At my interruption, she stumbles. “Well…that—the budget would change drastically.”
“I said there was no budget.”
God, she’s cute when she gawks at me.
“I know you said that, but I didn’t think you were serious.”
“No one sleeps in bunk beds on this trip. I forbid it. Consider it my decree.” I wave an imaginary scepter in the air. “Did you have issues accessing my accounts? Is that why you’re budgeting? I can talk to Molly.”
“No. I, uh, I saw them. I thought I would try to save money where I could.”
“Let me see this so-calledbudget.”
She pulls out a binder, complete with color-coded tags. I scan the numbers, far lower than I expected, and click my tongue. Sofía leans over my shoulder as I flip the page, dragging my finger along the lines to keep track.
I’m beyond impressed with her ability to plan a trip on a tiny budget, but we don’t need to do this. I don’twantto do this. Sleeping in hostels and cooking every meal can be fun for a short stint. We can’t do that for four weeks while working, though.
“I love the vision,” I say, offering her praise before critique, “and how organized and precise the numbers are, but—”
“Thank you.”
“ButI think there are some things we can change here, like hotel rooms for each person and couple. We can also increase the food budget by”—I glance down at the number—“three hundred percent. Oh, and can we pencil in some time for shenanigans?”
A notebook appears from her bag—what else does she hide in that thing?—and she scribbles down notes. “What shenanigans?”
“Well, I don’t know yet.”
“Then how will I know to pencil it in?”
“You can’tplana shenanigan. It’s a spontaneous event fueled by curiosity.”
A deep V forms between her brows. “Are you making fun of me?”
“No?”
Now it’s my turn to be confused.Why would she think I’m making fun of her?We share befuddled looks, Sofía scanning my face before her features soften.
“Sorry, I know I can be a bit…neurotic.”
“I don’t think that at all.” I lift the binder. “This is wonderful. Organized. Thorough. I couldn’t pull off this planning in such a short time. I just have some suggestions.”
Sofía is many things, but I would never use the wordneuroticto describe her. No one should hold shame about the way they operate as long as it doesn’t hurt or harm anyone else.
She offers her input on what’s possible until we narrow down a list of “must see” creatures—she draws a hard line at spiders—and we compromise on renting cars to drive instead of constantly flying, which drives up the budget and the carbon emissions.
“We make a pretty good team,” I say while she packs up. “This was great work, Sofía. Truly.”
“It’s not a big deal,” she says, diminishing her effort. I don’t like how natural it seems for her to do. “I’ll send you the final details later this week.”
“Bye, Sofía.”
“Later, Ulysses,” she replies, her laughter carrying all the way to my porch.
Chapter 5
sofía
“Can you bend the rules?”
