Page 53 of Rust and Stardust

“Well done, Mr. Turner,” one of the other judges said, nodding appreciatively. “Your brisket is as impressive as always.”

I mumbled a thank you, my stomach in knots as they moved on to the next booth. As soon as they were out of earshot, I let out a long exhale, feeling the tension drain from my shoulders.

“That looked like it went well,” a familiar voice said from behind me. I turned to see Lucas standing there, a hesitant smile on his face.

“I hope so,” I replied, wiping my hands on a nearby towel. “Though Amber May still looks like she wants to kill me.”

“Yeah well,” Lucas sighed. “Amber May can stuff it up her uptight ass.”

The burst of laughter that came out of me was just as unexpected as it was inappropriate. I walked over, stifling my giggles as I nudged Lucas in the shoulder.

“You can’t say stuff like that,” I muttered, trying to hide my smile. “You’re not wrong, but people will talk.”

“Then let them talk,” he shrugged. “If she’s gonna act like a brat, then I’m not gonna be nice to her.”

“You’re making a dangerous enemy.”

Lucas glanced at me, scoffing. “Are you kidding? In New York I meet forty people worse than her on the subway before work each morning. She doesn’t scare me one bit.”

I couldn’t help but stare up at those steely green eyes in admiration. If only he was sticking around, maybe someone would finally put Amber May in her place. Then again, maybe I could just take a page out of his book and do it for myself. It was about time I left that part of my life behind me.

But not until after the competition judging was over. Iwanted to win first.

“Say, why don’t we go take a ride on the ferris wheel again?” I said, nudging Lucas again. “One last ride for old time’s sake, huh?”

He gave me a sad sort of smile in return, nodding. “Alright. And you better kiss me at the top. I want to know what that feels like.”

“You got yourself a deal, city boy.”

Chapter 22

Lucas

“Well, that should do it,” Logan said, finishing up the last page. “If the company can’t pick five winning recipes out of that, I don’t know what to tell them.”

“I can’t believe we managed to get over a dozen,” I replied, looking over his shoulder.

“To be fair, I made a couple of them up from bits and pieces I found in the family recipe box.”

“Yeah, but do they taste good?”

Logan scoffed. “Anything with that much butter in it is going to taste good. Guaranteed.” He flipped the little notebook closed and turned to look at me. “You all packed?”

I shifted nervously. “Yeah…”

“But?”

“Well, I promised Beau I’d go to the award ceremony tonight.”

“Why did you go and do a thing like that?!”

“He’s gonna win that competition and I wanna be there for him,” I said, trying not to look Logan in the eye. “You know how important this is to him!”

“Yeah, and I also know that come tomorrow mornin’, we’re leaving,and we can never come back.” He shook his head, running his fingers through his sandy brown hair. “They’re never gonna forgive us.”

“I know that,” I sighed. “And you might want to work on your accent again. It’s coming back.”

“God dammit,” he muttered, pushing himself up from the desk. He paced around the room, carefully articulating each word as he spoke. “I hate how this place gets under my skin. I spent years trying to leave it all behind me. I spent all of college training myself to speak in a way that would make people take me seriously. Now I’ve been here for a week and I’m talking like a hick again.”

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