Page 47 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“Are you two trying to make breakfast without me?” Zoe put on the best smile she could. She had to pretend that everything was alright.
Yasmine was leaning on the kitchen island. She smiled back at Zoe. “Yes. Julie thought that you were already doing so much work for us, so she wanted to make you breakfast before the other bridesmaids arrived and you’d have to cook for an entire regiment.” She approached Julie, who was busy frying eggs, and gave her a friendly slap on the back. “She’s real wife material.”
Julie giggled. “I hope you like your eggs sunny side up, because the eggs were the only things I dared touch in the kitchen.” Julie turned around and flashed a big grin at Zoe. “I didn’t want to mess with any of your meal preparation.”
Zoe was internally screaming. None of this was helping. And Julie’s beautifully kind blue eyes were not making things easier. Now that the cat was out of the bag, Zoe couldn’t think about anything else than the fact that she was fancying Julie.
“Thanks, that’s very nice of you.” It was actually too nice. Zoe was happy to relax a bit more this morning, before serious business started. But she wished it didn’t make her want to run her hand through Julie’s sleep-tousled hair and kiss her. Good thing Yasmine was right there to keep her from doing it. She walked as calmly as possible towards a stool on the other side of the kitchen island and sat down.
Yasmine angled towards Zoe. “I tried to explain to Julie that you were a professional chef and that it made little sense that she cooked for you, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“Well. Julie has a point there. I love cooking but it’s still nice to be cooked for. Being a chef just means I really understand how nice of a gesture it is.” Zoe felt her cheeks flush. She glanced at Julie who was suddenly very focused on her eggs, not saying a word.
“Is something burning?” Yasmine raised a brow.
“Oh no.” Julie glanced at the toaster on the counter. “I thought you were keeping an eye on the toast.”
“You only asked me to put them in.”
Julie pounced on the toaster and saved the pieces of bread. “Zoe, how burnt do you like your toast?”
“I’m very hungry and will happily make do with whatever degree of burnt they are.”
“Then breakfast is served!” Julie put the eggs and toast on a plate and handed them to Zoe. She stood self-satisfied with her hands on her hips, in her white t-shirt and black shorts, still smelling of sleep. Zoe had never imagined that this is what she wanted to wake up to. And yet here she was.
“Thanks, this looks amazing.” It looked okay. The toast was slightly burnt but still very much edible and the eggs were just your regular sunny side up eggs.
“I hope you’ll enjoy it. I know that cooking is not your forte so maybe you can pick up some tips here and there.” Julie was back at the stove to fry more eggs.
Zoe couldn’t help but chuckle. “Clearly you could teach me a thing or two.” Did that sound flirty? It did, didn’t it?
“You’d be surprised.”
They were back in flirting territory. Zoe needed to not entertain this. She cleared her throat. “I’d love some coffee with my eggs.”
“I’m on it.” Yasmine headed towards the coffee machine. “I wouldn’t want you to think that only Julie thinks you deserved to be pampered.”
“Glad we’re all on the same page.” Zoe took a bite of her eggs and toast and it felt like the best thing she’d ever eaten.
Chapter 21
“You booked catering already? I didn’t even know we had a date!” Zoe was struggling to stay calm. She really didn’t need this at the moment, her own catering team had just arrived and she barely had time to brief them about the next few days. Tom really picked the worst time possible to tell her that he’d gone forward with wedding arrangements. But what else was she supposed to do when she saw his text message?
“You told me you thought they looked good.” Tom sounded annoyed.
“Yes, but I didn’t say I wanted to hire them! I assumed we’d be looking at this together once I’m back.” She exhaled. “Besides, I’m the expert on this. You should’ve waited for me.” Zoe sat down on a block of concrete that the people in charge of the tent had put aside, waiting to attach the tarpaulin to it. She was hidden by tons of other material - wooden poles, boxes, tools.
“I get what you’re saying Zo, but they’re in high demand. They were nice enough to clear a spot for us when our wedding is less than four months away. Usually you have to book them a year in advance!”
“That’s not a reason for you to decide things without me.”
“Listen, I’m sorry, I should’ve asked you first, but also I’m very eager for this thing to happen and we need to move fast. I might start filming in July for that project I was in France for.” Clanking sounds resonated through the phone. Tom wasprobably making a late lunch or an early dinner or whatever. Usually, Zoe found it endearing but now she was annoyed that his attention was divided. Especially for something like this.
“Tom, let’s stop here and pick up later. I have lots of work to do and this is getting nowhere. I’m just very upset that you didn’t think to check with me first if it was fine to book them.”
“I just thought you’d be happy to move the wedding forward so I saved you the hassle. It seems like you didn’t have time to think about it at all.”
“There’s no hassle to be saved, we’re supposed to do it together.”
