Page 6 of Truth, Lies, and Second Dates
“Stop that. Do I mock your Chicago patois?”
“Not that I can recall. You save most of your mockery for my fix-ups.”
“As I should. Now don’t take this the wrong way, India, but I’d like to race through our exit protocol and cabin checks so I can get the hell away from you.”
“Can’t set foot on Minnesota terra firma fast enough, huh?”
“Oh my God.”Should have known when I gave Blake the boot—that was going to be the best part of my day.“I’m going to sabotage your next simulator eval.”
“Bring it. I love a challenge.”
Three
THE LIST
Avoid India for at least a week
Get out of memorial
Meeting?
Pick up moisturizer
As she had feared, Dennis and his cousin were waiting for her at the gate. Trying to combine dithering
(“Did you check the toilet for corpses?”
“That happenedonetime!”)
with racing through checklists
(“Not much left now and then we can get out of here.”
“Seriously, though, if you gave my wife’s cousin a chance…”)
had not worked.
Dennis greeted her with, “It’s so great to see you! Again.” And another awkward A hug.
“You too.”
“And I don’t think you ever met my girlfriend, Xenia.”
Ava shook the woman’s hand, marveling again at theresemblance. “So nice to finally meet you,” Xenia said, smiling. “You probably don’t remember—we crossed paths at the funeral, but…”
But she’d been numb. She could have run into Angelina Jolie and not remembered later. Then his words hit her. “I thought you said you were cousins.”
“Well, I figured it’d be easier for you to place her.”
“We’re notreallycousins,” Xenia broke in. “Or at least, not close ones.”
“Our great-grandparents were siblings,” Dennis said.
“So that’s… what? Second cousins? First cousins once removed? Or twice?” Ava started counting on her fingers, which was dumb—how would fingers help here?
“We can legally bang,” Dennis said. “Which is what counts.” And Xenia giggled, which was irritating.
“What a relief,” Ava replied, deadpan. “For a second I was super worried about your sex life.”
