Page 46 of A Taste of Christmas Magic

“Love,” Jessica yelped. “You barely know him. This is dangerous, Chloe. Can’t you see it?”

“No. You don’t think Rustin can have feelings for me?”

“Him? No. Any other man yes, but not Rustin. It’s that darn book. There was a spell that made you gaga over Rustin.”

Chloe felt like she’d been slapped. Jessica was belittling her strong feelings for Rustin that she’d had forever.

“We need to look at the book, girls,” Jessica said to Sarah and Meghan. “You brought iut right? We need to study the recipe. Reverse whatever Chloe accidentally did.”

“There was no spell, Jessie. I just followed a recipe—exactly. Rustin helped. He trained me. He spent time with me. He said he’d help and he did. There was no magic.”

“He took advantage of you.”

“Never. Rustin is so professional. He gives each task or person his total attention, like it’s the most important thing happening, and I’m like that with my teaching, with my students. But in my personal life I just…” she nibbled on her lip, “muddle through. I’m passive or I lack confidence and let the day and my to-do lists roll by me.”

“When Rustin looked at the book with me, walked me through each step, forced me to see how each step was connected to the whole, it opened my eyes to the big picture. I had hoped he would take over because he’s so much more skilled, but his perseverance in only supervising while not letting me cook anything slap-dash showed me I could achieve near perfection. ‘Good enough’ didn’t have to be my fallback.” The words, finally uncorked, just spilled out.

“Cooking with Rustin helped me take myself more seriously. He listened and he pushed, and I rose up and worked harder then Rustin started taking me more seriously. I saw that I mattered just as much as the recipe, the guests, and the community cause, and that started bleeding into the rest of my life.”

“Chloe, that’s wonderful.” Sarah pulled her into a hug and looked at Jessica, warning clear in her gaze.

“I know it’s new, and maybe it’s hard to believe that Rustin could lo…care for me,” she amended.

“It’s not hard at all,” Sarah said quickly. “You are infinitely lovable.”

Jessica huffed out air and slouched against the preheated double stove. Jessica continued to stare at her, expressions chasing across her face too quickly for Chloe to get a read. Pain clenched her heart.

“He’s a brilliant chef, Jessica. And a really smart and good man.”

Jessica seemed to shrink. She stared at the wide-planked heartwood pine floor.

“I know,” Jessica said to her toes. “I know.”

The silence felt like a dirge while Chloe stared at the top of Jessica’s head.

“What recipe do you want to start with?” Chloe finally broke the silence, willing herself to let her heart go.

“Why don’t you get the wine mulling.” Jessica finally looked up. “We can have a mug at the end and keep it warming for Mom and Dad’s open house. You’re still going to help Saturday, right?”

“Of course,” Chloe said, breathing a sigh of relief that Jessica seemed to be backing down from her distrust. She was relieved that Elizabeth Katharine always held her open house in the afternoon, which would give Chloe plenty of time to meet Rustin and his crew at the McAdenville light Festival.

Chloe’s task was to hand out a holiday-inspired nibble sample on a cute cork-backed coaster advertising The Wild Side. She’d pitched the idea to Rebekah, who’d loved it, and Chloe had designed and ordered stickers with the date of the open house the following weekend, so that the remaining coasters from the order could be used again for future events.

But she didn’t tell Jessica any of that. Instead, she relaxed into the conversation between her cousins, although her anticipation for the evening had faded. She’d felt attacked, and yet defended. And she no longer wanted to share the book with Jessica. She didn’t have an open heart or spirit to cook using the book.

You didn’t either until Rustin helped.

“Let’s look at the recipe book—love spells I think were mentioned.” Meghan made a kissy face. “Maybe we should make some cookies using a recipe and create chaos at the open house. We could have half the town in polyamorous relationships.”

“Stop,” Sarah laughed and lightly slapped Meghan’s hand. “You are so bad.”

“I’m going to look through the book,” Jessica said staunchly. “I am. I might make something to help.”

Meghan hooted a laugh. “I’ll put a warning out on the town’s Facebook.”

Even Sarah stifled a giggle. Jessica sounded evasive, and yet her words had the tone of a dare. Deciding she was being too defensive, Chloe tried to join into the fun, reluctantly taking the book from one of the totes and handing it over.

“Be careful who eats whatever you make, Jessica,” she joked. “Rustin accused me of putting a spell on him. When I finally made the Movable Feast entrée correctly, Rustin took one bite, looked at me weirdly, muttered something about magic, and ran out the door.”

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