Who We Could Be - Chelsea M. Cameron Page 0,31

nowhere when you said we should ‘just drive and see what happens’?”

“First of all,” Tessa said, pointing at me with her fork as she attacked the leftover bites on my plate, “it’s not my fault that we took the wrong path, and at least those racoons weren’t rabid. And second, we had fun waiting for the roadside assistance, and we met a very interesting guy when he showed up and told us all about his exotic bird collection and showed us pictures of the swords he made. I rest my case.”

She sat back, triumphant.

“We could have gotten rabies!” I yelled.

“But we didn’t. That’s the point. And we’re not in risk of rabies if I take you off the beaten path for an hour. Can I have an hour? Just one. You can time me.”

Tessa knew she was going to win. I was stubborn, but she was stubborner, when she wanted to get her way. Most of the time she was so go-with-the-flow, but when she desired something, she dug her heels in unlike anyone I’d ever seen.

“One hour. But I get to do my stuff first, because I’ve bought tickets and we have a schedule. You get your hour after lunch.” Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Fine. But I get to pick where we eat.”

I hadn’t made a reservation yet, but I’d been planning on it. I guess I could bump today’s restaurant to another day. That would require some other shuffling, but I could make it happen.

“Deal?” she asked, holding her hand out.

“Deal,” I said, and we shook on it.

“NO LOOKING IT UP, WE’RE eating here,” Tessa said, dragging me through the doors of the restaurant. It was an odd shade of pink on the outside and looked more like an odd private home than a restaurant, but it looked like it was southern food, so that was promising. I’d have to fight myself not to get fried chicken again. It was quickly becoming my favorite thing and I was determined to crack the perfect recipe when I got home. Now that I wasn’t getting married, I had to find more ways to fill the time I used to spend with TJ.

The pace was pretty on the inside, with tons of paintings and white tablecloths on every table and chandeliers dripping from the ceiling. Swanky. I’d expected Tessa to pick a more casual place. I was glad I’d worn my light and gauzy dress with strawberries on it today. Tessa had surprised me with a pair of black linen pants and a white eyelet t-shirt. I’d been meaning to ask her about it but kept forgetting.

A server seated us at a table near a window and Tessa couldn’t stop watching the people walking by.

We got menus and I was relieved to see the place wasn’t as expensive as I’d been expecting in my head. Good choice, Tessa. Maybe spontaneity wasn’t so bad.

“What are you planning for later?” I asked as we both scanned our menus.

“I’m not planning anything. I mean, I might have looked a few things up to get ideas, but then I decided that wasn’t spontaneous, so I’ll figure it out after we eat.”

So, that was stressing me out a little, but I was still on a little bit of a high from our tour at the Juliette Gordon Low—the founder of the Girl Scouts—historic home, as well as a visit to the Telfair Museum. My brain was overloaded with information and, honestly, it was nice to sit and rest. Every single corner of Savannah had something historical happening in it. It was overwhelming. I also didn’t want to forget the darker parts of the city’s history, so we’d be diving into that as well.

“I can’t decide if I want fish tacos or to go for it and try the gumbo,” Tessa said. “What about you?”

“I just really want the fried chicken, but I had fried chicken last night,” I said. It even came with a side of mac and cheese, the ideal combination.

“So? Are you only allowed to eat fried chicken once in a twenty-four-hour period?”

“No,” I said. “Obviously.”

“Then get it.”

We both ordered sweet tea, because what else were you going to drink? Tessa decided on the shrimp tacos and I went for the fried chicken.

“See? We might not have come here if you had planned this. So there.”

She was right. When I’d been doing my planning, I’d avoided a lot of the more well-known places, and this would have been knocked off my list.

Tessa was cute when