Vegas Knot (✔️) | Love Travels #1

Nineteen

"I cannot believe you made me run that far in these shoes," I whine in the van, sliding them off and setting them on the seat between us. "It's been three hours and my feet still hurt."

"It could be argued that the walking and picture taking we did at the previous stops had something to do with your feet hurting."

"Don't change the subject!"

"Did I or did I not get you back to the van on time?"

"You did. But—"

"Ah." Heholds up his finger to stop me. "I know you're going to say, 'but we lost teh van and thought they'd left us there for a minute'. And you're right, but that's not the point. The point is, I did get you back to the van."

"You wouldn't have if it weren't for Lorena screaming at us."

He nods, accepting defeat as Lorena calls out a, "You're welcome," from behind us.

"And," I add, "it was a hike! I don't do hikes."

"You're married to me and you don't hike? The horror!"

"I'll wait around the fireplace and you can regale me of all your bear sedating stories when you return. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll even make some dinner for you."

"Oh, you cook?"

"You know," Raj interrupts from behind us, popping his head over the seat until he's right between us. "I hear the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"Is that how Divya snagged you?" Enrique asks, turning to face him. "I feel bad with you two sitting in the back. It's your wedding, after all."

"And we agreed to switch at every stop so no one gets too car sick." Divya waves off his concerns.

"But not exactly," Raj answers Enrique's question. "Her mother tried to convince her to cook for me when we first met. We were supposed to be an arranged match, but Divya was not having it. So I broke it off. My mother gave her mother the excuse that Divya could not cook."

He laughs as he reminisces.

Divya pulls him back to sit beside her. "Well, naturally, I was insulted at the implication—"

"Which is ironic, since the implication is correct," I butt in.

"Enough out of you, Miss 'can't roast a marshmallow to save my life'."

"Anyway, a few months later she comes to my door and nearly bangs it off its hinges. I was so shocked I nearly called the police but then she started screaming my name, and I knew it was Divya."

"He'd been harbouring a somewhat less-than-secret love for me since the whole arranged thing fell through."

"I had, yes. So I opened the door and she stormed inside and slammed a tray of samosas down in front of me and said 'I'll have you know I am not a bad cook' and left."

"He chased me down, though. Good thing that building didn't have any elevators."

"It is the best thing, because I got to ask my Divya out on a date where no one would make her prepare me food."

"And he hadn't even tried the samosas yet," I jump in. "So you know it's true love."

"That was maybe a good thing, too, because I don't think they were very good." Divya buries her head in her hands and laughs.

"Sometimes the way to a man's heart isn't through his stomach, then," Enrique reasons.

"Maybe not, but in the end we did tell our parents we had started dating and his mother was overjoyed but mine have taken a bit of time to warm up to the whole idea."