Page 33 of Wrapped in You

It didn't make sense.

Soon after, Derek was needed elsewhere, and Sophie was cast into another day of frantic cooking and serving. It was a day punctuated with laughter, with funny stories from the sound guys, with Randy reminding her, anxiously, that the Christmas Festival meeting was coming up. "You know my mom's on the committee?" he said, tugging at his collar.

Sophie tightened her hands into fists. "Right. Okay. Let's make a list right now."

In the span of fifteen minutes, Randy and Sophie recited to each other everything they remembered about last year's Christmas Festival: what they'd bought and how much; whichpermits they still needed to file (quickly, as there was very little time); and how they could better market the event to maximize their catering profits. As usual, Sophie was surprised and pleased with Randy's business-minded sensibilities and his good memory.

When the list was finished—for now, at least—Randy breathed a sigh of relief and removed his catering hair net. "I feel so much better now that that list is written up," he said with a laugh. "I was worried the film would completely disrupt our flow."

Sophie squeezed his shoulder. "If we're going to be a real, prosperous catering company—a catering company in the black—we need to take as many jobs that come our way as possible. We need more weddings, birthday parties, retirement parties, and graduation parties. We need more films! We can't survive on the Christmas Festival alone."

Randy set his jaw. "You know, you should really let me in on more of that."

"More of what?" Sophie asked. Surprise made her cheeks warm.

From the set, they could hear Derek talking to Natalie about her motivations in this scene. "You love him, but you don't want to admit it to yourself. Right now, you're willing to live out the rest of your life pretending that you never loved him."

"That's insane to me," Natalie shot back. "Why would she torture herself like that?"

Randy cleared his throat and spoke quietly. "I know the catering company hasn't been super profitable lately. Especially this year. But you shouldn't have to carry it alone."

Sophie blinked at him.

"I know I never went to catering school, and I've never taken a college class. But I have a brain for this stuff." Randy puffed out his chest. "I'd love to be named your assistant or somethinglike that. A second-in-command. Someone to help with the hard stuff. Someone to carry the stress."

Sophie's lips parted with surprise. It took everything within her not to throw herself forward and hug him in thanks.

"I don't know if I told you," Randy continued under his breath, "but Fiona and I started dating this summer, and I want to ask her to marry me by next year. I want to throw all my creative energy into Culinary Tastings and build a business that will last—a business that will support me and Fiona and our future children. You know?"

Fiona and Randy?

Sophie's eyes filled with tears. When she'd first started Culinary Tastings, it had been her pipe dream—her baby. When she'd first hired Randy—a twentysomething with a bartending license and a funny smile and sharp wit—she'd imagined he'd quit in a few months and do something else.

She hadn't imagined that he'd fall in love with the business just as much as she had.

She hadn't imagined he'd fall in love and want to marry another employee she'd hired herself.

She'd created an ecosystem of love and commitment.

That was the beautiful thing about working with people, Sophie decided. When you worked as a real team, your hearts so often beat as one.

"You can think about it," Randy assured her.

"I don't need to think about it," Sophie said. "I want you to be my second-in-command. We'll talk about your pay raise later this week, okay?"

"We don't need to worry about that yet." Randy's eyes glowed.

"We do. We can afford it. Between the film catering and the Christmas Festival, we're finally bringing in real capital. Andheck. With you by my side, maybe I'll actually be able to enjoy the holiday season a bit more."

Randy clapped his hands together. "Let me put together the presentation for the Christmas Festival meeting."

Sophie's heart opened up. She'd been putting off the presentation for weeks and hadn't known when she would have time for it.

"I've already started it," Randy admitted sheepishly. "Fiona was sure you'd say yes if I asked you for a promotion."

Sophie grinned. "I really didn't know you and Fiona were together."

"We want to stay professional at work," he said.

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