What's Cooking?

by Sherryl Woods

  “You okay, son?”

  Son! How often had he subconsciously longed for someone to call him that with so much caring in his voice? That it was Matthew Keller, a virtual stranger, who imbued the word with its first real meaning for him made Rick smile. “Never better,” he said. “Just woolgathering, I guess.” He got out of the car and reached back inside for his camera and lighting equipment.

  Matthew took a few pieces out of his hands, all the while studying him intently. “This woolgathering, does it have anything to do with the fact that Maggie’s not with you? You two have a fight?”

  “Not at all, though I ought to be mad as heck at her for nearly destroying my car last night.” He told Matthew the story about her ill-advised attempt to drive her sister home. “Thankfully they never got out of the driveway,” he said, summing up.

  “Good thing one of those girls has some sense,” Max said. “Not surprised to hear it’s Melanie, either. She’s been a real good influence for Mike and little Jessie. That child sure did need a mama’s touch. Sally says she actually sits still for Sunday school now. Used to be she was hell on wheels, if you’ll pardon my language.”

  He gave Rick a sly look. “I imagine Maggie could help a man settle down the same way, once she put her mind to it.”

  Rick frowned at him. “Don’t start meddling in my life, old man,” he said without rancor. Truthfully, it was kind of nice to have someone who gave a damn about his happiness.

  “Someone needs to talk sense to you,” Matthew said, undaunted. “Sally and I think you two are wasting time, when it’s obvious to anyone how crazy in love you are.”

  “I don’t know where you got that idea,” Rick said, still determined to cling to the illusion that what he and Maggie had was just another fling. “I don’t know the first thing about love.”

  Matthew chuckled. “Maybe that explains why you can’t recognize it when it smacks you square in the face.”

  Rick flatly refused to go one step further down that road with Matthew, even though he’d been wrestling with precisely that issue only moments before.

  “You going to help me get set up down in the orchard this morning or are you going to go on and on about something that’s none of your business?” he asked irritably.

  Matthew surveyed him with undisguised amusement. “Lucky for you, I can do both. Sally will be along in a bit, too. She has a few opinions she’d like to share.”

  Rick groaned. “Just what I need.”

  “I know you’re being sarcastic, son, but it seems to me it is what you need, a little wisdom from some folks who’ve seen a thing or two. Love’s rare enough. It ought not to be squandered when it does come along.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Rick promised. “If you’ll drop the subject.”

  Matthew studied him intently, then nodded. “I’ll leave it alone for now,” he said. A glint of pure mischief sparkled in his eyes. “Can’t speak for Sally, though. The woman has a mind of her own. Says whatever’s on it, too. She’s a lot like your Maggie, as a matter of fact.”

  “She is not my Maggie,” Rick protested halfheartedly.

  “Which just proves what a fool you are,” Matthew scolded, striding past him with the gait of a much younger man. “In my day, I’d have made damn sure she was mine by now.”

  Rick watched him go with a mix of relief and admiration. He was having enough trouble balancing what his heart and body apparently wanted with what his head told him made sense. He didn’t need a sentimental old man—or his outspoken wife—making the waters any murkier than they already were.

  Maggie’s gaze kept drifting toward the door of the café. Rick was late. She wasn’t all that surprised, since he tended to lose track of time when he was working, but it was apparent Ashley was turning this into another black mark against him. She probably had them all listed in her day planner, ready to cite at the first opportunity. So far this morning, though, Maggie hadn’t given her a minute to head down that particular road.

  “He’ll be here,” Maggie finally said defensively, even though Ashley hadn’t uttered a word.

  “Whatever you say. I think we should go ahead and order, though.”

  Maggie was smart enough to figure out the unspoken message, that they might starve to death if they went on waiting for a man who most likely wasn’t going to show up. “You order, if you’re hungry. I’ll wait a few more minutes.”

  “You could call him,” Ashley suggested. “See if he’s on his way at least.”

  “He said he’d be here,” Maggie said. “If he is still at the orchard, it’s because he’s still working. Interrupting him will only make him later.”

  “Up to you,” her sister said, beckoning to the waitress. “Could I get a chef’s salad, please? Ranch dressing on the side. And more iced tea when you have a minute.”

  “Sure thing.” The waitress glanced at Maggie. “You ready to order?”

  “I’m going to wait a few more minutes. We’re still expecting someone. I would like more tea, though.”

  “I’ll bring that in a sec,” the waitress promised. “And if you’re waiting for that drop-dead gorgeous photographer with the fancy sports car, he just pulled into a space down the block.” She sighed dramatically. “What I wouldn’t give to have a man like that coming in here for me.”

  Ignoring the wistfulness in the woman’s voice, Maggie peered out the window. Sure enough, Rick was heading their way. Undeniable relief spread through her. Now maybe Ashley would quit with the pitying looks. Heck, maybe her own stomach would stop tying itself into knots.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” Rick apologized, sliding into the booth next to Maggie. He gave her thigh a surreptitious squeeze under the table. “Matthew and Sally were very chatty this morning.”

  “Oh? What was on their minds?”

  He grinned at her. “You and me.”

  “Oh, no,” Maggie said with a groan. “How bad was it?”

  “Depends on how you feel about being called a damn fool as many times as I was,” he said. “They think I’m wasting too much time. I have a hunch if we said the word, Sally could have our wedding planned by August.”

  Maggie felt her cheeks flooding with heat.

  “Really?” Ashley said, looking fascinated. She shoved aside the salad the waitress had just brought and planted her elbows on the table, her steady gaze on Rick’s face. “What did you say to all this unsolicited interference?”

  “I told them to mind their own business.” He shrugged. “They declined. It took a while to hear them out.”

  Maggie regarded him with surprise. “I’m amazed you didn’t lose your cool.”

  “Why would I? I like them. And they’re just interested in seeing us happy.” He gave her an embarrassed grin. “First time in my life anybody’s worried about me.”

  “As warm and fuzzy as I’m sure that made you feel,” Ashley said with a bite in her voice, “you’re not buying a word they said, are you? Are you just playing games with my sister?”

  Maggie frowned at her. “Butt out, sis.”

  “How can I sit by and watch you get hurt? He’s spelled it out for you, Maggie. He’s not interested in anything permanent.”

  “Who says I am?” Maggie retorted, unhappy with the whole turn the conversation had taken. This was between her and Rick, not between the two of them and everyone they knew. “You’re not managing your own life all that well lately. Maybe you should concentrate on that and leave mine alone.”

  Rick stared at her in obvious shock that she would take a potshot at her sister.

  “Hey, slow down, Maggie,” he soothed. “It’s no big deal. Your sister’s just expressing an opinion. She’s entitled to do that.”

  “Well, it’s an opinion I don’t care to hear,” Maggie insisted.

  Ashley glowered at her. “Well, pardon me all to hell. I think I’ll leave you two to your lunch.”

  “But you haven’t even touched your salad,” Rick said, clearly distressed by the argument.

&
nbsp; “Doesn’t matter. I need some air.”

  She slid out of the booth and stalked off, leaving Maggie feeling rotten. She uttered a sigh of belated regret. “Okay, okay, you don’t need to say it. I shouldn’t have said what I did about her life. Sometimes that kind of remark is the only way to get Ashley to shut up once she’s on a self-righteous roll. Still, I know it was a low blow, and I shouldn’t have done it.”

  “So why did you?” Rick asked, studying her with obvious curiosity. “Is it because you’re afraid she’s right?”

  She took a very long time before answering. “Maybe,” she admitted eventually.

  “Do you want to settle down?”

  “Someday, sure,” she said at once.

  “With me?”

  She regarded him with confusion. “I don’t know. It’s too soon.”

  He gave a nod of satisfaction. “My feeling exactly. So, what do you say we stop worrying about everyone else’s opinion and trust our own guts?”

  She gave him a halfhearted smile. “Deal, though I think you’re deluding yourself if you think it will be that easy.”

  “Could be,” he admitted, then grinned. “Want to forget about eating healthy and split a hot-fudge sundae with me?”

  She felt the tension in her shoulders easing at last. If Rick wasn’t uptight over all the interference, why should she be?

  “No,” she said at once, then grinned back at him. “I want my own.”

  He leaned over and touched his lips to hers. “You’ve got it.” His gaze locked on hers. “As long as I get to lick away whatever chocolate happens to stray.”

  “In that case, we probably ought to have this sundae at home.”

  “No way. Having it right here where we can’t do so much fooling around is better,” he said, his expression mischievous. “A little restraint and anticipation can be very good things.”

  “Something tells me you’ve raised them both to an art form.”

  “Not yet,” he replied. “But I’m working on it. We can consider the next half hour or so to be practice. You can decide if I’m getting any better.”

  Ashley came back just as Rick’s tongue touched a dribble of chocolate at the corner of Maggie’s lips. Ashley whipped a napkin out of the dispenser and shoved it at Maggie.

  “Have you forgotten what these are for?” she asked testily.

  “Oh, don’t be stuffy,” Maggie chided, then gave her sister an apologetic look. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I do love it that you care about me.”

  Ashley’s expression softened at once. “I know.”

  “But I’m a big girl. You have to trust my instincts,” Maggie reminded her.

  Ashley sighed. “I know that, too. It’s just that it’s so much harder, because the stakes are so huge. Your entire future’s on the line.”

  Rick laughed but the sound didn’t have a lot of good humor in it. “Pour on the pressure why don’t you?”

  Ashley gave him a huge, obviously phony smile. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  Rick regarded her with amusement. “Are you threatening me, counselor?”

  “Indeed I am,” Ashley replied sweetly.

  Maggie decided enough was enough. “Okay, you two, that’s it. From now on any discussion of my relationship with Rick is off-limits.” She leveled a look into Ashley’s eyes. “Are we clear?”

  “Absolutely,” her sister said, though she didn’t look particularly daunted. “I won’t say another word.”

  “Good,” Maggie said, still eyeing her suspiciously. “Why are you being so agreeable all of a sudden?”

  Ashley glanced past her and beamed. “Oh, look who’s here. And just in time, too,” she said cheerfully.

  Maggie’s gaze shot to Melanie, who immediately crowded into the booth next to Ashley.

  “The rules apply to her, too,” Maggie said, instantly suspicious that Melanie had been called in as reinforcement.

  Melanie looked blank. “What rules?”

  “Our sister is violating the First Amendment of the Constitution,” Ashley declared. “She is trying to limit our freedom of speech. We’re not to say another word about her relationship with Rick.”

  Melanie glanced at Rick. “You okay with that?”

  He grinned. “I’m loving it.”

  Ashley shook her head. “And I thought all you media types were great defenders of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and so on,” she muttered.

  “We are,” he said cheerfully. “As long as it doesn’t cross the line into invasion of privacy.”

  Maggie slapped his hand in a high five. “Good one,” she enthused. She turned back to her sister. “Well, hotshot attorney, what do you have to say to that?”

  Ashley held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. “You win. We will remain silent on the previously discussed topic. For now, anyway.” She peered at the remains of their sundaes. “Those look decadent. What do you say, Melanie? Want to split one?”

  “Absolutely,” Melanie said eagerly, then gave Maggie a sly look. “As long as they’re buying. There ought to be some perks in return for our silence.”

  “Deal,” Rick said at once. “Believe me, one sundae is a small price to pay for getting you two off our backs.”

  Melanie got a devilish glint in her eyes. “You may not feel that way when you see what I intend to order.” She gestured toward the remains of their sundaes. “Those were nothing compared to the hot-fudge volcano Ashley and I are going to share. You in, Ashley?”

  “Absolutely,” Ashley said without hesitation.

  Melanie placed the order, then sat back with a smug expression that Maggie thought was the tiniest bit worrisome.

  When the waitress finally arrived with the dessert, she felt her jaw drop. Even Ashley, who could consume ice cream like a champ, looked stunned. Rick simply laughed.

  “Oh, this is going to be good,” he said. “Now remember what your mama no doubt taught you girls. You have to clean your plate.”

  “Not in a million years,” Ashley muttered, but she gamely picked up a spoon and dug into the three-inch swirl of whipped cream that topped what must have been an entire quart of ice cream in a sea of hot fudge.

  Melanie attacked the dessert from the opposite side.

  Maggie turned to Rick. “I’m betting they won’t eat half of that. What do you think?”

  He studied Melanie, then Ashley. “I say they’re going to scrape the bowl clean.”

  “No way.”

  “I’ve got a ticket to Paris for you that says they will,” he said. “They quit and you’re on your way.”

  Maggie stared at him with bemusement. A trip to Paris? The man definitely played hardball. She’d always wanted to go to Paris. Had she ever told him that or had he guessed? Now she had to put something on the line that she knew he wanted.

  “I have a new state-of-the-art digital camera that says they won’t,” Maggie said. “If they do finish, it’s yours.”

  She glanced across the table to see Ashley and Melanie regarding each other in some sort of silent, sisterly communication. Normally Maggie could read the two of them easily, but right now she was hard-pressed to say what they were thinking. Would they leave some ice cream in the bowl out of sisterly loyalty to her and to spite Rick? Would they see how badly she really wanted to go to Paris and quit? Or would they want to accept Rick’s challenge and eat every bite, even if it made them both sick as dogs?

  Ashley chuckled. “They’ve made it interesting, haven’t they?” she said to Melanie.

  “For themselves,” Melanie agreed. “What about us? What’s it worth to either of you for us to throw this game?”

  Maggie frowned at her. “You’re trying to bribe us?”

  “I prefer to think of it as an incentive,” Melanie replied cheerfully, even as she took another bite of the gigantic sundae.

  She gave an exaggerated pat to her stomach. “Yum, this is good, but I’m getting full. How about you, Ashley?”

  Ashley shot an expe
ctant look at Rick. “I’m beginning to get a little full myself.”

  He chuckled. “Okay, if I win, you get a free family portrait, Melanie.” His grin spread as he turned to Ashley. “And you get a glamour shot.”

  Ashley laughed. “Okay, Melanie, dig in.”

  Maggie frowned at them. “Hey, what about me, you two? I’m your sister. Can you be bought off with a couple of snapshots?”

  “Snapshots?” Rick said indignantly.

  “Uh-oh,” Melanie murmured. “Eat up before it melts, Ashley. Things are about to get a little hot in here.”

  “You have no idea,” Rick confirmed, frowning at Maggie. “I do not take snapshots.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Maggie taunted. “You’re the world-famous fashion photographer who built his reputation on taking pictures of pretty women. How hard can that be? The scenery’s incredible. They’re beautiful. All you really need to do is click the shutter and try not to let the camera shake, isn’t that right?”

  She saw the fire in Rick’s eyes and realized she might have gone the teensiest bit too far. He leaned close, his breath whispering against her cheek. She shivered.

  “Take that back,” he said.

  Maggie held her ground, even though her stomach was doing somersaults. “No.”

  “Take it back.”

  “Or what?” she challenged.

  His eyes flashed with something dark and dangerous. Maggie held her breath. Suddenly he laughed.

  “God, you’re amazing,” he whispered right before he closed his mouth over hers.

  Maggie went up in flames right there with her openmouthed sisters and half the town looking on. She wove her fingers into Rick’s hair and hung on tight as the breath left her lungs and the world tilted on its axis.

  “Holy kamoley,” she whispered when he finally released her.

  “Ditto,” Ashley and Melanie echoed, their dripping spoons still suspended in midair.

  Rick gave the two of them an amused glance. “Your ice cream’s melting.”

  “Uh-huh,” Ashley said weakly.

  Looking dazed, Melanie dutifully shoved another bite of sundae into her mouth. “I really need to go find Mike,” she said.

  Maggie bit back a smile. “Oh, why is that? Haven’t you ever seen two people kissing before?”