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“You do not want any financial advice, I am guessing,” she stated as she took a small bite of beans.
“Nope.”
“Why did you bid on me then, and why that high?” She took another small bite of beans.
He told her the truth. “Because Rafferty Brooks was bidding on you. I didn’t think you wanted him to win.”
“I do not mind Rafferty, but I do not know him well. Mia and Ruth have big problems with him. I do not know why yet.” She took a small bite of the hotdog, which she oddly cut with her knife before eating it with her fork.
“You never know what he would want from you,” he warned.
“You mean he might not want to work me into the ground?” She winked at him.
“Yes, he might have wanted financial advice,” Math replied in fake disgust, making her smile.
“I am good at finances, you know. I know what I am talking about.” She cut her hotdog again.
“You want something on your hotdog? Ketchup, mustard?”
“No, this is good.”
“It’s better with mustard.”
She shrugged. “It might be.”
“Have you never had a hotdog with mustard on it?”
“Of course, I have, at some point. I just do not eat a lot of hotdogs.”
“I can tell. You’re supposed to hold it, not cut it up.” He pointed at her plate.
“It is neater to eat like this.” Tess looked at the hotdog on her plate.
“Here, take a bite. See how much better it can be.” He held out his hotdog for her.
“No, that is okay.” She cut into her hotdog again.
“Come on, Thorn. Eat it like a regular person, not a princess,” he pressed.
“I do not eat like a princess,” she defended
“Really? Tiny bites and cutting up your hotdog. Princess eating.”
“Fine,” she said and bit into the hotdog he still held out to her.
“How was it?” he asked. He loved that she was almost laughing as she chewed.
Swallowing, she answered, “It was fine. The same. I do not think I like mustard.”
“How un-American of you,” he said as he smiled and laughed.
She turned back to look at her plate and took another small bite of beans. They ate in silence for a while. At one point, he thought that she was going to pick up her own hotdog but then didn’t and once again cut it up.
The silence was getting to him, far more than to her because she wasn’t saying anything. Usually, he didn’t mind, but he wanted to know more about this woman. “How many siblings do you have?”
“Five, all older than me. You?” She took the last bite of hotdog.
“Three sisters. Mandy is older, and the other two are younger. Six of you?” Pushing his empty plate away from him, he wondered what being one of six would have been like. Busy.
