Page 94 of Whisking It All

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jamie asked, stepping out of Tessa’s reach and towards his best friend.

Ethan put up a hand and took a step back, a warning that Jamie shouldn’t get too close.

“Your mic was still broadcasting when you asked my daughter about her goddamn underwear,” Ethan said.

Jamie’s thoughts turned to static as his last hopes of getting Ethan to understand slipped through his fingers. How would Ethan ever understand this? Not only had Jamie lied to him, repeatedly and purposefully, not only had he been sleeping with Ethan’s daughter behind his back, but he’d also been caught saying filthy things to her on live television. He had promised to help Tessa see that the people in Aster Bay could view her as more than a walking scandal, and then he’d gone and done the one thing that would ensure that never happened.

“Gavin’s been trying to get a handle on the story all morning,” Ethan continued, rage simmering beneath his words.

“What story?” Tessa asked, still not connecting the dots.

Jamie held Ethan’s eyes as he answered her, his hands beginning to shake. “That the chefs in the photos of the festival are sleeping together,” he guessed.

Ethan grunted an affirmation. “I’ve had four calls from Norm already wanting assurances that you two aren’t mismanaging festival funds to finance your—affair,” he spat.

But Jamie couldn’t worry about Norm or the festival right now. He couldn’t care if the entire town thought he was scum for what he’d done or who he’d done it with. Not when he was so close to losing Ethan, the man who more like a brother than his actual flesh and blood sibling.

“Can we talk about this?” Jamie asked, his throat so tight he was almost surprised he got the words out at all.

“The time to talk was before you went and—” Ethan shook his head like he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. “You lied to me.”

“I did,” Jamie said, his heart slamming against his rib cage. This was not how this was supposed to happen, and with each icy glance Ethan sent his way Jamie could feel his best friend slipping away, walling himself off. And Jamie couldn’t even blame him.

He had made this mess. He had lied to his best friend for weeks. If he had any hope of fixing this, he would have to face Ethan’s wrath.

“Get the fuck off my property,” Ethan snarled through gritted teeth.

Jamie stumbled back a step, the disgust in Ethan’s voice slamming into his chest. His heart splintered under Ethan’s vitriolic glare with fault lines he hadn’t known existed. After all their years together, all the things they’d been through and all the times they’d stood by each other, this couldn’t be the way it ended.

Tessa reached out to grip Jamie’s hand as she turned to face her father, but he pulled his hand away. Her sharp intake of breath at his side, the way her shoulders immediately sagged, were like daggers in his spine. But he couldn’t worry about that now. Just like he’d fix things with Aster Bay, he’d fix things with Tessa, too, after he fixed things with Ethan. She knew him better than any woman ever had—she’d understand.

“I said, get the fuck out of here,” Ethan repeated.

“We didn’t want you to find out like this,” Jamie said, grasping at any chance to get Ethan to hear him.

“Then you should have fucking told me,” Ethan spat, the low menace in his tone brooking no argument.

“You’re right. I screwed up. Jesus Christ, Ethan, don’t you think I know how badly I’ve fucked up here? But you’re still my best friend,” Jamie said, the panic that had been ricocheting around his mind spilling out into his voice.

He always knew Ethan had a temper, that there were some things he held sacred—family and honesty chief amongst them—but Jamie had also thought their friendship was sacred. At least, it was to Jamie.

There had to be something he could say, but he was unable to think with his heart flailing in his chest and his blood racing. And it was clear Ethan was in no place to listen. He needed to calm down and then Jamie would try again. He’d try again every damn day for the rest of his life if he had to, whatever it took to make Ethan listen, to make him understand how sorry he was, how he’d never intended to hurt him, how he’d never planned on falling in love with his best friend’s daughter.

But he was in love with her, and he couldn’t give her up. Not now that he’d finally found her.

“I don’t know who you are,” Ethan said, his voice cold enough to make the hair on the back of Jamie’s neck stand on end. “I don’t fucking know you at all.”

“You have to know we didn’t want to hurt you,” he said.

“I don’t know that at all,” Ethan said, his eyes going wide and hard.

“Ethan, you are one of the most important people in my life,” Jamie said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Tell me what to do. Tell me how to fix this.”

All he said was, “Go.”

Jamie stumbled down the porch steps, away from the two people who meant the most to him in the entire world. His feet were heavy and clumsy as the panic in his chest rose in his throat, his stomach lurching.

“Wait, Jamie! I’ll come with you,” Tessa called, following after him.

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