Page 97 of Go Cook Yourself

Flora smiles. “Yes, please. I’d love that.” Tears brim my eyes. This side of Flora makes my heart break. She’s not had anyone but Garett on her side for a long time. “And I’d like to pay the money needed for Garett to be a partner. I have a big trust fund.”

“Garett doesn’t need to pay anything,” Dad replies. “We want him on the books from day one.”

“I hate to be a dick,” Jem pipes up.

“No, you don’t,” Amber and I reply together before high-fiving. Jem gives us each a middle finger, and I’m reminded how much I adore my family.

Jem continues, “But Ruby kicked Garett out because she’s a…”

Mum cuts him off with one raised eyebrowed look.

My punk-ass brother is always there to remind me how quickly you can go from loving your family to wanting to kill them.

“Anyway,” he says, “he’s also leaving because Mum and Dad took too long to tell him about the restaurant.”

“Hey,” Dad replies with his hands in the air. “We only signed the contract today.”

“I wish I’d known. I’d have stopped him,” Amber replies.

“He’d want to know. He had such a vision for this place,” I murmur. “We came here the other night, and he was so alive after seeing it. He was hyped up.”

“Did you do anything else while you were here?” Jem asks, his face pinched. Only he’d ask.

My face heats as I stare at where Wicksy leans against the table, and everyone looks at him, too.

“Ew,” Wicksy cries before running to the other side of the room.

“Hold on,” I say, desperately trying to distract everyone. “Amber didn’t know about this, so why was she worrying about money?”

“I’ve been planning a Christmas present for you that would mean you wouldn’t have to work with Clive. It wouldn’t surprise me if Garett knew you’d be safe even when—”

“If,” I cut in.

“Evenwhenyou win tomorrow,” she continues. “I want to give you money to start your own business. There’d be no business partners to betray you. This is just you, starting Ruby Cloud’s Treats or whatever you want to call it. You could build it around doing sessions at the cookery school.”

“And link it with the puddings at the restaurant,” Mum cries, clapping her hands. “If Garett is happy with that.”

I rush to cuddle my sister, although it’s tricky getting my arms around her. Mum hugs us, too, and soon, it’s a giant family group hug that even Cookie tries to get in on.

“You guys are ignoring key details. How you’ve ever run a cookery school is beyond me,” Jem says, muffled against my back. “Garett is leaving, and he’s not your biggest fan anymore, Ruby.”

Everyone’s grumbles become an orchestra of noise.

“I have a plan,” I say, but it’s drowned out because everyone speaks simultaneously.

Suddenly, Kalen bangs the pan, and everyone freezes, looking at Mum, who shrugs.

“Ruby has something important to say,” Kalen says.

I give him a quick hug. “Thank you. I have a plan to get Garett back and get some retribution for him, too. But I’ll need everyone’s help, and it’s a risk. It will take something big, and I might have hurt him too much, so it might not work. Are you in?”

For a second, I hold my breath. We’re good at talking in my family, but are they willing to take a risk for Garett?

One by one, they put their hands out and shout, “I’m in,” as if we were a basketball team preparing for a big game. But because it’s my family and we’re not in a circle, we look like a poorly organised kid’s dodgeball team.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Garett

---