Two margaritas in, it didn’t seem like it would happen. Lara giggled almost uncontrollably as she flirted with the very cute but very young waiter, trying out her passable Spanish, while Nicki and I focused on the guacamole and queso that practically made my toes curl with ecstasy. Julio’s was our favorite restaurant for half-days and in-service days at school, even if the food took a little while to come out. Everything was delicious.
Nicki sipped water and put a dent in the guac. “So what’s this trip thing you two are going on? Lara was super hush-hush.”
I choked on my margarita and had to cough up half my lung before I could speak. “She told you about it?”
Nicki shrugged, rubbing her eight-month pregnant belly as the baby kicked. “I was bored. Nothing happens in my life now, I have a husband and I’m waiting for this nugget to finish baking. I have to live vicariously through you two. Why are you turning so red?”
“Because it’s kind of embarrassing,” I muttered. More margaritas. I definitely needed more margaritas if we were going to talk about that particular moment of weakness.
“Because she’s afraid to take any risks,” Lara said. She gave up on the waiter and leaned her elbows on the table to eye me. “We both hit a dry spell with dating, so we signed up for this long-distance dating service. They arrange trips to parts of the country where there are a lot of eligible men but no single women, and set you up for a few days so you can meet the locals and see if anything sparks. Then we come back and if we meet someone we liked, we take it from there. Easy-peasy.”
“Maybe not quite that easy,” I said under my breath as Nicki’s eyes lit up and she started to grin. “There’s no telling who’s going to actually show up. We’ll be in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota, waiting to meet a bunch of guys who work on ranches and oil fields and God only knows where else. Lara is all gung-ho with this, and I’m going along to make sure she doesn’t lose her mind and elope with some hermit to go live in a shack somewhere on the prairie.”
Nicki snorted, leaning back, and kept rubbing her stomach until I wondered if maybe she was about to burst. “Come on, Caro. You should have some fun with it. Take a few risks. Otherwise you’re going to be single forever and still teaching other people’s kiddos.”
My cheeks warmed and I had to grit my teeth to keep from snapping something. I didn’t take risks. I’d done enough of that earlier in my life and had no interest in rolling the dice anymore. I’d dodged enough bullets that I was completely, totally, fine with leading a boring, uneventful life. I tried to meet guys in bookstores and coffee shops and libraries and even the zoo, but with little success. So when Lara came up with the harebrained scheme to sign up for a mail-order bride site, I’d gone along with it. Like a crazy person. And then she signed us both up for a short trip out to a small town in northern North Dakota a few days after school ended, so we could start the summer off with some adventure.
I sighed and adjusted my ponytail before reaching for more queso. “I’m totally fine with the way things are. I’m barely past twenty-six, so it’s not like I’m running into any deadlines. We’ll do this and then I’ll chalk it up to a crazy experience I won’t repeat.”
“Watch, you’ll fall in love,” Lara said. She grinned and waved a tortilla chip at me. “You’re going to have fun, Caro, if I have to pour liquor down your throat every second. It’s going to be awesome. And at the very least, you can learn a bit more about North Dakota to bring back to the classroom.”
“I don’t remember North Dakota being in the lesson plans,” I said with a laugh. “But good effort.”
Nicki sat back as the waiter returned with our lunches, studying the fajitas that hissed and sizzled in close proximity to her belly. “So do you have profiles to look at before you go out there? Maybe you can review the guys to see whether there’s anyone there you’ll actually want to meet.”
“It’s not just open to guys from the site, apparently.” Lara scooped the queso into a fresh tortilla and juggled it to keep from burning her hands. “The company is also putting out fliers and stuff for other local men to come out and sign up there at the mixer. They’ve got a great itinerary for us already: some regular speed-dating kind of stuff, some evening mixers, and time to hang out if you meet someone special. Plus the weather isn’t terrible, so at the very worst, we can chill by the pool and relax there.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath. She was right. I’d agreed to do it and since I’d already paid my deposit, there wasn’t any getting out of it, even if it felt more and more surreal the closer we got. It was one thing to click a button in the middle of March after a few too many glasses of wine, signing up to go to North Dakota after school let out, and quite another to actually have to pack and then go. “We’ll have fun. I know we will. It’s just—nerve-racking.”
“You don’t have to find Mr. Right,” Nicki said. She licked sour cream off her fork and made another fajita. “You just need to find Mr. Right Now. Have some fun. Knock boots with a stranger, get a little stress relief going, and come back here to start your summer.”
“We’re starting our summer with a bang,” Lara said, grinning. “Hopefully literally.”
I groaned and laughed at the same time, leaning back in my chair, and shook my head. “You sure you don’t want to come with us, Nicki? Should be a good time.”
The music teacher chuckled and rubbed her belly, wincing a little as she shifted her weight. “Are you kidding? I’d scare the men away as a cautionary tale. Besides, it’s fifty-fifty I’ll pop before the week is out. This kid is ready to run off and the only thing holding him in are the thousands of Kegels I did in college.”
I snorted, covering my eyes. “Oh my God.”
“Yep,” Nicki said, and shook her finger at Lara and me. “Kegels, ladies. Keep that shit tight and it’ll save your life.”
Lara hooted and raised her margarita, clearly ready for another round or three. “To keepin’ it tight!”
I laughed more and echoed the toast, though a little quieter, and some of the anxiety that curled around me started to ease. No matter what happened on the trip, Lara would make it hilarious. She’d no doubt have thoughts about every guy there, and probably some spot-on impressions of the other women, and if there wasn’t any entertainment in the small town we were going to... well. Lara was a kick-ass DJ and star karaoke singer, so we’d make the party if it wasn’t already going on.
I picked up the next round and put the list of things I still had to get done out of my head. It was time to celebrate, at least for the next hour, and everything else could wait.