Easily Amused

by McQuestion, Karen

  I nodded, relieved that he knew to play along. To further illustrate his point, he put his arm around my shoulder.

  “Really?” My sister looked like she wondered what the catch was.

  “Really,” Ryan said. “I’ve heard so much about the two of you. It’s great running into you like this. I was really hoping we’d meet before the wedding.”

  “You’re getting married?” Mindy was stunned.

  “He’s talking about your wedding,” I said. She didn’t have to sound so shocked. Honestly.

  “Oh.”

  “You’re coming to our wedding?” Chad said. “Cool. It’s going to be a hell of a party, man.” He put his hands in his jeans pocket and then stuck his fingers through his belt loops like he was the lead dancer at a hoedown. I’d never disliked Chad—he was a pleasant enough guy—but conversation-wise he hadn’t evolved much since high school. He had a few key phrases. Things were “cool” and “wicked” and “sweet.” Occasionally he’d even say “bummer” like he was a character in a 1980s teen movie. He’d called me “man” only once before I’d asked him not to, but I heard him use it often when talking to other people. I think it saved him from having to remember names.

  Ryan gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Yes, Lola asked if I’d go to the wedding with her, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

  Mindy looked from me to Ryan like she couldn’t quite figure us out.

  Ryan continued. “That’s OK with you, isn’t it? If I attend the wedding?”

  “Sure, that would be great,” Chad said. “We’ve got plenty of everything.”

  “Of course it’s fine,” Mindy said. “I told Lola she could bring a guest. I’m just surprised because she hadn’t mentioned it.” She looked thoughtful. “It does throw things off a bit though. She’ll be standing up with Chad’s cousin. He’s not bringing a date, so I was kind of thinking they’d be together.”

  Inwardly I groaned. Chad’s cousin was a forty-year-old, never-married geek whose idea of scintillating conversation was debating which Star Trek captain was the best. During a previous social gathering, I’d made the mistake of saying Captain Kirk was my favorite, which set off a lengthy monologue of all the captains’ strengths and weaknesses. Who knew there was so many of them? And really, who cared? I couldn’t believe Mindy was pushing the guy on me. Again.

  “Oh, I understand she’ll have her bridesmaid duties,” Ryan said, pulling me close to his side and smiling at me. “But we just couldn’t stand the thought of being apart on her birthday.” The look of love he gave me was unmistakable. If he was going for the Oscar, he definitely got my vote.

  For once Mindy didn’t have a quick response. Her silence gave me a chance to work in an exit.

  “I don’t want to be rude,” I said, “but we have dinner plans and you have a movie to go to. We’ll talk later, Mindy.” I made the phone gesture and held it up to my ear. “I’ll call you.”

  “We just got out of our movie,” Chad said, pointing. “And we were just gonna get something to eat. You should come with us.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” I said. “We have reservations at a Thai restaurant.” I was sure Chad and Mindy were going to a fish fry, or even worse, to get a butter burger at the local custard stand. They were one of those couples that started out in high school and held onto their favorite haunts. She talked about me and Netflix—ha! She had her own rut; she just didn’t see it.

  “I love Thai food,” Mindy said, a little too loudly. A passing couple turned to look as they walked by. “Chad really likes it too. We were just saying we should go out for Thai one of these days, weren’t we Chad?” He looked confused but nodded in agreement.

  Ryan looked thoughtful. “If you want to join us, I’m sure we could ask for a table for four when we get there. Is that OK with you, hon?”

  Damn, she’d done it again. I was emotionally cornered. I looked up into Ryan’s dark eyes. His eyebrows were raised questioningly. Finally I exhaled and nodded. “That would be fine.”

  Mindy lifted her head and shot me a triumphant look. Score one for Mindy.

  “It’s settled then,” Ryan said. “Dinner for four.”

  “Should we drive together?” Mindy asked.

  I had the answer for that. “His car only has two seats. It’s a Jaguar.” Score one for Lola.

  “We could go in my car,” Chad said. “The backseat is kind of messy, though. I’d have to move some stuff.” I thought of the floor of his car layered with empty Big Gulp cups and fast-food wrappers. My fingers felt sticky just thinking about it.

  “You can follow us,” Ryan said decisively. “It’s not far.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  In the car I let Ryan know I was less than thrilled that Mindy and Chad were joining us. “I know she seems nice, but she can be so annoying,” I said. “And Chad isn’t all that interesting, frankly. If it were up to me, we’d have said good-bye at the theater and called it a day. I’d rather have gone out to dinner with just the two of us.”

  “I sensed that,” he said, tapping on the steering wheel in time to the music. “And I’m really sorry, but she came on so strong, I would have felt rude not inviting them.” He sounded contrite. I could tell he’d be a hard guy to stay mad at. “And it also occurred to me that this is the perfect opportunity to lay the groundwork for our announcement at the wedding. I know your friend Piper wanted it to be a complete surprise, but I think this is better. Not too many people become engaged to someone their family hasn’t even met. This will make it more convincing.”

  Oh, that again. I needed to clear this up once and for all. “Speaking of the wedding, Ryan, I’m not so sure I want to go through with this fake engagement. It sounded good in theory, but I hate the thought of lying to all my relatives. I don’t know that I even can lie to my relatives. My mother could always tell if I was lying when I was a kid, and I haven’t gotten much better at it as an adult.” I turned my head to see Mindy and Chad following behind us. I wondered if Chad knew one of his headlights was burned out.

  “It’s completely up to you. I love the idea, but we’ll go with whatever you decide.” Ryan’s forehead furrowed. “Would you still want me to be your date?”

  “Of course, that would be great. I’d really appreciate it.”

  “My pleasure,” he said and smiled as he turned into the parking lot of the Singha Thai Restaurant.

  Despite our early arrival, they had a table ready. Switching from two to four diners wasn’t a problem, the dark-haired hostess assured us. How nice. She seated us in a half-moon-shaped, red leather booth. Mindy scooted into the center and patted the seat next to her. “Ryan, why don’t you sit here and let Lola have the outside? She always has to get up to go to the bathroom.”

  “I think I can get through a whole dinner, Mindy, thank you very much,” I said, but Ryan was already sliding in beside her, leaving Chad and me to sit facing each other on the ends.

  Each menu was like a book, pages and pages of dishes and descriptions. The cover was a shiny black laminate. We sat quietly for a few minutes reading. “It’ll be hard to decide,” I said. “It all sounds so good.”

  Across from me Chad flipped through the pages and sighed. “I was just thinking none of it sounds good.” He wrinkled his nose. “Prawns in yellow curry. Ginger trout. Pork eggplant. Yuck. Don’t they have any regular food?”

  “In Thailand this is regular food,” Mindy said, as if making a profound statement. “Please excuse him, Ryan. Chad’s taste in food is pretty low class. If it weren’t for me, he’d eat nothing but corndogs and burgers.”

  “Hey, I like Mexican too,” Chad said. “Have you guys tried Taco Amigo over on Strand Street?”

  Ryan and I shook our heads at the same time and then realized we were both doing it and smiled at each other. An inside joke.

  “You should go there sometime. The food is great.”

  “It’s a hole-in-the-wall.” Mindy rolled her eyes. “Fast food.”

  Chad looked
bewildered. “You always said you liked it.” To me he said, “They deliver, too, Lola, if you’re ever just home watching TV and you get a taste for Mexican. They bring it right to your door.”

  “We’ll keep that in mind,” Ryan said, giving me a sideways glance.

  When the waitress asked about drinks, Mindy copied Ryan by ordering the same cocktail he did—an apple martini. Chad had his usual beer, and I, having learned my lesson previously, stuck with diet soda.

  “A martini?” I said after the waitress walked away. “That’s a new one for you, isn’t it, Mindy? I always thought you were a wine cooler kind of girl.”

  She sat up straight and turned to Ryan. “That’s the trouble with family. They think they know everything about you, but it’s just not true.”

  Oh yes, Mindy was such an enigma. Not. Despite what she thought, she was as transparent as cling wrap.

  She continued. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know, Lola.”

  “I think I’ve got the main idea,” I said. “I’ve known you your whole life.”

  Mindy looked at Ryan. “It’s tough being the younger one. Always with the comparisons. Why can’t you be more like your sister? Lola always got straight As. Lola always came home on time. Why can’t you do your chores without us having to ask? We never had to nag Lola.”

  “I’m a second child too,” Ryan said. “I heard the same kinds of things. I think it’s pretty typical.”

  I didn’t like the way the tide of sympathy was turning in her direction. “Wait a minute,” I said. “You always got good grades. You were on the honor roll most of the time.”

  She shook her head sadly. “As and Bs. I never had a four-point-oh.” Her mouth made the “oh” and froze in a pout.

  Her pout killed me—it was so obviously manipulative. “I never heard Mom and Dad complain about you. In fact, all I heard was how proud they were when you got the lead in the school play. And how great your senior photos turned out.” I touched Ryan’s sleeve. “They have a framed eleven-by-thirteen of Mindy sitting on the fireplace mantel—front and center. It’s the first thing you notice when you walk into the room. My picture is a five-by-seven sitting on the bookcase in my dad’s den.” I craned my neck to meet Mindy’s eyes. “And I also had to hear how nice it was to have Chad mowing the lawn and shoveling the snow.” I pointed at Chad, who looked pleased to be part of the conversation. “She got points for her boyfriend’s work.”

  Ryan turned to Chad, amused. “Are they always like this?”

  Chad shrugged. “Sometimes. They like to give each other the business. You know how sisters are.”

  Mindy directed her remarks toward Ryan. “So my grades weren’t as good as hers, but you know what? I really don’t care. Because while Miss Bookworm spent most of her high school years in her room studying, I was out doing things—going to movies and dances and bonfires.”

  “And we were always at the football games,” Chad said.

  “Yeah, under the bleachers.” The sentence popped into my head, and I couldn’t resist saying it. Across the table, Chad’s cheeks flushed bright red. Without knowing it, I’d apparently hit on a truth.

  Mindy waved her hand like slapping a face. It was a playful gesture, but I knew her well enough to know I’d pissed her off. And nobody pissed off Mindy without some sort of repercussion. There were times I’d thought she’d forgotten about disagreements we’d had or comments I’d made, but that was only because she wanted me to think she’d forgotten. The girl had a long memory. I said, “Only kidding,” and returned her expression of half-joking irritation, but we both knew where we stood. The arrival of the waitress with our drinks saved us from the situation deteriorating into a bitchfest. For now.

  The apple martinis were so pretty, making Chad’s beer and my soft drink look like homely cousins by comparison. The stems of the martini glasses were crazy zigzags, and the liquid inside was a beautiful luminous green. Ryan’s came with a lime wedge on the side; Mindy had asked for a cherry, which was now skewered and resting on the bottom. Disregarding proper table manners, she fished it out with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. “I think all fruit would taste better if it were marinated in vodka first,” she said, setting the pick on her napkin.

  “I’ve always thought that too,” Ryan said, ever agreeable.

  Thankfully, the focus of the conversation shifted to the menu. Ryan patiently explained what various entrées were, breaking them down by flavors and spiciness in an effort to find something that sounded agreeable to Chad. I was impressed with Ryan’s knowledge of the ingredients and the way the food was prepared, and I said so.

  “I’ve always had an interest in ethnic cuisine,” he said. “I’ve even taken some classes. It’s a good thing I have diverse tastes since most of my meals lately are eaten in other countries.”

  “You travel a lot?” Mindy’s eyes widened. She was impressed.

  “All over the world. For work.”

  “Which countries?” she asked.

  But before Ryan could answer, Chad broke in. “Man, if they have something that tastes like chicken nuggets, I’d go with that.”

  Ryan scanned the menu. “What about something similar to barbecued chicken?”

  “That would be OK, as long as it’s not too hot. You know how sometimes it feels like your lips are burning?” For some reason, he was asking me this question. As if I’d know anything about burning lips. “I hate that feeling.”

  “It’s not hot,” Ryan said, closing the menu. “It has more of a sweet and sour flavor.”

  After we ordered and the waitress took the menus away, Mindy leaned in toward Ryan and asked question after question about his travels and then hung on every word he said. Poor guy—she had him boxed in, and it would have been rude of him not to answer. I could tell he saw through her game, but he was a gentleman and behaved admirably. Meanwhile, Chad sat nodding attentively. Once the meal was served, he stopped pretending to be interested in the discussion and concentrated on munching the carrot shreds that were part of his garnish. I could tell he wasn’t so sure about the chicken itself; he rearranged it with his fork, but not much made it to his mouth.

  “Mindy and Chad have been going out since they were juniors in high school,” I said when the air cleared of Mindy’s chatter for a moment. “They met at the pool the month before school started. Why don’t you tell Ryan that story, Mindy? It’s so sweet. I never get tired of hearing it.”

  Her mouth set in a firm line. I knew I’d hit a bull’s-eye by derailing the conversation. “Oh that,” she said dismissively. “There’s not much to tell. Typical high school romance—we met at the pool and started dating. That’s all.”

  Chad set down his fork. “But baby, you forgot the part about how you were talking to Jessica and not looking where you were going and bumped right into me.” He grinned at the memory. “She knocked me right into the deep end, and then she felt just awful about the whole thing. I was sopping wet, and I’d already put on my T-shirt and had a towel around my neck. I was messed up, my hair all slicked down weird, and I was out of breath. I think she only agreed to go out with me because she felt so bad about the whole thing. But once we went out, that was it. There was no other girl for me.”

  “Even then you could tell they’d wind up getting married. They were inseparable.” I clapped my hands together for emphasis. The sound startled Mindy. “When they weren’t together, they were on the phone. They had to be connected. Constantly. At the time I thought it was a little sickening, but you know, a lot of people go their whole lives and never find that special someone, and here Mindy and Chad found each other when they were only sixteen. I’ve always seen them as sort of an ideal couple.”

  “What a remarkable story,” Ryan said. “So you went to the same college then, too?”

  “We did the first year,” Chad said, “before I dropped out to work for my dad.” He reached over to touch Mindy’s hair and then smoothed a curl on her shoulder. She jerked her head to one side.r />
  “Chad,” she said, stretching his name out into one long whine. “You’re going to get my hair all tangled. You know I hate that.”

  “Sorry.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Anyway, I don’t know why we have to talk about my boring ancient history when Ryan has had so many fascinating experiences, traveling all over the world. I’m sure I’d much rather hear what he has to say than talk about the pool at Walter Park.”

  “I don’t think you realize how exceptional you two are,” I said. “High school sweethearts almost never make it.”

  Mindy gave a self-satisfied smile. “Well, that’s true enough.” She took a sip of her martini.

  “I knew the minute I saw her she was the one for me,” Chad said.

  I said, “I’ve often thought they should put a sign up at Walter Park, commemorating your relationship. Maybe near the turnstile where you go into the pool? Right where they check your feet. It could say something like, ‘Romantic meeting place of Mr. and Mrs. Chad Fellows,’ and underneath it they could have the date you met.”

  “Do they put up signs like that?” Chad wondered.

  “I bet they would if you donated money to the park system. Hey! You could put it on your bridal registry as a gift option.” I was having fun now. And the more I talked, the more Mindy wanted to poke her fork in my eye, I could tell. “If they got enough money, they’d probably name one of the concession stands after you too.” I did an impression of a teenaged swimmer at the pool. “Hey, dude, let’s stop over at the Fellows Stand for some nachos, how about it?”

  “I’d rather they name it after Mindy,” Chad said.

  “Oh, that’s so sweet. The Mindy—I like it,” I said, tapping my lower lip with one finger. “I can hear it now: ‘Let’s go over to The Mindy to get an ice cream sandwich.’ All the cool kids will go there. The Mindy will be the place to be.” I gave a little laugh to show I was joking.

  Mindy rolled her eyes. “Lola’s quite the kidder. Always has been. My father says she’s easily amused,” she said to Ryan. “I’ve always thought her humor was rather juvenile, but some people enjoy it.”