Page 40 of November

“Do you want kids?” India asked. “I mean, to inherit the place after you.”

“What? It’s a first date, India.” Maisie laughed. “Maybe eat the dinner we just ordered first.”

“Catfish and chicken!” the man yelled through the window.

“That’s us,” Maisie said and walked up to get the baskets of food. “Come on. I need your help with the water and beer.”

“Beer?”

“Yes. You’re going to try it. If you hate it, I’ll drink it. You’re driving, after all.”

India smiled because Maisie had admitted that this was a date, and that was all she could think about when she took a sip of the awful beer five minutes later.

CHAPTER 11

“So…” India said.

“Yeah, so,” Maisie replied.

“I can park here, right?”

“Better not. The cops patrol around here, and it’s twenty-minute-parking-only on this street.”

“Oh, okay,” India replied. “Is there anywhere else I can park, then? I’d like to walk you up.”

“You don’t have to, but thank you,” Maisie replied and opened the passenger door.

“This has to be the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on.” India smiled over at her.

“Maybe we shouldn’t call it that, then,” she suggested.

“What?” India asked, looking concerned.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Just that, since it started at the bar, with a group of people, and after you and I had argued, maybe we should have a first date another time and consider tonight a hangout that made us consider the date thing.”

“Okay. But where would that date be?”

“God, can we do this part tomorrow?” Maisie laughed. “I’m going to suggest a cool place where they have place mats for kids to color on, and you’re going to suggest a place with cloth napkins that cost more than my shirt.”

India laughed and said, “Deal. Tomorrow. I can stop by, if you want.”

“Yeah, do that.” Maisie smiled at her. “Night, India.”

“Good night,” India said.

Maisie got out of the car and walked briskly to the door of her building. It wasn’t that she didn’t want India to come upstairs. She wasn’t a prude. She could kiss a woman on a first date or do something more if they both wanted those things, but like India had said, it had been a strange date. It had beena surprisingly good one, though, once they’d sat down to eat their food. India had hated the beer but loved the catfish and the chicken. Maisie considered that to be a decent compromise.

She didn’t invite India up because her apartment was a mess. She hadn’t known what to wear and had tossed things around her small studio, and it hadn’t exactly been clean before that. They’d talked a lot on their date, but mostly about Maisie, which was a little odd to her, but she chalked her unanswered questions about India’s family up to the fact that Maisie had made such a big deal about the whole rich person thing. She guessed that if they continued, she would have to find ways to let India know that it was fine with her that she was wealthy. She’d just overreacted today.

As Maisie changed for bed, she wondered if this could really be a thing, her with India Sheridan. India was all class and ate her catfish with a fork and knife, even though everyone else picked it up with their fingers, and when Maisie had done that, she had gotten grease on her sweater. They were certainly an odd pair, but she couldn’t help it; she liked India. She liked that India had told her what had been going on at the bar and called Maisie out on what an asshole she’d been for no reason. She hoped that Indiawouldstop by the shop so that they could arrange another date or, at least, talk about the potential for one again.

???

“How was it?” Lainey asked the moment she walked in.

“Hi, Lainey. How are you?” Maisie laughed.

“I’m good. How are you? You left me at a bar with people I don’t know and didn’t reply to my texts.”