'll
be at the fish 'n chips place across the way. Just gimme a holler when you're
ready to move on and be sure to brush your teeth real well later, okay?"
"What?! You aren't coming with me?"
Doing his best to look puzzled, Cade said, "Well, I thought that's what I
said. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's what I said."
Raising her voice slightly to a strident tone, Mandi asked, "How would you
like to walk back to the hotel, Ed?"
"The oldest routine in the book. 'If you don't cooperate, honey, you'll have
to walk home'. Tacky. Very tacky. I'd never pull something like that on a date.
Besides, it's only about twelve miles. I can call a cab or take a MARTA train if
I don't feel like walking."
"The what? What the hell's a MARTA train?"
"It's a buck-fifty to go all over Atlanta unless it's gone up since last
year. There's a station a quarter-mile west of here, so no sweat. Still want
Mexican food?"
Standing straight, Mandi gloweringly said, "Yes. I do."
Cade said, "Then by all means go for it. We can meet up later," and started
walking toward the fish place.
There was a breeze and Mandi suddenly appeared in front of him, her hands on
her hips and an angry glint in her eyes.
"Yes?" asked Cade.
In an ominous tone, she stated, "I'm not accustomed to being abandoned
during a date."
"You aren't being abandoned. We can meet up in a little while and..."
"That's not acceptable."
"Then pick another restaurant tonight and eat Mexican food when you're out
with someone else."
"Is that what this is about? Me converting other men?"
"Hell, no. It's about Mexican food. I told you how I felt about it, and now
you seem to want to get some just to give me a hard time. That's what isn't
acceptable, lady."
"Don't you realize how it would look if we split up?"
Sighing, Cade asked, "Like we had an argument? Like one of us flatly won't
eat Mexican food? Like somebody isn't getting her way in things? Like one of us
is trying to establish the beginnings of control over the other? And I'm not
talking about me, by the way."
He gestured around and said, "I don't give a rat's ass what anyone way the
hell out here thinks about a couple of tourists and you aren't some poor,
defenseless prom queen. If you really want Mexican food, go get some. If it
doesn't really matter, let's go to the fish 'n chips place."

Chapter Nineteen

Mandi cocked her head and look