Cheap Date

The other night, after depositing Girl at camp, Beloved and I drove home.

In silence.

We'd had some not so great news. Well, it wasn't news, it just wasn't good news. Basically, it was like getting a piece of birthday cake with no frosting. Or movie popcorn without butter. You get the idea.

As we motored along with the flow of traffic we were both buried in our own thoughts.

I glanced sideways at him and he had that, "Someone stole my cookie," look on his face.

I hate it when someone steals his cookie.

Makes me want to punch someone. Hard.

And then bake cookies.

We rode like that for several more moments until I broke the silence with, "I need a burger and a beer".

I don't drink beer.

So, that's what we did. We pulled into a place that looked promising and realized as we entered the front door that we were under-dressed. In Mt. Angel? Seriously? One look at the menu told us there was no beer or burgers, only dinners starting at $18.00.

Dude, I just want a brew.

We exited, feeling reckless and little silly, and drove north.

Once we reached the haven of our own town we swung into McMenamins. Look it up. They've got all sorts of cool places to drink beer and eat burgers. If you are so inclined.

"I think I'll have a glass of IPA and regular burger," I said perusing the menu.

Beloved agreed and only laughed a little bit because I ordered a "glass" and not a "pint" of beer.

"Me no likey beer," I reminded him, it just sounds good.

So there we were, with our tiny glasses of beer (seriously, like kiddie cup size glasses of pale IPA), and our regular burgers (no cheese - too many calories....snicker...) and those wonderful fries. Heaven, I tell you, pure heaven.

And we ate. And we laughed. And we hashed out the disturbing news. And we laughed some more.

And then I had to confess to him that my tiny IPA had made my lips numb.

"Really?" he queried.

And then he laughed and told me he had always loved the fact that I am a cheap date.

And then he smiled and I knew I didn't have to bake cookies. Which is great considering that entire meal was probably worth all my calories for one day.

But hey, whose counting?