What is the one thing you don’t eat that you really wish you could and why?
Erin frowned at the café’s food menu. It was nothing but pastries and baked goods.
“Don’t see anything you like?” her date asked.
She forced a smile. “I’m just not a big breakfast eater,” she lied. “A cappuccino will be more than enough to get me through the morning.”
Isaac set his menu down on the table and folded his hands on top of it. “Erin, we can go somewhere else.”
“No, really, it’s ok,” she protested. “I was the one who wanted to come here after all.”
“It’s the hot, new place,” he said. “It’s ok to leave if it’s not what you expected.”
Erin chewed her lip stubbornly. She was ashamed of herself for not checking ahead of time if they would have a gluten-sensitive menu. She wished she could eat the pastries in the café but she had given up most wheat products when she discovered they were exacerbating her headaches. This was what she got for trying something new.
“Tell you what,” Isaac announced. “We’ll enjoy a coffee here, just to say we did, and then we’ll go to the farmer’s market for some fresh fruit and have a picnic breakfast in the park.”
Erin’s heart skipped a beat. They had only been on a handful of dates, but Isaac had already picked up on her preferences. She hadn’t told him about her dietary restrictions—she had been careful to only meet him in places she knew had food she could eat—and yet he still took them into consideration. Her ex had mocked her when she’d explained why she didn’t eat wheat. Isaac just took it in stride.
She smiled. “I would very much like that.”
Notes: Whenever my husband hears about a new restaurant from a coworker and wants to check it out, I have to look up the menu to make sure there are things I can eat. Most places have gluten-free options now, and those options are ever expanding, so it’s usually ok. At the very least most places will have salads. I’m not celiac, I don’t get the stomach aches or violent illness like some people, but I was more prone to migraines when I was regularly eating sandwiches and pastas and the like. I still get them once in a while, but not nearly as frequently. Mostly I miss pizza, but there are some great gluten free crusts out there so I still eat pizza a couple times a month.
Is there anything you don’t eat that you wish you could? What about your characters? How do they navigate their world if they have dietary restrictions?
That does it for this Thursday post. One more for the week tomorrow night. See you then!
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Closet Full of Notebooks 