Page 77 of Why Not Both?

Then his question, Will you regret this in the morning?

I still don’t know the answer.

My class at the culinary institute had been made up of almost fifty per cent women. Yet, of that class, only a handful of us have found positions in Vancouver where we could actually lead a kitchen. And many of us, myself included, had our reputations called into question after relationships had soured in the workplace. If that happened again, I’d have to start all over. I thought of Vic’s offer to let me change the menu. I was so close to exactly what I’d been working toward. I couldn’t mess it up now.

On the other hand, no one had ever made me feel the way Spencer did. After a few months working with him, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up the “just friends” façade. He’s never once pushed me for more, letting me set the pace. And that just makes me want him more.

I carefully pour water into the roasting pan with the cake in its spring-form in the middle and my sister and Sophie come home.

They change and Sophie says good night, but Daze meets me in the kitchen as I wash dishes.

“How’s it going?” she asks, sitting on a chair at our little dining table and pulling her knees up to her chest.

“Not bad. Cake needs to bake for another sixty minutes. Then cool for about thirty. I’ll get the mousse and whipped cream made tomorrow.”

“Thank you for making it. I know how much you hate baking.”

“I don’t mind when it’s for someone I love.”

She watches me for a while, and then says, “You’re wearing the hoodie again.”

I look down at it, though I’m not sure why. I know exactly what she’s talking about. I’d put an apron over top, and since I’m not using flour, it’s still clean. When I bake, flour tends to get everywhere.

I finish with the dishes and wipe down the mixer and then the counter. Daze waits me out.

“I kissed him last night. Or maybe he kissed me? We’d both been drinking. It was… It shouldn’t have happened.” I catch my lower lip between my teeth, biting down hard enough that it hurts. “He asked me if I would regret it if we slept together again and I said I didn’t know.”

“And now that you’ve obsessed about it all day? What do you think?”

I cast her a look. I don’t ask how she knows I’ve been obsessing about it. Then I sigh. “I still don’t know. What if we get together and then it goes bad? The four of them are so close, it would be awkward and terrible. Today, Vic said we can set a meeting up in September, after wedding season is over, to discuss if I wanted to make changes to the menu. She said it’s my kitchen, Daze. Mine. And if word got out that I was sleeping with him, people would think I only got the job at Blue Vista because of it.”

“You don’t know that it would go bad. As for the rest.” She shrugs. “Fuck what people think. If you like him, I say go for it.” She stands. “You going to bed now?”

I check the time. “The cake still needs another twenty minutes to bake. Then it needs to cool.”

“Let it cool in the fridge.”

I look at her, aghast. “If I put it in the fridge before it cools, it’ll crack.”

“Will it still taste good?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been a heathen who puts it in the fridge before it cools. Go to bed. Leave the baking to the professionals.”

She laughs and kisses my cheek. “All right. You’ve got this. But just one more thing? I think the only one standing in the way of you and Spencer is you.”

#

The birthday dinner with my and Daze’s parents is fun. Sophie’s parents live on Vancouver Island and don’t make it to Vancouver often. She and Daze have a trip planned soon to visit them, to celebrate Sophie’s birthday and the engagement.

The cake turns out perfectly and since there are five of us, we each get a piece with three left over for me, Daze, and Sophie.

I bring my extra piece to work the next day.

Tina and I work on inventory and when I tell her to take a break for lunch, I go to Spencer’s office. He’s here doing a similar thing to what Tina and I are doing, making final preparations for the next two weeks. Other than Tina and Vic—who both left for lunch recently—we’re the only ones on site today.

I’m feeling jittery with nerves at seeing him again. The memory of his soft lips and hard body pressed against mine makes me stop for a moment and catch my breath.

“Hey,” I say when I get to his door.

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