Page 66 of Whisking It All

“Tessa’s almost as bad as you are about being on her phone,” Gavin teased.

“Isn’t that exactly why we wanted her on our team?” Jamie asked as he held out the drink to Tessa and slid into his seat next to her.

“Difference is, I’m pretty sure she’s talking to real people,” Baz said before taking a sip of his Scotch.

“What’s he talking about?” Tessa asked with an amused grin.

“Nothing,” Jamie grumbled.

“Jamie has a fake internet girlfriend,” Baz replied.

“She’s not fake. And she’s not my girlfriend.” He met Tessa’s gaze, curiosity and something that bordered on wariness mixing there. “She’s just a woman I met online. A friend.”

“Don’t complain about the internet girlfriend, Baz,” Gavin chided. “Without her, Jamie never would have made that killer beet deep.”

“Oh, yeah. I liked that one. With the hazelnuts,” Baz confirmed.

Tessa spluttered as she choked on her drink.

“You alright?” Jamie asked.

“Fine,” she said, coughing a bit, her eyes scanning over him as though she were seeing him for the first time.

The clang of Mike Greenhall’s old school bell announced the start of the trivia match.

“Round One,” Mike said into the microphone, “is all about that most popular of cooking competition shows, Brilliant British Bakes!”

“The trivia gods are smiling on us tonight!” Gavin said, sliding their answer sheet over to Jamie.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for a Peter London fan,” Tessa said, watching him carefully. “Do you watch the show?”

“I never miss it,” he replied. His mouth went dry, as though by admitting to watching a wildly popular reality cooking competition he had actually admitted to much more. He just couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.

“Guys! Do you know the answer or not?” Baz asked.

“What was the question?” Jamie asked.

“Which contestant accidentally used another contestant’s rough puff for their cream horns in season five?” Gavin recited.

“David,” Jamie and Tessa said simultaneously.

Something twisted behind Jamie’s sternum, a dull scraping away of his certainty. It was an ache so familiar the edges had been softened with repeated wear, a heaviness that had settled in his body for the last six weeks and showed no signs of dissipating.

“This is our week. I can feel it,” Gavin said, grinning.

“If these two can pay attention to the questions,” Baz grumbled.

Jamie glanced at Tessa, his brow furrowing as he took in the pink rising in her cheeks. It’s just a coincidence, he told himself. Imagining that the similarities between Whisky and Tessa were anything more than that would be dangerous.

Chapter 20

“I’ll just be a minute,” Jamie said over his shoulder as he moved through the dark, deserted dining room of Lemon and Thyme, Tessa on his heels. The door closed behind her with a quiet snick. “I promised Ethan I’d send him my clam chowder recipe so he can make it for your grandparents tomorrow.”

“And he needs the exact measurements,” Tessa said, her mind only half on the conversation. “My grandmother gave me a ten minute monologue on my father’s lack of improvisational skill in the kitchen this morning when I called to check in.”

“You’d think he’d be able to wing it at least a little bit by now. The man’s in his forties,” Jamie said as they made their way through the dark to his office.

“Ethan is useless when it comes to cooking. Did you know Kyla and Cheryl used to drop off weekly deliveries of muffins so he would eat breakfast?”

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