Page 48 of My Irresistible Enemy

“Kind of impressive, right?” Aiden laughed, and I fought down a sudden desire to punch Tanner in the face.

“It shouldn’t be,” Tanner said. “But yeah, it is. So, to what do you attribute your sudden success?”

“Well, I had a little help,” Aiden said, turning and winking at me. “So I can’t take all the credit.”

I was well aware that Em’s camera was trained on me, so I smiled back at Aiden and tried to ignore my pounding heart.

“Let’s have a taste, shall we?” Vivian said, setting down her wooden spoon in favor of a large knife.

She cut two thin slices of pie, placing one on a plate in front of Tanner and a second in front of herself. Picking up a fork next, she turned her slice on its side and poked at the underside of the crust.

“Hmm. Bottom’s a little moist.” She waited, raising an eyebrow. “What, no joke about that?”

Aiden winced. “Too nervous, I guess.”

She nodded. “It does appear to be cooked, though. I think what we’re seeing is the result of seepage, rather than raw dough. Fruit pies can give off quite a bit of liquid as they cook, and you really stuffed a lot into this one.”

She paused again. “Really? Nothing?”

“What can I say,” Aiden laughed. “I’m a reformed man.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” she said. “I’m going to attribute it to Nolan’s influence on you.”

“All the same,” Tanner added after taking a small bite, “I have to say, this pie is truly, surprisingly, not terrible.”

“Oh my God, really?” Aiden clapped his hands together.

Vivian nodded after taking a bite of her own. “You were a little heavy-handed on the spices. And the texture’s a bit mealy. Different apples might have helped. You might have overdone it on the cornstarch, too. Really kind of clogs up the mouth. But grading on a curve, considering your prior performance, this is actually quite edible.”

“I’ll take it.” Aiden grinned. “And for the record, I happen to like things that clog up the mouth.”

“There it is,” Vivian said with a laugh.

“I thought you were supposed to be a good influence on him, Nolan,” Tanner called.

“All I did was tell him which spoon was a teaspoon and which was a tablespoon,” I called back. “Don’t blame me.”

“I’m curious,” Tanner said, looking at Aiden. “You mentioned working with Nolan to pick out your recipe. What was it that made you choose an apple pie, of all things?”

“Well, Ididconsider a cream pie. Obviously.” Aiden giggled. “To be honest, I know it’s kind of simple. But Nolan did more than just teach me about spoons. He really helped me a lot. And I just wanted to pick something that I thought I could do well on. I wanted to—well, to make him proud.”

He looked right at Tanner as he said it, but turned his head ever so slightly in my direction, like he wanted to look at me but couldn’t quite bring himself to. Then he clapped his hands to his cheeks again.

“Oh God, that’s so embarrassing. Please don’t put that in the final cut.”

I had to admit, it was effective. If I hadn’t known better, I might have believed that Aiden was, for once in his life, being sincere.

“Well, well done,” Vivian said. “I won’t say it’s the best pie I’ve ever eaten. It’s not even close to the best we’ve had today. But I don’t regret putting it in my mouth.”

“Thank you so much.” Aiden jumped up and down a couple of times. “I really, really appreciate that. And I also really, really want you to know how much I’m holding back a that’s-what-he-said joke right now.”

“We appreciate that too.” Vivian picked up her wooden spoon and stood up from the table, smiling at all of us. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a wrap for today.”

Aiden grabbed his pie and headed back to his workstation, flashing me a nervous grin—one that I returned. We’d done all we could. All I could do now was hope it was enough.

9

Aiden

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