“Are you moving?” Zach’s strides began eating up long stretches of grass.
“It’s a cute little place.” She double-timed to keep up with him. “Old but with a great layout. The bathroom is a Pepto-Bismol pink, but I actually might leave it that way. Keep some of its charm.” She smiled and then sighed. “But I found out that there’s a bidding war on the place. I can’t afford to go much higher, but my agent advised me to write a letter. She said that sometimes people can be swayed by that.”
He stopped suddenly, and Ava almost ran into him. “I admire you for wanting to find a place that you can make your own. Just tell them a little about yourself. I’m sure they’ll love you.” His shoulders hitched up a notch, and he began walking again.
Okay. Whatever that was about.
They reached the festival grounds. Dani stood next to the ice cream truck.
“Dani!” Zach jogged over to her, and Ava tried to keep up. “Tell me you didn’t give me thirty people for my class.”
Dani blew out a breath. “I didn’t give you thirty people for your class.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?” Zach ran a hand through his hair.
“I’m just telling you what you want to hear,” Dani shot back. She looked down at her clipboard. “I’m really busy, Zach.”
“I can’t teach that many people at one time. I need you to cancel half of them.”
Dani’s head whipped up. “No way. I can’t cancel them. They all paid good money. I need this festival to be a success. For Jonathon Island.” She stressed the last words. A muscle tightened in Zach’s neck.
“Then split them into two classes. I’ll just do the same thing twice.”
Dani ran a finger down the paper in front of her. “Can’t do that either. There’s just no time for a second class. You’ll figure it out. I know you will.” She gave him a grin full of teeth and hurried away.
“Dani. Dani!” But she didn’t hear him. Or, Ava suspected, she was ignoring him. He looked at her. “That sister of mine.” But his growl didn’t fool Ava for a minute. She could see the sparkle in his eye. He loved his baby sister and would do whatever she asked.
Zach stared at her for a long moment.
She felt her face heat. Did she have a smudge or something? “What?”
“You could help me with the class.”
“What?” She’d never heard that kind of a shriek come out of her mouth before. She cleared her throat. “Um. I mean. Are you crazy? I don’t even know how to cook, let alone how to teach other people.”
“You’ll be fine. I’m teaching the same stuff I taught at Escargot. You already know those techniques.” Zach shrugged. “Besides, I mostly need someone for crowd control, and you’re great with people.”
“I don’t know…” Wasn’t she just in danger of showing off her incompetence?
“C’mon. It’ll be great. Plus, it’ll give us a chance to learn to work together more. I’ll give you a refresher before the class starts. I already know you’re a quick learner.” Zach raised an eyebrow at her. “You could write about it for your article. A behind-the-scenes look at a cooking class or whatever. Say yes, partner.”
Wow. He really believed in her. How could she say no to that? “Partner.”
“Great. We’ll see you in”—he looked at his watch—“twenty minutes.”
Eep. She should have found out when the class started before agreeing to it.
How was she ever going to get her letter written if she kept being distracted by Zach Sullivan?
This might be Zach’s best class yet, despite the fact that he’d had little time to prepare. It was fitting that Dani had scheduled thisbeginners class for a Monday. It seemed he would never escape Make-It-Mondays.
If only this favor for his sister wasn’t distracting him from the real reason he was here on Jonathon Island: getting out from under Chef Louie’s thumb and landing a job with actual prospects.
Zach did a quick status check. All under control. The honeymooners were giggling over their saucepan, the sisters from Minneapolis seemed to be in a competition to see who could dice their onions the smallest. And the rest of the class occupied themselves with various tasks. He’d chosen to lead them through a boeuf bourguignon, the recipe simplified for home cooks. A fun dish for people to have in their repertoire that had the added benefit of teaching a lot of skills. Ava flitted from station to station, offering a positive word here and a gentle correction there.
Once, he even spotted her correcting someone’s hold on a knife.
When Dani had told him earlier that day there would be thirty inexperienced people crammed into the hotel kitchen like the sardines they’d be using for the Caesar salad, he’d nearly hyperventilated. The kitchen was spacious enough to accommodate a well-trained staff of twenty or so, but newbies? They were lucky they’d been able to figure out how to move the group through the steps in shifts. If it weren’t for Ava’s help, he’d be drowning right now.
