Chapter 20

So here they were on their first official date. Hopefully by leaving town Galen had removed the problem of running into people who knew them, but he knew she still saw the evening as a declaration of intent.

He did too, he guessed, though he was nowhere near ready to put it into words yet. He was still frantically trying to convince himself that he wasn't falling in love with Lydia Curry.

"This place is great," she enthused, settling into her chair and beaming at Galen as he seated himself across the snowy linen tablecloth. "The décor is gorgeous and the smell is heavenly." Rather than open her menu she tilted her head. "What do you recommend?"

"Haven't you been here before?"

She rolled her eyes. "Only once, a couple of years ago. It's a bit out of the average grad student's budget. The tika masala was wonderful but I'd like to try something different this time. I know very little about Indian cuisine and I'm always in favor of new experiences."

"Miss Curry isn't an expert on cu