“Hmm...killer samosas. That’s a great name for a band,” she teased. “I bet it’s beautiful there.”
“It is. Do you like camping?”
“No. Unless camping means there’s no hot tub at the hotel.”
“A nature girl, I see. Maybe Leh isn’t your scene. Taj Mahal?”
“I’ve seen pictures of course. It’s too beautiful to be real. It looks like a fantasy to me.”
“It’ll take your breath away. It’s so unbelievably pale and perfect, just, right there on the river.”
“I’d go to India to see that.”
“I’d take you there. Would you go?”
“What? Now?”
“Spontaneity isn’t your thing, I take it.”
“I have a job. I have bills. So, no, I don’t go to the Far East on a whim, Jack,” she said a little churlishly. “It’s not because I’m no fun, it’s because I’m responsible.”
“You can be both.”
“I can’t. You maybe can, but you’re working for fun and taking a dollar for your salary. It’s not like we have the same situation.”
“I know your boss,” he winked.
“I’m not taking advantage of your relationship with Mr. Fitzsimmons to garner special treatment,” she said primly.
“You make it sound like my relationship with him is illicit. He’s my dad,” he snorted.
“Yeah, well, we don’t all come from privilege,” she sniffed.
“I asked you to go to India, not start an argument about the economic stratification of America, Britt.”
“I can’t go with you, okay? I’m scared.”
“Of what? Me?” he asked, turning to look at her.
“Of taking a chance like that, of interrupting my life to chase after some guy and then getting hurt really badly. What if it changed everything?”
“What if it did? What if the change was better?”
“In my experience, change has always been for the worse.”
“Not true. You walked into Tamarind to meet Kevin, and you walked out with me. That’s a change for the better.”
“I’ll give you that one, but it’s the exception.”
“My dad’s not a pervert.”
“Good to know,” she said.
“Your last boss was a groper, right? You’ve got a new boss who’s less offensive than the last one. I mean, the worst my dad is going to do is go on about deep sea fishing until you die of boredom.”
You picked the only two examples of positive change in my whole life,” she said.
“Somehow I doubt that. I think you’re scared. No basis for it