by Elsie Davis
“Supper. I think this lends itself more toward what we call dinner. Supper is far more casual than what I have in store for you tonight. You paid an exorbitant amount for the meal, and I thought you deserved something fancy. I fixed beef Wellington as the main course with brussels sprouts and carrots as the side dishes. I’ve got a wonderful spinach and artichoke dip with bread triangles as an appetizer. And for dessert, there will be a special chocolate cake to tempt you.” She grinned, waiting to see what he thought of the menu. She’d wanted it to be perfect and had spent quite a bit of time making her selections.
“It all sounds delicious. Maybe a tad over-the-top.” He shrugged, shooting her one of those sexy smiles that always seemed to set her heart to racing. He crossed to the island and looked over everything she’d laid out. “The chocolate cake for dessert is sure to be a big hit, although it doesn’t sound as if it should be in the same category as the rest of the meal.
“Well, from what I’ve heard, this is the most amazing chocolate cake, and there’s nothing ordinary about it. It should fit right in.”
“From what you’ve heard?” His gaze locked with hers.
“Yes, I never made it before. But if it makes you feel any better, it has caramel and nuts on the top to make it different. Special.” She hadn’t stepped away and forced her attention back to unwrapping the meat she’d prepared and rolled yesterday.
“Now there’s a combination that works for me. But why make it tonight? Still seems out of line with the rest of the menu.”
Amanda stopped what she was doing to gaze back at him. It’s not as if the whole town didn’t already know her situation. “Under normal circumstances, I might have made some fancy torte, or mousse, or something along those lines. But the contest they announced at the Heart to Heart festival is one I plan to enter. And one of our locals told me about this cake recipe my mother used to make, and she reported the whole town couldn’t get enough of it. So, I found the recipe. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s the right one because it actually turned out to be my grandmother’s recipe. I decided to make it tonight and try it on you and your dinner guests.”
“Well, I’m not sure that me and the girls will be the best judge of the merits of a chocolate cake, but I’m more than willing to give it a go.” The man’s smile went straight to her heart. The guy was a charmer, and there was nothing more to it than that. The last thing she needed to do was mistake his natural charm for interest.
“The girls?” She knew he was having a dinner party, but she hadn’t expected it to be with a couple of women. She rolled her eyes, realizing his charm was cliché.
The kitchen door swung open, and two young girls ran into the room.
“Who is she, Daddy?” The first girl stopped suddenly, her hands on her hips as she looked back and forth between Amanda and her dad. Daddy. Something else she hadn’t known or expected. The girls, it would seem, turned out to be daughters. Amanda wasn’t sure which was worse, two daughters or two dates? Either one meant the guy was far busier than she’d expected.
“This is Amanda. I met her at the festival the other night. I won a meal cooked by her. Isn’t that awesome? You get something other than my bad cooking for dinner tonight.”
The second girl stepped out from behind her sister, mimicking her stance with hands on her hips.
“Why would she do that, Daddy?” The twins were identical, or almost. It was immediately obvious which one was the leader, and which one was the follower.
“Because I asked her to.” Kevin shook his head. The guy was clueless about what the girls were asking. They looked about ten years old, and at that age, would have an opinion on everything. Especially a woman their dad brought home.
The scowl on the girls’ faces deepened. Amanda realized there was something worse than two daughters or two dates. It was called twins. The identical faces glaring at her were a force to be reckoned with, their attitude toward her presence clear.
“Hi, girls. My name is Amanda Tillman. I own the Sweeter Side of Life bakery in town. It’s nice to meet you. You should stop in to check it out. There are treats for everyone’s tastes. And just so you know, what your dad meant to say, was that he bid on an auction item, and it turned out I was the auction item.” Ouch. That sounded way worse than Kevin’s comment.
“What she means is that I bid on a secret chef, and I got her,” Kevin reassured the girls.
The girls didn’t budge, the frowns practically pasted on their faces. “We don’t need her to cook dinner for us. Your food is perfect, Daddy,” the bolder of the two twins responded.
“That’s not what you tell me most every night I cook, but it’s nice to hear you say it now. I thought it would be an awesome change to have a wonderful home-cooked meal. Amanda has a fantastic meal planned for the evening. And you both need to be more gracious.” His rebuff wasn’t well-received, and the girls’ scowls deepened.
“Amanda, I’d like you to meet my daughters, Lacy and Macy.” He pointed to each one as he said their names.
Macy was the one she’d identified as the bolder of the two twins. She stepped forward. “Well, I’m not really hungry, so maybe I’ll sit this one out in my room,” she huffed.
“You’ll do no such thing. If you’re not hungry, then don’t eat, but you’ll sit at the table with the rest of us while we do.” Kevin’s voice had taken on a level of frustration she’d not heard from him before.
“I’m not hungry, either, Daddy.” Lacy echoed her sister’s sentiments, but the slight tremble of her lip gave away that she didn’t mean a word of it.
Kevin grimaced but didn’t say anything.
“There’s chocolate cake for dessert,” Amanda added, trying to diffuse the situation. She wasn’t above bribery since they weren’t her kids.
Both girls’ eyes lit up at the mention of chocolate cake, but it was Macy who was quickest to recover. “Chocolate cake is boring.”
“My mom used to make us fancy desserts. Like mousse,” Lacy added.
Used to. An indication the girls’ mother wasn’t in the picture anymore, which matched up with the town’s determination to pair her and Kevin. Her heart went out to the twins. It would be hard for them at this age not to have their mother around. It was a time when Amanda had looked up to her own mother for everything, and she couldn’t imagine not having her there.
“Their mother is in Paris. We’re divorced,” Kevin offered by way of explanation. “And I’m sorry the twins have been rude. This isn’t like them, I promise. I’ll have a word with them in private and hopefully correct their attitudes. If you’ll excuse us. I look forward to your dinner. And feel free to join us in the living room while it’s cooking. You’re not required to stay in the kitchen. In fact, I’d enjoy it if you joined me for a glass of wine.”
Kevin was up to something, but whatever it was, the girls weren’t happy about it, their faces turning even more sour if such a thing were possible. They stormed out of the room, the swinging door moving back and forth several times before it settled into the closed position.
Kevin shrugged and shook his head. “Sorry.” He followed the girls, leaving her alone to get on with the dinner preparations. This was going to be a long night.
The kitchen was laid out well. Surprisingly, he had plenty of cookware, and she had no trouble locating what she needed. Most of it looked brand-new, but at least he had them, not to mention he stored things neatly and orderly, much the same way she did.
Amanda fixed a tray with the artichoke dip after warming it in the oven while she started to work on the other courses. She prepared the salad artfully, making the top look like a flower in bloom with the various colored sweet peppers of red, yellow, and green. The balsamic vinaigrette dressing she made was one of her own, and she hoped they appreciated it as well. She removed the artichoke dip from the oven and turned the dial to the correct temperature for the beef Wellington.
It wouldn’t take long for the oven to preheat, but while it did, she started to mix up t
he cake batter. Step-by-step, she carefully measured each ingredient, wanting it to be perfect. She set aside the caramel and nuts as the final addition to what she hoped would be a winning recipe.
It wasn’t long before Kevin returned to the kitchen. “I really am sorry about the girls. They aren’t happy with the divorce, even less now that their mother’s in Paris. They see her in video chats, but not nearly as often as she promised. I’ve reassured them you’re not here as my date, and that I’m not trying to replace their mother. But I’m sure you know how girls can be, considering I’m pretty sure you were one at some point.” He chuckled.
His attempt to lighten the situation wasn’t missed, and Amanda felt sorry for him. A man dealing with twins at their age would not be an easy task. And it was a task that would get harder and harder in the years to come. Babies and young girls had nothing on teenagers.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing I can’t handle, or that I haven’t dealt with. Not the dating part,” she stammered to correct the wrong impression she might have given. “I deal with kids coming into the bakery all the time, and everybody has their own particular likes and dislikes. Whether it’s a person or pastry, it amounts to the same thing. Kids don’t like it when they don’t get what they want. And, understandably, they want their mother.”
“Thank you for being so gracious about all this. I meant what I said, however. Feel free to join me in the living room, and I’ll have a glass of wine waiting for you while dinner is in the oven.”
“I don’t know. It might upset the girls even more. Their reaction was straightforward. It’s called animosity.” Amanda wasn’t here to make waves, nor did she relish a stressful evening. It might be best to hang out in the kitchen. Out of sight.
“I know, and I might have suggested it in the first place to aggravate them and show them who’s boss, but now that I’ve had time to think about it, the offer is genuine. It would be enjoyable to have someone to talk to other than twins who are bent on ruining my evening.”
Amanda picked up the roasting pan, the meat skillfully prepared with a layer of filling perfectly rolled throughout the roast. A chef’s masterpiece.
Kevin moved quickly, opening the oven door for her.
She slid the pan inside and set the timer at forty-five minutes. Amanda turned back toward the island counter, not realizing how close Kevin was, her hands coming up to keep them from bumping into one another. “Sorry.”
“No problem,” he murmured, his voice dropping a notch. An awareness crackled between them. It was the same awareness Amanda had felt and tried to ignore the night she’d met him.
“If you’re sure about the wine, I wouldn’t mind joining you. But I don’t want to cause any problems.”
“I’m sure.” He nodded.
“Okay, then. I’ll just be a minute. I need to finish making the dessert. That way, I can put it in the oven when the meat comes out.”
“It looks as though you’ve already made the cake.” He reached up and brushed the pad of his thumb against her cheek. “Chocolate.” He licked it off his finger. “I’m a chocoholic, what can I say?” He grinned.
“Well, that makes one of us.” She laughed, but the sound came out more like a tinkle, a schoolgirl-crush kind of laugh.
“What do you mean? Who doesn’t love chocolate?” he teased.
“Me. It’s not to say I don’t care for it, it’s just not my favorite. And I certainly don’t crave it. It’s one of those take-it-or-leave-it foods.” She looked away, fiddling with the bread arrangement on the appetizer platter, finding it easier to breathe without the close proximity.
“Then why are you making chocolate cake?”
“Because the Anything Chocolate contest requires a recipe to use chocolate. And I need to win this contest.” She shrugged. They’d moved on to a much safer topic, and the distance between them allowed her brain to actually think coherently.
“You mentioned that before. Why?” He leaned against the counter and waited.
“There’s a new bakery in Glen Haven. Things have gotten pretty tough since they opened. My mother used to own the bakery before she passed away, and I have a lot of great memories working together with her as she taught me all about cooking and creativity and the business. I can’t stand the idea of closing the doors, but I may not have a choice. The bank is only so forgiving and close to calling the loan. That’s where the contest comes in.” Talking about it made her sad. She pushed the memories aside, intent on making sure the meal tonight was perfect. One step at a time was her motto.
“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help. Hopefully, you’ll win. I know your dessert the other night was incredible.” Kevin winked, causing her heart to skip a beat.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Too bad you’re not one of the judges,” she joked, trying to lessen her level of awareness.
“Yeah, I probably wouldn’t be a fair judge. Like I said, I’m good about the eating part, but I’m not sure I can tell the difference between good chocolate cake and bad chocolate cake. To me, it’s all chocolate, so therefore, it’s a winner.”
She picked up the appetizer tray and handed it to Kevin. “You have a lot to learn.” She let out a deep sigh. At least he was honest. Many guys weren’t interested in the fine art of cooking, so she shouldn’t be surprised. “I’ll be out in just a minute. Can you take this in for me? And feel free to start eating. It’s better when it’s hot.”
“Sure thing.” Kevin walked out of the kitchen, using one hand to balance the platter and the other to push open the door.
She moved to the sink to rinse her hands and then dried them on the towel next to it. It took her a few minutes to finish up the batter for the cake, check on everything else, and then head down the hall to join the others.
Kevin looked up as she entered the living room. “There you are. This is amazing stuff. I love the tangy, creamy texture.”
“I’m glad you are enjoying it.” She smiled, moving to sit in the armchair on the other side of the coffee table.
Kevin stood and handed her a glass of red wine. “I hope red’s okay. I was thinking since you were serving beef, it would be a better choice.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” Amanda glanced at the two girls sitting stoically next to their father on the sofa, each with an untouched plate in their lap. “What do you girls think? I remember I used to love spinach-artichoke dip as a child.”
“We’re not much into spinach, but thank you anyway.” Macy’s stilted voice and raised chin were indicators her animosity hadn’t lessened in the slightest.
Kevin shook his head. “Since when don’t you eat spinach?” he called Macy out on her lie.
The girl’s face flushed red from embarrassment. “Since it’s mixed with artichokes. That doesn’t sound like anything a normal kid would eat.” The corner of her mouth curled up in distaste.
“It sounds gross, to be honest,” Lacy added, agreeing with her sister. The twin pact.
“That’s fine. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the salad. That might be a tad less gross and more normal.” She smiled, trying to relate to the girls in a way to break the ice.
“May I get a drink of water? I’m thirsty,” Macy asked while at the same time nudging her sister with her elbow.
“Me, too,” Lacy added hastily.
“Of course, but you need to come back here as I’ve asked and sit with us and talk. This is a family dinner, and Amanda has gone to a lot of trouble to fix a meal for us.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Macy shot Lacy a grin that Amanda didn’t miss.
She’d bet her next piece of lemon torte the girls weren’t coming back. And she didn’t give up lemon torte easily. “Don’t worry about them. I really do understand, and you don’t want to push them too hard.”
“I just can’t let it get out of hand. They’ve been struggling to get their schoolwork done and don’t always listen. Clearly.” He shook his head, lines of frustration grooved deeply on his face.
“Their mother and I divorced a little over a year ago. Long enough for them to get used to the fact she’s not going to be around all the time. She’s a model, and it’s her photoshoots that are important to her.” Kevin settled in against the back of the sofa and sipped his wine.
“That’s a shame. Under normal circumstances, I’m sure they’re lovely girls.” Not that she’d seen them as anything other than strong-willed children who pushed their limits often.
“They are.” Spoken like a true father. It was rather sweet.
The two girls moseyed back in the room, each carrying a cup of water and sat down. The fact they returned was surprising. Even more surprising, was the fact they picked up their plate and took a bite of the previously renounced spinach-artichoke dip.
“This is good. Different, but good.” Macy glanced at her sister, urging her with a slight tip of the head toward the plate to do the same.
A look of relief flooded Kevin’s face. “See girls. Sometimes you just need to try things. Thank you for doing that, Macy,” Kevin said, smiling at his daughter.
“I like it, too, Daddy,” Lacy chimed in.
“Good. Just don’t fill up on it. Amanda has an amazing main dish she’s cooking, something I’m quite sure you’ve never had before.”
For the next half hour, Kevin talked to the girls about school. The girls relaxed, going off into a lengthy discussion about their new friends, their new teachers, and of course, the troublemakers.
Macy was also quick to point out those kids didn’t bother her because she was more than capable of handling herself. Amanda realized these young girls were growing up faster than they needed to. Divorce had a way of doing that to children, and Amanda’s heart ached for them both. It was wonderful though, that the twins had each other to muddle their way through the changes.
Amanda could still recall the long, lonely nights after her father walked out. She’d been just about the age the twins were now. Her mother used to cry herself to sleep, and Amanda had no one to talk to. Having a twin would’ve been amazing.
