Chapter Nineteen

Gray arrived at the French Quarter the next morning in a pair of comfortable sneakers with a sense of optimism for the date ahead. Her conversations with Arielle on Mercurious had been brief but promising. Cherry's suggested icebreaker—most exciting place you've ever traveled—hadn't helped get the conversation going. But Arielle, who apparently hated chatting via text, promised to think it over and have an answer by the time she met up with Gray in person.

Upon entering the coffee shop where they'd agreed to meet, Gray searched for the wavy brown shoulder-length hair and big smile she'd seen on Arielle's profile. After a few minutes of searching and waiting, Gray's desire for caffeine won out and she ordered a latte. She was seated and well into her drink by the time Arielle actually arrived, almost twenty minutes late, enough to take the shine off Gray's enthusiasm.

"Gray! Hey!" Arielle said, spotting her date from the door. She walked over to Gray's table and dropped her messenger bag on an empty chair. "Sorry I'm late. I don't believe in clocks. Let me get coffee and we can get moving."

"Nice to meet you too," Gray said grumpily to Arielle's back, already halfway to the cashier.

But once they set off on the walking path along the Mississippi River, Gray couldn't help but be charmed by the urban park, city views, and Arielle's laissez-faire attitude. Although there were plenty of plaques and maps directing their attention to the park's architecture and history, Arielle pointed out things Gray never would have noticed. She directed Gray's attention to a rusted old railcar half overtaken by ivy, a colorful mural visible across the river, and a cluster of bees peacefully enjoying the flowers on the sunny spring day. It was a delightful reminder that even after exploring New Orleans for almost two months, there was so much more to see.

Coming upon a fenced dog park, Arielle and Gray sat on a bench to watch the pups play. They laughed about the power dynamics between an enormous Great Dane and a tiny fluff ball of a dog who appeared to be bossing him around. Settling into an easy conversation, Gray asked Arielle if she'd had some time to think about the most exciting place she'd visited.

Arielle chewed her lip. "It's a tough question. I travel a ton for translating jobs and for fun, so much I sometimes wonder why I bother paying rent at all." She paused and took a sip from her cold brew. "What's your answer?"

"I haven't traveled extensively, probably not as much as you," Gray said. "But I used to work for a queer-wedding-planning company and occasionally got to travel for some of the bigger destination weddings."

Arielle sat up straighter, intrigued. "Really? Didn't you say you moved here from Oklahoma?"

"Yeah. Kind of a surprising place for a bunch of queer weddings, right?" Gray said. "But I think it's even more important in a red state to have a business like that. To make sure you won't encounter any negativity when working with vendors and whatnot."

Arielle nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"Anyway, I went to this one wedding in Bangkok and it was completely magical. The grooms rode in on elephants through a waterfall. I mean, it doesn't get better than that. But everything about Thailand was amazing. The beaches, the food, the architecture, the history, it's all fantastic. I even went out to this gay island with…a friend." Gray had narrowly caught herself before mentioning her ex. It had been a romantic and passionate side trip during their time in Thailand. But remembering what happened when she bent the rules about sharing her relationship history on her date with Niko, she pulled back on the more personal details. "It's basically just a whole island of the most beautiful beaches you've ever seen and really fun queer clubs. Gay heaven, basically."

"Wow," Arielle said. "I've heard Thailand is gay friendly, but I've never been."

"Definitely worth a trip," Gray said. "So what's your answer?"

"I've been to plenty of the places that are supposed to be the most exciting. You know, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, London, S?o Paulo." Arielle gazed out at the water, the sun glowing on her golden skin. "But the place I remember most fondly, the one that surprised me the most, it's a lot closer. Have you heard of Avery Island?"

Gray shook her head.

"It's not far from here, but it feels like its own cool little world," Arielle said, a dreamy look on her face. "It's in the middle of the bayou and the whole thing is made of salt and—"

"Made of salt? How does that even work?" Gray asked.

"It's this huge dome of salt deposits from the Mississippi," Arielle said. "They mine it and everything. And you know Tabasco, the hot sauce? It was invented on Avery Island and they have this whole museum and factory you can tour and a tasting room and everything. When I was there, they let me taste the pepper mash straight from the aging barrels and I still dream of it. I pity people who don't eat hot sauce. They'll never understand the thrill. Do you like spicy food?"

"Sure," Gray said, remembering her conversation about jalape?os with Veronica the previous day. "That all sounds amazing. Gotta admit I'm still struggling to picture an island made of salt though. Is it, like, a giant Himalayan salt lamp?" Gray tried to picture a glowing rocky pink island akin to the birthday gift she'd bought McKenzie a few years back.

"No, it doesn't really look like salt." Arielle contemplated how to explain it. "The island is super lush and green and has a bunch of wildlife. But it's still…different. I guess you have to see it to understand it." Arielle looked at Gray, then down at her watch. "Do you have afternoon plans, by chance?"

Gray had planned to get a jump start on packing, but that didn't sound as fun as seeing what surprises Arielle had in store. "You know, my calendar just opened up."

"Then let's go!"

"Go where?" Gray asked, looking away from a corgi she'd been watching chase a schnauzer.

"Avery Island!" Arielle said, sitting up straighter on the bench. "It's only a couple hours' drive, and we can visit the Tabasco factory and look around a little." Turning to Gray, Arielle assumed a similar puppy-eyed expression to the dogs in the park across from them. "What's more fun than a spur-of-the-moment Sunday road trip? I'll drive if you'll pitch in for gas."

Although she knew getting into a car with a stranger to travel across the state was objectively a bad idea, Gray was intrigued. She'd been wanting to see more of her new home state anyway, right? After thinking it over for a minute, Gray shrugged. "Let's do it!"

It didn't take long for them to walk back through the park to Arielle's SUV. Gray waited patiently as Arielle collected an armful of detritus from the passenger seat and shoved it into the trunk. They buckled in, and between Arielle's special playlist for impromptu road trips, chatting about past favorite spur-of-the-moment adventures, and a highly competitive game of spotting wildlife within view of the car, the two-hour journey was over before they knew it.

As their entire drive had been through the vibrant green bayous of southern Louisiana, Gray was disappointed to find that Avery Island didn't appear any different from the surrounding areas. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting—sandy salt shores or maybe visible mounds of minerals. But she was still happy to be along for the ride. Arielle navigated to a group of redbrick buildings tucked among the gnarled oaks draped in Spanish moss. It was the Tabasco headquarters, marked with large pepper-shaped signs and colorful statues.

Gray paid for their tickets and they set off on a self-guided tour of the museum, reading about Avery Island's history and the founding of the hot sauce brand. The next stop after the museum was a small greenhouse filled with pepper plants like those cultivated to make the sauce. Gray was enchanted by the bright, colorful peppers that looked almost like Christmas lights strung on the bushes. Meanwhile, Arielle only had eyes for the giant warehouse where the peppers were mashed, preserved with Avery Island salt, and aged in giant wooden barrels.

"God, I wish I could steal a whole barrel in the back of my car," Arielle said dreamily. "Think of all the good stuff in those barrels. Pure spicy deliciousness, none of the vinegar watering it down. Hope your taste buds are ready."

"I'm a fire sign, you know I can take the heat," Gray quipped. It was big talk for someone who'd been known to cry from a little too much horseradish.

After seeing the barrels, they got a peek at what Gray had hoped to see upon arrival on the island: towering walls of salt. A special room on the tour was designed to imitate the salt mines beneath Avery Island's surface. Gray gaped at the layered, coarse texture of the room and stopped to read every sign about the salt's uses, as well as the mastodon and mammoth fossils found preserved in it.

Gray and Arielle got a glimpse of the bottling process and then headed to the gift shop and tasting table. Arielle pulled up a stool and asked for two full tasting experiences, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. An employee provided them with cups of oyster crackers and pointed out the suggested order, from least spicy to most spicy.

"Scared?" Arielle asked, watching Gray uncap the first bottle.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Gray said, her palms beginning to sweat with fear.

It started off easy with a sweet-and-spicy sauce, one that even Gray could eat without flinching. The next three sauces, a mild green jalape?o, tangy buffalo, and cayenne garlic, brought a pinkish blush to Gray's cheeks, but she was mostly able to cover her discomfort. Tabasco's take on sriracha was the first sauce to leave a lingering heat in her mouth, although Arielle seemed to not mind at all, mounding a terrifying amount of sauce onto her cracker. The smoky chipotle sauce caused Gray to suck in a breath of cool air, which she hid by gushing about how delicious it would be with barbecue. By the time they hit the classic red Tabasco Sauce, Gray felt a tingle of sweat emerging along her hairline.

"Finally, we're getting to the good stuff," Arielle said. She glanced over at Gray, who was fanning herself with a sheet of tasting notes. "Wait, is the basic sauce too hot for you?"

"What? No! It's hot sauce for babies," Gray said, trying to control the rush of saliva in her mouth.

"You sure? Your face is looking a little red."

Gray wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Just warm in here, is all."

Arielle looked skeptical but didn't push the issue. Next up was a habanero sauce. Gray gently tilted the bottle to get the smallest drop possible on her cracker, but it was still enough to scorch her taste buds. "Yum," she said, although it was hard to get out, as her tongue was beginning to go numb.

"Your neck is kinda blotchy," Arielle said. "Do you want to stop?"

"I'm fine!" Gray said. "Eyes on your own cracker!"

Arielle looked pleased by Gray's refusal to give up. "We have one sauce left, but if we're going by the Scoville scale, we should try the mash first, because the Scorpion Sauce is hotter," she said. Arielle pulled a jar of roughly mashed peppers and salt toward them along with two tiny spoons. "Ready? This is where the magic happens." Gray nodded, and Arielle went first, filling her spoon with the red paste. She popped the mash into her mouth, savoring it like a fine cheese. "God, it's even better than I remembered. Oh! Got some heat too."

If Arielle was commenting on the heat after seeming unbothered so far, Gray knew this one was going to leave her breathing smoke. But she couldn't walk away now. This was the main draw for the entire trip. Gray dipped the tip of her spoon into the mash and pulled out a tiny dot. After a steadying breath, she tasted it. The first moment was delicious, sweet and ripe and flavorful, but the fire came in only a second behind, flooding her cheeks, her sinuses, her whole head with a tingly burning sensation.

"What do you think?" Arielle asked, still smacking her lips.

"Dewiciouth!" Gray said, her voice hoarse, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Seeing the expression Gray couldn't hide, Arielle burst out laughing. "Too spicy for you."

"No!" Gray said, refusing to admit defeat. "I love it. Too bad I can't have seconds without double-dipping." She picked up a napkin and wiped the tears from her face, then blew her nose.

"Should I ask them for another spoon?" Arielle tested Gray's commitment by starting to raise her hand for the employee's attention.

Gray grabbed Arielle's hand and pushed it back down. "No! I, uh, don't want to be greedy."

Arielle slid over the final bottle, one with an ominous black label. "Then I hope you're ready for the big finale."

Her mouth and throat still stinging, Gray hesitated, looking at the bottle with wide eyes.

"We drove all this way for you to quit now?" Arielle looked at Gray expectantly, then shrugged. "I thought you could handle the heat, but I guess you're too scared."

"I'm not scared!" Gray said, unable to back down from a challenge.

"That's my girl!" Arielle pounded Gray on the back, then uncapped the bottle and handed it to her. "You've got this."

Gray shook a dash of the sauce onto a cracker and downed it before she could have any second thoughts. With this bite, the fire hit in no time at all. Her vision seeming to cloud, Gray coughed and jumped up from her stool. "Water," she croaked.

Still chewing on her own cracker covered in Scorpion Sauce, Arielle patted Gray's back sympathetically. "Water will only make it worse. Have another cracker or two."

Gray followed Arielle's directions, and eventually, the burning faded away. She sat back down and mopped the sweat and tears from her face with a fresh napkin.

"What a champ," Arielle said, an amused expression on her face. She seemed unfazed by the spiciest sauce the brand had to offer. "But you've got to work on that tolerance if you're going to make it in New Orleans, you know. I've never seen anyone get so flushed over a little hot sauce."

"?‘A little hot sauce,' she says," Gray grumbled. "As if I didn't just try nine hot sauces and some weird mash delivered straight from hell."

Arielle patted Gray's shoulder, laughing. "You were very brave."

Gray let her saliva do the rest of the work of clearing the burning sensation from her mouth while she and Arielle wandered the gift shop. Remembering the satisfied look on Veronica's face as she snacked on raw jalape?os the previous day, Gray picked up a variety pack of limited-edition hot sauces to bring her as a souvenir, along with adult- and kid-sized aprons with the Tabasco logo for Veronica and Karys. It wasn't until she was in line at the cash register that she realized she should probably pick up souvenirs for Cherry, Robbie, and River too. She grabbed a couple of adult T-shirts and a Tabasco-branded teddy bear and checked out.

After grabbing sandwiches at the on-site restaurant, Arielle and Gray hit the road to return home. As they neared the city, jamming out to Arielle's playlist, Gray wondered where Sagittarius might rank on her short list. She'd really enjoyed their adventure, and she liked Arielle's curiosity, enthusiasm, and competitive spirit. But she also felt no desire to pursue Arielle romantically. Remembering how relieved she'd been by Riley's honesty on her second astrology date at the unopened café, Gray decided to make a similar move.

"Today was a blast," Gray said, looking at the sun setting over the bayou. "Thanks for showing me Avery Island. I totally loved it."

"It was fun, wasn't it?" Arielle said.

"Yeah." Gray ran a hand along the side of her head. "And I feel like we have this awesome connection, but maybe more…as friends?"

"Obviously," Arielle said.

"Oh," Gray said, surprised, relieved, and a tiny bit disappointed. It was hard not to feel a sting of rejection, even if she'd started it.

Arielle's eyes left the road long enough to glance at Gray, and the smile on her face showed no ill will. "I knew when you started sweating at the classic Tabasco that we weren't meant to be," she said. "How can there be a spark between us when you're scared of the burn?"

Gray couldn't help but laugh. "So you aren't attracted to me because I can't handle hot sauce?"

"Exactly," Arielle said, now laughing at her own gustatory standards. "But I'm down to be friends."

Gray breathed a sigh of relief. "Cool. Well, on our next hot sauce tour, maybe I'll take a pass on the hottest one."

"If we're going to be friends, you should know that I'll always goad you into trying the hottest sauce," Arielle said.

"And I'll probably always fall for it," Gray admitted. As the last bit of daylight cast a glow across the car, Gray smiled at the thought that her astrology experiment might help her keep exploring new things long past her final first date.