Chapter Fourteen
Layla
Tyler whistles while he bumps his hips into mine. I shoot him an annoyed glare and whack him on his backside with my spoon.
“Will you two knock it off over there?” Juliet snaps.
“Someone is mad because she’s losing.” Tyler snickers.
I whack him again. “We’re not losing. We’re almost done.”
Tyler leans close and his minty scent mixed with cedar causes me to momentarily forget to keep my guard up. Tyler has been trying to slip other spices into our pots. I had to poke and bat him away a few times already.
“I think you’re overcooking those potatoes, babe,” he says in a sultry tone.
I blink and return my attention to the boiling pot filled with red potatoes. “No, I’m not. Juliet set a timer for me. Right?” I ask my sister.
She growls. “I said I set the timer on the oven for the loaf. Not on the stove for the potatoes.” She marches over and moves me away from the pot.
Crap. Did I screw up? I can’t let Tyler win. I mean as much as I might like the idea of him helping me get Juliet out of the house. There is no way I want to see a smug look on his face. I love him. I do. But even his ego can be taken down a few pegs.
My sister stabs a potato with a fork then turns to me. “It’s fine. I would probably give them another ten minutes.”
I catch Tyler’s smirk before settling next to him again. “You’re so mean,” I say.
“All is fair in love and war.” He winks. “I’ll set the timer if you want.”
“I can do it,” I insist.
Juliet snaps, “Don’t. I already set it.”
I look at the blinking green digits on the screen and then I cock my glare in Tyler’s direction. “You knew she set that didn’t you?”
He nods. “I was going to shut it off. What? I really want to watch an action flick with you.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Ugh. If I agree to let you pick one film every other movie date will you promise to play fair?”
He smiles. “I might be able to do that. Noodles are done.” He pulls his pot from the stove and dumps the contents into a colander.
I look over at Juliet and she’s staring at the oven. “Juliet, what am I doing with the potatoes?”
“We’re mashing them, aren’t we?” Tyler asks. “Otherwise this chicken noodle gravy will be a waste.”
“You made gravy?” I ask. Where was I and wow, he knows how to make gravy? Jared was right about that cooking gift after all.
He winks at me. “Of course, I did. It’s in the back pot. Don’t you get any ideas over there, babe. I can see everything you’re doing.”
I make a face and cover my hand over my chest. “Me? I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Uh huh. Come any closer to that pot and I will smack that ass of yours,” he says. His expression says ‘stern,’ but his tone is humorous so of course, I’m not going to take him seriously. I step a little closer to his pot and fake like I added something to it.
Tyler marches over. “What did you add?”
I shrug. He cracks my butt with his hand. I turn to him with my mouth hanging open. “Oh my God. My butt.” I rub the spot his hand slapped.
“I warned you, woman.” Then he brings his lips to mine. “I’m sorry.”
“Ugh! You guys are so gross! Knock it off already,” Juliet gripes.
I pull away and glower at my sister. “You can always leave, you know,” I say to her.
She rolls her eyes. “And leave you two in here to make dinner? I don’t think so. You’ll end up making out or something and burn everything. Then mom will be on my case about how I neglected her orders. I don’t think so.”
I smile. “Aw. Look you are ready to start following rules again. I thought for a second I lost you to the dark side.”
Juliet shakes her head.
Tyler laughs. “Even if your shirts say otherwise.”
I shoot him a look. He shrugs. “What?” he asks. “She knows it’s true.”
Juliet says nothing. She opens the oven and pulls out something that smells divine. “What did you make?” I ask.
“Turkey loaf,” she answers. That’s right because she hates regular meatloaf. She sets it on the thick cutting board that already has pot holders covering it. She lifts the jar of barbecue sauce resting on the kitchen table and pours it all over the top of the loaf. Then she sets that down and returns the loaf to the oven.
The timer to the stove buzzes and I flip the switch on the burner off. After I drain the water from the potatoes, I glance over at Tyler. He’s so into his dishes he’s not even paying attention to me. I push the water to cold and smirk. “Oh, Ty?”
“Yeah?” He turns to me as I pull the sprayer from the sink and squirt him.
His eyes widened then he smiles. “You’re going to get it.”
I slap the water off and take off running. I leap over a side table in the living room right as the front door pops open. “Layla Faye! What on Earth are you … Tyler! There will be no horse playing in this house, you two. You should be ashamed of yourselves acting like foolish children,” my mom scolds.
“Sorry, Ms. Valentine,” Tyler mutters.
“Sorry, Mom.”
My mom glances into the kitchen. “Smells great in there, honey.”
Juliet mutters something but all my focus is on my mom. For a business meeting, my mom is lacking her briefcase and her usual pantsuits. My mom went to meet a client in skinny jeans? Something is going on here, I’m just not sure what.
“How was your meeting?” I ask my mom with a raised brow. Yeah. She’s not fooling me as I scoop some mashed potatoes on to her plate then pass it over to her.
She clears her throat. “It was fine.”
No one else at the table seems to notice my mom’s sudden nervousness. Clearing her throat before she spoke means she’s hiding something.
“Oh, before you start to dig in, Ms. Valentine.” Which earns Tyler an eye roll. She hates when he calls her that and not Angela. “We had a little competition here. We’re not going to tell you who made what. Just let us know what you liked the best.”
Juliet snorts. “Well, it’s not going to matter about the green beans because our mom hates that vegetable.”
“Juliet,” mom says. “I don’t hate it. It is just not my favorite and Layla, could you take some off my plate? I’ll eat three.”
I narrow my eyes and grab her plate again and pluck a few green beans off. Then I hand her plate back. “Where were you really today? I know you never meet clients dressed in casual,” I say.
Juliet blinks at my mom then as if suddenly she’s been slapped with a stick or something. She takes in my mom’s appearance. “Who is he?” my sister shouts.
My mom glances at the two of us but says nothing. Not one damn word. She just picks up her fork and eats.
“Um … I think I’m going to go,” Tyler says. He places his hand on my leg and gives it a light squeeze. “I’ll call you later.”
“Tyler, don’t be ridiculous. Please stay and eat. I love this chicken noodle gravy mix. It’s really good,” my mom says. Almost like she’s hoping he’ll be a buffer or a distraction for me and I’ll stop asking questions.
“Ha! Action flick!” He kisses my temple. “I should head out though. I’ll just take this with me, is that okay?”
I nod. “I’ll get you a Tupperware container.”
“Awesome.”
He doesn’t remain at the table waiting for me though. Tyler follows me into the pantry and whispers, “Hey, are you okay?”
I sniffle a bit. “No. I think my mom is dating again.”
He glances back at my mom and says to me, “Maybe she really was meeting a client. Maybe she didn’t have any clean business outfits.”
I shake my head. “She has plenty. She went on a date.”
He doesn’t say anything, and I continue, “I know it’s stupid, but I don’t like to think about her doing those kinds of things.”
He tilts my head so our gazes lock. “It’s going to be okay.” Then he kisses me.
When we break apart I grab the container I needed and make my way back over to the table. Tyler takes the plate from me after I transfer the food into the container. He walks the plate over to the sink, rinses it, and then we go out to his Cherokee.
“I’ll call you later,” Tyler says.
“Okay.”
Once he’s in his vehicle and pulls out of my driveway I head back inside. I have no idea what I’m going to say to my mom, but I know it’s not going to be pretty.