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“It’s incredible. What’s in it?”
“You might enjoy it more if I don’t tell you,” she joked. “It’s not very healthy.”
He could tell it contained artichokes and green chilies; he knew she couldn’t be talking about those. Which left sour cream or whatever the rest of it was made of. “It’s worth it.”
She opened the oven and pulled out a loaf of toasty garlic bread sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese. “Would you mind cutting the bread?”
“Not at all.” He was yanking out drawers, searching for a knife, when she handed him one.
“Have you heard from Charlie since he stormed out of here?” she asked.
“Nope.”
She carried their lasagna to the dining table. “Have you tried calling him?”
“Not yet. I want to let him cool off first.”
“How long do you think that’ll take?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. We’ve never had anything like this happen.”
She sighed. “Well, take it from me. He can hold a grudge for alongtime. His whole family can.”
He found her wounded expression sort of endearing. “You’d like to be friends with him?”
“Of course. It’s not as if I never cared about him.”
He dipped another cracker and took a bite. “I don’t think Charlie’s capable of accepting anything less than what he really wants, Talulah. In case you haven’t already figured it out, he still has a thing for you.”
“I can’t imagine how,” she said, sounding exasperated as she took a green salad out of the fridge and stuck a pair of tongs in it. “He hasn’t even seen me for fourteen years.”
“Maybe not in person, but he follows you on social media.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. “He’s never commented on any of my posts...”
“Because he’s lurking.”
She handed him a corkscrew for the wine. “There’s not much to see on my personal Instagram. I don’t post very often. I’m too busy trying to come up with compelling content to promote the dessert diner, so I’m usually posting on that account instead.”
He popped the cork on the J brand pinot noir he’d brought. “You’ve put up a few pictures of you and Paul.”
She blinked at him. “Charlie’smentioned that?”
“I’ve seen them, too,” he admitted.
“When?”
“Last night.” He’d scrolled through her pictures again today, several times actually, since he couldn’t get her off his mind, but he didn’t volunteer that. “I was curious about this business partner of yours. Aren’t you afraid of messing up your ability to work together? What would happen to the dessert diner then?”
“It’s a risk,” she said. “That’s partly why I resisted letting our relationship drift in a romantic direction. I’d hate to ruin it. But he’s so adamant than we’re perfect for each other. And I do like a lot of things about him.”
“Name some of them,” he said.
She turned off the oven and hung up the hand towel. “Well...he’s sweet and attentive and conscientious and an incredible pastry chef. Because we’re both committed to making the diner succeed, we have a common goal, which is nice. And we share a love of good food.”
The dude he’d seen had been super fit. There’d been several pictures of them hiking. “He likes the outdoors?”
“He does. He’s going on a backpacking trip to Europe with a buddy for three weeks when I get back.”
