

I nodded.“Then an order of halibut fish and chips, cannelloni, and fettuccini.Extra plates, please.”

“Yes, sir.I’ll have the appetizer and salads out first.”

“That’s a lot of food,” Emma said.

“I’m hungry.”I was.But any leftovers would go home with her.“So, tell me more about Emma Palmer.”

Her cheeks flushed.“Not much to tell.You already know I’m the youngest of three.”

“Right.Born and raised in San Francisco.”She nodded.“Where did you get your degree?”

“UC Berkeley, in computer science, of course.”

I whistled.“Nice.”

“Yeah.”She ducked her head.“It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but my parents insisted, and since they paid for it…”

I nodded.“I went to MIT.”

“I think of MIT for engineering degrees.”

“A lot do, but they have a great computer science department.”

“Were you born and raised in Seattle?”

“Not in the city, but down in Tacoma.”My parents still live in the same house.

“Why MIT then?”

I chuckled.“My father wanted me to attend.He thought it would be good for me to get out on my own at college.”

“At eighteen?”

“I’m sure you went to Berkeley when you were…”

“Twenty.I did two years at a community college first.”

“I’d already done most of the first two years of college in my last two years of high school.”

“Ah, one of those gifted ones.”She grinned.

“I never considered myself gifted.I picked up coding easily.One of my high school teachers noticed and helped me get into the right math and science classes.The rest is history.”