Page 15 of Falling for my Best Friend

“No, thanks,” she said. “If I ate one of those, I would probably balloon overnight.”

I couldn’t think of a reasonable response to that so I just retied the bag and shut it back in the box.

“I left my wallet at Bianca’s so I took some cash out of the jar to pick up the stuff for dinner.” She walked the bowls over to the table and set them down. “Hope that’s okay.”

“That’s what it’s there for,” I said. “To prevent soya emergencies.” I put the rolls on a plate, grabbed the butter dish, and headed over to the table.

“Bon appetit!” Chelsea said, taking a seat beside me.

“Thanks for going to all this trouble, babe. It’s really nice of you.”

She shrugged. “I’m a nice person.”

I broke open my fresh roll and sliced a pat of butter off the end of the stick. I could feel Chelsea watching me as I spread it across the inside.

She licked her lips.

“Are you sure you don’t want a tiny bite?” I asked.

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t do that in front of me.”

“You must be joking.” I tore a hunk off. “You watch the Food Network more than anyone I know.” I popped the bread in my mouth.

She picked up her spoon and turned her eyes back to her bowl.

I decided it was time to make a fuss over her efforts no matter how grotesque. I dipped my spoon in and watched a piece of soya drift over it. It looked like soggy little brains, but I tried to imagine that it was a piece of ground beef and raised the spoon to my mouth.

Much to my surprise, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. In fact, it actually wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever made. “This is delicious, Chelse.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, one of your best meals yet.”

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks, sweetie.”

I smiled, delighted that it was edible. However, as the soya sludge was sort of one-note, I was increasingly grateful for the bread.

“How was your day?” she asked between bites.

“Good,” I said. “Can’t say the same for Tommy though. He dislocated his shoulder again. I think he’s probably a few incidents away from needing surgery, and it’s a critical time in his career.”

“Do you think this needs more salt? I mean, I was supposed to use twice this much, but I think it’s fine the way it is, don’t you?”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of salt in here.”

As soon as her phone made a peep she gasped. “Oh my god that might be my agent about the call today.” She sprang up and ran across the room to her purse. “Hello?”

I listened and kept eating.

“What?!” she asked. “That’s impossible. I was perfect!... Well, you being sorry doesn’t fucking fix anything, does it?”

I looked over my shoulder. Her free hand was in a fist at her side.

“No. No. Of course I did… That’s not the news I wanted.” She sat on the couch and leaned forward. “I don’t care. Get me in again. Ugghhh! What do I even pay you for?!”

I put another piece of bread in my mouth and watched as she walked over to the table by the door, opened her purse, and pulled out her wallet.

“Her name is Judith… Got that? Okay. Ready? 312-878-2443.” She threw her wallet back in her bag and turned to look at me, dragging her finger across her neck like she was ready to slit someone’s throat, probably her agent’s if I had to guess. “Get me back in or you’re fired.” She put her free hand on her hip. “Don’t give me that shit. I don’t pay you to be loyal! I pay you to get me work!”

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