“Kyle called us together this morning for help?—”
“He did not—” she shot out, planting both hands on the countertop.
“He so did, which is why I swung by before I left again.” She rose and hugged her. “You think about your recipe while I’m gone. We can talk when I get back.”
Madison gave a shaky laugh. “Sure, we’ll have brunch. Shoot the breeze about how insane my life has become.”
Thea only laughed. “Feel free to bring your cleaver. Dean is worried you’re going to hack him to death for participating in Operation Madison.”
“I always knew he was a smart guy,” she joked, but she felt sick to her stomach.
She’d never hurt her friends, but knowing they were working with Kyle to get her to be with him made her feel allsquirrely inside. Like they were Kyle’s newGang of Romance and Datingor something, ready to climb the walls she’d created, the ones she’d counted on for so long to protect her.
Thea clutched her purse. “You should know something before I go. I’ve never admired anyone as much for their bravery as I do you. I believe in you.”
Her mouth was suddenly filled with cotton balls. Brave? Oh, Thea. “You’ve gotten more devious since your return to Paris.”
“Thank you.” She gave a playful wink. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Right. Now, off with you. Do you want me to grab some rice and throw it at you again? Hum the wedding march?”
Her friend’s girlish laughter was downright infectious. “You’d do it if I asked, which is why I know you’re a softie when it comes to the important things.”
“Shut your mouth.” She winced. “Sorry, that was too harsh. But you know?—”
“I do.” Another happy smile flitted over her face as she grabbed her purse. “I happen to like this side of my friend, even if it’s really weird to her. That’s how I used to feel about fashion and shoes, and look at me now.”
When she cut a confident catwalk pose, Madison remembered meeting her all those years ago. Thea had come to Paris at twenty, equipped with very little high school French and dressed in some purple outfit with a Peter Pan collar. Back then, she’d had two speeds: smiling and crying. But the woman who stood before Madison now was stylish and confident. “Love looks good on you, Thea.”
“You too, Madison.”
Drop the mic, Thea.
Madison’s mouth hung open as little sister walked out of the kitchen. Love looked good on her? She needed to scrub it off.
She eyed the recipe card like it had cooties. Pierre walkedover and somehow got the recipe in his beak. He trotted back, bobbing his head with the card.
“You’re not a secret agent in Operation Madison, are you?” She grabbed the card and glared at it. “Now all I can see isBeliefflashing out in great big Vegas strip letters. Like you can download that baby in the app store or buy it online.”
Kyle had asked her to believe. She didn’t want to let him down. This whole recipe life card business so wasn’t her. But she had to deal with it, didn’t she? Kyle had started Operation Madison. With their friends.
Waging a silent campaign for her heart was so like Kyle. He’d tried to put her in checkmate. Sure, she wasn’t a chess player, but she’d loved going to Domino Park in Little Havana to watch the card sharks and the chess hustlers smoke their Cuban cigars while drinking acafecito.God, she loved Paris coffee, but in this moment, she would have killed for a Cuban coffee in a little paper cup with the ocean breeze ruffling her hair.
So what was her strategy here?
She wanted to smack him.
She wanted to kiss him.
She wanted to beg him to find some magical Belief potion for her to swallow.
Thea had called her brave. Riiiight…
When it came to risking her life walking down a dangerous Miami street, sure. She had to get home, didn’t she? Her heart was another matter. It remembered how much pain was out there waiting if you tripped up.
But she’d also learned when you had to weigh the odds and go for what you wanted. She wouldn’t have gotten as far as she had in the culinary world if she weren’t willing to occasionally throw the dice.
Kyle was giving her a chance to set her conditions. Her rules. Maybe it was time to stop running away. If she keptignoring him, and what they both wanted, he might lose all respect for her.
