Page 51 of Sawyer
“Last Friday. Sawyer and I swung by the restaurant since Madison hadn’t come home yet. We found them speaking Spanish and drinking the celebratory mezcal Rico had brought.”
Now the Spanish lessons made sense. “What label?”
“Olvido Divino 30.”
Dean whistled. “Serious bottle for a serious lady. But his charm offensive isn’t working, Kyle.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Kyle shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “We agreed to be friends. That’s it. She’s got enough on her shoulders.”
“Don’t kill me, but I have to say it.” He almost put the chair between them before finishing but sucked it up. “I’m not sure your pact is working. You’re getting all crazy because another guy is sniffing around.”
Kyle stalked to the window. “I’ve never been this jealous in my life. I didn’t know I had it in me.”
Dean didn’t like the edge to his voice. Golden Boy always sounded confident and assured. This guy? He sounded tortured. “You’re starting to sound like Sawyer does about painting. Or pre-Phoebe Sawyer.”
“Shit. That bad?”
“Thea is thinking about what she can do to make you smile,” he told him. “I shelved thegift card to a masseuseidea. Figured a pep talk from a friend might help.”
“Thanks, Dean.” He looked over his shoulder before resuming his study out the window. “I thought for a sec Sawyer had talked to you. We…got a little intense talking about things after I found Madison with Rico.”
He winced. “Couldn’t have been easy, but maybe you needed to find out how jealous you could be. Because while I don’t have experience with the emotion personally, I imagine it means you care about something very deeply.”
“That isn’t news.” The words were practically spat out. “The problem is the attraction, and I don’t have a solution for that yet.”
“A little time-out is one,” Dean offered.
“No,” he replied immediately. “Madison is my best friend and my business partner. She’s done nothing wrong here. She doesn’t deserve that. Besides, she needs to know she can count on me. Because she does have a lot on her shoulders. My dancing act right now is not to add to it, and I fear I am.”
They were between a rock and a hard place, and he didn’t know what other help he could offer. “You give her more support than you know. Perhaps remember that the next time you want to bash Chef Rico over the head with his fancy mezcal bottle.”
“What else has he gotten her?”
Dean didn’t whistle this time. Nor did he point out the stupidity in asking such a question. “He’s played it smart so far. Two tickets to see a Latino artist Madison loves—after the holidays—with the hope she’ll take him. A very rare variety of epazote leaves, which Thea tells me Madison apparently adores for her black beans.”
“I recall her making them when we first came to Paris, and they were out of this world.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “When we did that wholeHomesick for Xmonth after the initial excitement wore off.”
Dean couldn’t place the memory. “He also brought her ground Chimayo pepper, which he topped with salt on a hot chocolate he made for Madison—and Thea, by the way. She said it was delicious.”
His friend’s throat moved. “So language, drink, music,and dancing, and their mutual love for food. You’re right. He’s playing it smart. Madison wouldn’t go for flowers.”
“Nor is she going to go for Chef Rico,” he assured Kyle.
He gave a depressed chuckle. “But she’s trying. Otherwise, she would have kicked him out of her restaurant.”
Dean had to close his mouth. “Oh, shit! I didn’t get that.”
Kyle shot him a narrowed glance over his shoulder. “Really?”
“No, seriously.” This time he crossed the room to where his friend was standing. “So, if she’s trying to fall for Rico, where does that leave you?”
Kyle shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “In waters I don’t want to be in, quite frankly. Don’t worry. I’m working it out. Thanks for stopping by. I probably should expect Brooke next, if Thea is this worried. Speaking of…should I talk to Thea?”
“I’ll talk to her,” Dean told him, putting a hand on his shoulder briefly. “You’ve got enough on your plate. Now, I’m going to head upstairs to see Doc. I have a few more Operation Sawyer items for his consideration. Want to see the business cards I mocked up?”
“You did a hell of a job on the ones for The Paris Roommates Group. Yeah, show me.”
When Dean handed one over, Kyle’s broad smile said it all. “Nailed it.”
