“I guess,” I said. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Hell, no!” Mayra cried. “Why? Did you tell Travis and Bethany?”
“No,” I said, realizing her point. “I guess that would be weird, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, it would,” Mayra agreed. “Okay—I need to get back to it. Stay calm. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” It was strange how easily that phrase slipped from my tongue.
The phone went silent, but I just sat there and held it for a few minutes. I realized I was smiling and wondered how she knew right when to call. Maybe women’s intuition was real.
~oOo~
“Here—carry this,” Mayra said as she thrust a paper grocery sack into my hands. She leaned into the trunk of my car to pull out something else, and I could see a thin sliver of skin between the hem of her shirt and her shorts.
I sighed and refocused on the bag in my hands. I was pretty sure it had a cake in it. I tried to peer into the top of it, but Mayra straightened back up and shook her finger at me.
“No peeking!”
“I can already smell it, you know,” I told her. The scent of chocolate and sugar and warm, moist cake filled my nose.
“Well, you still can’t see it, and that’s the important bit.”
“Why?”
“No questions!” Mayra laughed and headed into the house with another bag, which was filled with rice noodles, vegetables, and various bottles of Asian sauces.
I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting Henry to suddenly arrive and announce he was skipping the fishing trip and joining us for dinner. If not Mayra’s father, maybe Bethany or Travis would show up to check on me. I hadn’t seen either of them since Wednesday, and it wouldn’t be unusual for Travis to show up with dinner while Beth was getting ready for a business trip.
“Stop it,” Mayra said in a soft, singsong voice.
“Stop what?”
“Thinking about all the worst case scenarios.”
“Oh.”
Mayra pulled all the items out of the sacks and lined them up on the counter. I helped chop up green onions while she made the sauce and cooked the noodles. I watched intently as she expertly fried up the tofu and vegetables in the sauce, then added noodles, egg, and peanuts into the mix. She dished out heaping portions onto our plates, and we dug in.
It was delicious.
“How can you like Thai and not Chinese food?” I asked.
“Totally different,” Mayra said. “Thai sauce is curry based, and there are no water chestnuts. Water chestnuts are nasty.”
“But…they just taste like…water.”
“Exactly.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Water shouldn’t be crunchy.”
I shook my head.
“I’m not completely sure chocolate cake is appropriate with Thai food,” Mayra said.
“Cake goes with anything,” I said with a shrug. Mayra smiled and glanced up at me through her lashes. I looked away quickly, feeling heat in my neck and cheeks. “I mean, cake is so good, it doesn’t matter what else you have with it.”