The Wedding Gift (7 page)

“I’m sorry,” Julie said again, because it seemed to be the only thing to say.

“I know you are,” Rose said. It wasn’t unkind. She sighed. “I took you on because your aunt said you would be the right replacement. I would hate for you to prove me wrong.”

She left it at that, and Julie threw away the remainder of the food before washing up and heading back to her aunt’s house. Aunt Evie wasn’t back home yet, which meant she could storm around the house without having to answer the inevitable questions about what was wrong. Julie wasn’t in the mood for people trying to comfort her.

So when the doorbell rang after she’d finally settled on the couch to stew over her biggest failure to date, she hauled herself off the couch, stalked over to the door, and threw it open.

Andrew Kyle stood there, trademark smile in place, looking like he hadn’t a care in the world.

“What are you doing here?” Julie demanded.

“You weren’t at the Rose Chalet, so I had to track you down.”

“How did you even do that?”

“Sandy is a fine detective when she wants to be.” He finally seemed to notice her expression. “So, how did your food tasting go?”

Julie took a step back from sheer shock. First, that he’d come to see her so soon after they’d just had lunch together. Second, that he’d remembered about her tasting.

And, finally, at how
angry
she was.

“How did it go?” Julie repeated. “How did it
go
? They
hated
what I did. ”

“Whoa! What happened?”

Julie glared at him. “They wouldn’t even taste my food before threatening to take their business elsewhere and storming out. That’s what happened. And Rose is furious with me now. She was nice about it, but she didn’t pull her punches. I don’t think she’ll be keeping me on much longer.”

“Why not?”

“Because I listened to you, that’s why!” Julie couldn’t help raising her voice. How could Andrew not understand something so simple? “I followed my instincts, took risks…all those things you like so much. And what happened? It all went wrong. Rose even said it. It’s not the right cooking for what I do.”

Andrew shook his head. “Then do something else. Whose dreams do you want to follow? Yours or Rose’s?”

“That’s easy for
you
to say,” Julie scoffed.

“You have so much talent, and you’re wasting it!” Andrew shot back, his own annoyance showing through.

“Like you know
anything
about my life!”

“I’m trying to know a lot more about your life, but you won’t even take that risk, will you?”

“What are you talking about? Why would you be trying to—”

Andrew kissed her, cutting off her question as his lips met hers full on. The kiss was passionate, full of heat...and yet shockingly sweet all at the same time.

Before she let herself think about how wrong it was, Julie kissed him back, exploring his mouth with hers, losing herself in the moment. As their kiss went on and on, she ignored the warning bells in her head as long as she could.

Finally, though, the voice of reason made its way through:
What was she doing kissing Andrew Kyle as if she needed air from his lungs to breathe?

Julie made herself pull back. It had been, Julie had to admit, a great kiss. Like the man himself, the kiss had been confident and to the point, but just a little gentler than she had imagined.

And wrong, of course.

Utterly, totally wrong.

“That was a mistake,” she said. “A really big mistake.”

“Julie—”

“Please, Andrew.” She walked to the door and held it open for him.

Amazingly, he started to walk through it. But just before he crossed the threshold, he turned and held her gaze for several long beats.

“I’m not giving up, Julie. And neither should you.”

Chapter Eight

“Thanks for agreeing to help me, Aunt Evie,” Julie said as she took the third layer of cake out of the oven and put it out on the side of her aunt’s kitchen counter.

“It’s no problem, honey,” her aunt assured her, handing her a full nozzle of frosting. “I know you haven’t done many wedding cakes before.”

“I haven’t done
any
wedding cakes before,” Julie corrected. “I really need to get this one right.”

“But isn’t this one just for the tasting? ”

How did Julie explain why this cake was so important? Did she tell her aunt about everything that had happened with Andrew picking her food apart? Or how badly she needed to make things up to Rose after the fiasco with the O’Neils and their extreme reaction to squid and raw meat?

But she knew she couldn’t drop her problems onto Aunt Evie’s lap, not when the stresses of the wedding business had already made her ill once.

“I just want to make the best impression I can.”

“I know you do. You’ve always worked so hard, honey. Too hard, sometimes.”

While the cake was nothing more than a few simple ingredients mixed up right, decorating it was practically an art form—one that took extreme focus. Which proved to be a problem–a
big
problem–every time thoughts of Andrew’s very unexpected kiss flashed into her mind.

“Julie,” Evie asked when she messed up a string of frosting for the third time, “tell me what’s wrong.”

But Julie didn’t want to think about what had happened the night before. Maybe if she buried it deep enough, she might just be able to forget how good Andrew’s mouth on hers had been.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just not good at this.”

Aunt Evie took the frosting tube out of her hands. “I’m not letting you do anything else to that poor cake until you tell me what has you making such a mess of the edges.”

“I…I kissed this guy.” Julie suddenly felt like a teenager again. “Actually, he kissed me and I kissed him back. And now I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Do you like him?”

Julie hesitated as Andrew’s beautiful face swam into her thoughts once more.

“Let me rephrase that,” her aunt continued with a smile. “You obviously can’t run a line of frosting straight, so yes, you like him. Now, what’s the problem?”

Julie shook her head. “I
shouldn’t
like him. I should hate him. But things…”

“Aren’t that simple?” Her aunt laughed softly. “They never are. My advice is to just get on with life and see where it takes you.”

Fortunately, her aunt left it at that and by the time they were done with the cake, Julie was fairly certain Rose would be pleased with it—enough, she hoped, to get them over the hump of the O’Neils.

Before she left for work, Julie put on far too much makeup in the bathroom, then took almost all of it off again before settling on her normal work clothes.

When she arrived at the Rose Chalet, Phoebe was putting together a couple of small table floral displays. The florist was dressed in a long blue and green dress that hugged her figure and Julie almost felt as if she were dressed in rags by comparison.

“Phoebe, those designs are incredible.” She really hoped Andrew wouldn’t pick away at her new friend’s arrangements the same way he had at her food. “I didn’t expect you to be here today, though.”

Phoebe stopped what she was doing and turned to Julie with a smile.

“Rose suggested I should run the flowers by Mr. Kyle to check that I’m going in the right direction. So,” Phoebe asked, “what’s he like? I mean, I’ve seen him on TV, but who knows if celebrities are the same in real life.”

Julie pushed back an odd sense of disappointment at not getting to see Andrew alone. How could that even be what she wanted after their kiss the night before and the way she’d asked him to leave?

“Andrew is—” She hastily shut down more thoughts of their kiss as she tried to think of a diplomatic way to put it. “He has a very clear idea of what he wants for his brother’s wedding.
Very
clear.”

“I see,” Phoebe said, looking a little worried. “I heard that he was really picky when it came to the food. Sorry your first wedding couldn’t be an easier one.”

This time it was even harder for Julie to be diplomatic. She wanted to say,
You don’t know the half of it.
The thing was, not only would she sound like a complete jerk, but she wasn’t actually sure any of her preconceived notions about Andrew were true anymore.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine with him,” Julie said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone, before turning her attention to unwrapping and assembling her cake.

“Wow, Julie, it’s lovely. You must have gone to so much trouble. And all for a tasting.”

Just then, Andrew arrived. Julie had barely been able to sleep after their kiss, but he looked annoyingly well rested. And confident.

Right in line with his
I’m not giving up and neither should you
parting comment.

Opting for an uber-professional tone that couldn’t possibly give away their secret kiss to anyone who might be listening, Julie said, “Andrew, this is Phoebe who’ll be handling the flowers. Phoebe, meet Andrew.”

“Hello Phoebe,” Andrew said, extending a hand. “That is a lovely dress. And Julie, you’re looking great as always.”

The sudden compliment took Julie by surprise, but she tried not to show it as she led him through to the dining room. He made easy conversation with Phoebe, and the two seemed to hit it off, with Andrew telling her some anecdote about a minor starlet he used to cook for who was fanatical about having edible flowers on every dish.

Part of Julie wanted to reach out to Andrew and drag him back towards her, but she knew she couldn’t have it both ways; pushing him away in one moment, pulling him in at another.

I am not jealous of how well they’re getting along,
Julie told herself.
Even if Phoebe is gorgeous today, and Andrew is…well, Andrew.

The trouble was, it was hard to keep repeating that once they got into the dining room, and Andrew caught sight of the flowers.

“Phoebe, this is wonderful. The arrangements you’ve put together will be perfect for the wedding, thank you.”

But instead of simply accepting the compliments, Phoebe said, “I know how important your brother’s wedding is to you. I can change them if you’d like. It wouldn’t be a problem at all.”

Why was Phoebe fishing for compliments? She wasn’t attracted to Andrew, was she?

Julie worked to quickly shut that part of her brain down. Clearly, the reason Phoebe couldn’t believe Andrew might be nice about her arrangements was because she’d heard just how badly he’d ripped apart Julie’s menu.

Which brought them to the cake.

Phoebe was already beside it, telling Andrew how much work Julie had put in. She ignored that, focusing purely on Andrew as he circled it, examining it closely before cutting slices from each layer and trying them.

Come on,
thought Julie,
how long did it take to have an opinion on cake?

Finally, he turned to her and smiled a slow smile. One that brought both dimples to the fore.

“It’s great, Julie. Really great. It tastes good, and the decoration must have taken you quite a while. I like the idea of having the three different layers a lot. It’s inventive, while still being traditional.”

Julie could feel herself glowing at his praise. She shouldn’t care so much about what he thought, but the truth was, she did.

Phoebe offered to show Andrew out, but Julie practically shoved her out of the way. She waited until they were out in the parking lot, away from prying eyes, before she said anything.

“Andrew, I—”

“Come to my place for dinner tonight, Julie.”

“What?”

He took a scrap of paper out of his pocket, wrote an address on it, and pressed it into her palm.

“Say you’ll come. Please.”

“Andrew I…I don’t know where I stand anymore,” Julie admitted. “First I thought I hated you, and then I started to like you. But kissing you?” She shook her head. “I’m pretty certain I shouldn’t have kissed you back.”

“And I’m certain you should have.” His eyes softened as he slid the back of his hand gently across her cheek. “It felt right to me, Julie. Are you going to tell me it didn’t feel right to you, too?”

Oh God, it had been so right that it was all she could do to keep from kissing Andrew again right there. But Julie knew she couldn’t do that. Not in front of her workplace. And
definitely
not when he was still the man who’d held her future in his hands twice–once with her restaurant and now with the Rose Chalet.

Julie took a shaky step away from him and tried to still the butterflies twirling around in her belly.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to come over tonight, Andrew.”

He started to reach out for her again. “Julie, I know this is difficult for you, but—”

“I can’t, Andrew.” She took another step back, rather than launching herself into his strong arms the way she so desperately wanted to. “I want to, but I just can’t.”

“Take a risk, Julie.”

Julie shook her head at his softly worded urging. “I’m glad you liked the cake,” was all she could say. Julie watched him drive off a few moments later, his address still tucked into her hand.

Chapter Nine

“Come on, Andrew, how hard can it be to cook one meal?”

Andrew’s father sat at the dining room table, knife and fork already in hand like he might start banging them onto the wood if food wasn’t forthcoming. His father had gained a few pounds in his sixties, but he kept his hair dyed black, and his gaze was as steely as ever, perfect for convincing juries to vote his way.

Next to Andrew’s father was his mother, who had stopped counting her age sometime after she hit forty. Between her fitness routines, plenty of days at the spa, and the occasional touch of work from plastic surgeons, she didn’t look that much over it, either.

Then there were Phil and Nancy. Phil took after their father, more heavily built than Andrew, with the same piercing stare. He dressed with the expensive elegance a doctor with his own very successful practice could. Nancy was blonde and bubbly, but definitely no airhead, with plenty of success in PR to prove it. Andrew watched as she leaned in to kiss his brother.