Page 104 of Go Cook Yourself

Jem and someone from the crew gives out glasses of prosecco. Clive doesn’t get one, obviously.

“Well, there you have it,” Barry says to the camera in his sign-off. “We have a cancelled restauranteur, a love story, intrigue, passion, and secret ingredients, but at the heart of all this is a love of cooking and baking, which I can’t resist. Have a lovely Christmas from me and the Cloud family.” He holds up his glass, and all my family hold theirs up, too. “Cheers.”

“And we’re out,” Jem’s friend says and whispers something to Barry.

Barry turns to us with a beaming smile. “Thank you, everyone. We got more hits on that than anything we’ve ever done. Once the New Year is over, you’ll hear from me. I’d love to feature your cookery school, Every Cloud restaurant, and Ruby’s Cloud Nine in several videos. Maybe we can come to classes and film the opening. Thank you for everything.” He points at Clive. “Clive, a word.”

“I need to speak to Garett,” I say to my family as Garett and I walk to the corner of the room. I turn at the footsteps behind us.Their faces, a mixture of wide eyes, smiles, and furrowed brows, look back at me. “Alone.”

They all grumble as they walk to the seats in the audience.

I pull Garett around a corner. “I need to know, are you still moving to Ireland? I’ll understand if you are, and whether you stay or go, we don’t have to be together if you don’t want and—” Garett presses his finger to my lips.

“Rubes, did you hear me say I fell in love with you earlier?” I nod. “Your dad told me that he knows about us, and nearly nothing would make him happier than us dating except the safe birth of his two imminent grandchildren.”

I grin.

Garett continues, “If you’ll have me, I want to try the boyfriend and girlfriend thing. I want to be an annoying couple who make out in public and laugh at the weirdness of strangers. I’ll be grumpy, and you’ll be more sunshiney than a freaking Barbados holiday, but I want to try what this relationship thing is. I used to fear relationships and thought that work would always come first, but you come first for me, Rubes.” I giggle, and he huffs. “That was not meant to be an innuendo.”

I push my tongue out of my mouth—his finger tastes of cinnamon, orange, and other secret ingredients.

“When did you touch my cake?” I say, my words muffled behind his finger.

“I needed to taste what was so awful. It was hideous,” he grumbles. “I’m annoyed at all the hours I wasted on your baking.”

I lick his finger and wince. He’s got a point.

“Stop distracting me. I’m trying to tell you that I love you and want to be with you,” he says as he chews the gum I gave him.

“I love you, Garett. You’re everything I’ve always needed and so much more. I thought I knew what love was, but then I met you, the grumpiest chef of all time, and I learnt what it is to berespected, valued, and wanted. You make me laugh, you make me cry, and you make me come like I didn’t know was possible. And you like my family.”

“I love your family.”

“Stop distracting me. I’m trying to tell you that I love you and want to be with you,” I reply, using his words while grinning.

Garett picks me up and spins me while laughing. “I love you, Ruby Cloud.” He presses his lips to mine.

“I love you, too, my number one chef,” I say. His lips are soft, and he tastes like those special ingredients.

“I won’t tell Mary Berry if you won’t.”

“Deal,” I manage before his tongue presses my lips apart. I wrap my legs around him.

A round of applause stalls our kisses.

“Rubes, your family is giving us a standing ovation,” he whispers against my lips.

I peek over his shoulder to find my entire family, including Flora, Kath, and Wicksy, cheering us on and clapping. Kath winks and grins. It wouldn’t surprise me if she engineered the snow that brought us together in the first place.

“Could you guys not?” I shout as Garett lowers me to the ground.

“Champ is our family now, too,” Dad says.

There’s a weird moaning. We all stare at Kalen and Amber. “I hate to break this beautiful moment up, but Amber is, um, needing a hospital.”

Everyone freezes.

Amber holds out her hands. “The excitement and the love story—”

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