The Wedding Gift

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE

Before Julie could protest that she shouldn't be on stage, Andrew was in full flow, talking to the nearest camera with the ease that came from doing television day in and day out.

"Hello and welcome to Edgy Eats. I'm Andrew Kyle and today I'm joined by local chef, Julie Delgado, who will be helping me prepare my take on the classic quiche."

She would? Since when?

Julie knew it was long past time to speak up, but when she looked around and saw that she was trapped in that broad circle of spotlights, the protest died on her suddenly dry lips.

"Classic recipes are great for cooking good food at home, but I've always believed it's important to do more than just repeat the same old things, to experiment with your food and make it your own. Don't you agree, Julie?"

Had he asked her that to try to throw her?

Deciding she wouldn't be that easily cowed, she countered, "I've always believed that classic recipes are classic for a reason."

Andrew laughed, turning slightly to address the studio audience. "I can see that I'm going to have my work cut out trying to convert Julie to my way of cooking." He gave her a look that couldn't be interpreted as anything but fond before turning back to the crowd. "What do you all say? Should we have a cook-off?"

As his challenging words got the inevitable burst of approval from an audience primed to respond with glee to whatever he said, Julie gritted her teeth. She'd come here to clear the air between them, and to stand up for herself while she was at it - not to get pulled into a battle of the kitchen with him. Not only was dragging her onto his show like this not playing fair, but it was just typical of a guy like him to do it without even asking.

Julie was tempted to walk off and leave him hanging there, if only to see what his precious audience would do then.

But she already knew what would happen. The audience would blame her. She would be the one who wouldn't go along with the "fun" and would end up being branded a "difficult character" that poor Andrew had to deal with. His show, meanwhile, would likely end up clipping along nicely without her, so it wouldn't actually achieve anything.

Except making Andrew think even less of her for backing away from his challenge.

No, Julie wasn't going to let him win like that. Instead she forced her best made-for-TV smile.

"Sure," she replied. "I'm up for the challenge."

Andrew looked extremely pleased that she'd gone along with it. Well, she'd see how pleased he was in a few minutes.

"We'll each make one quiche according to our own recipes and my viewers will get a good sense of the difference between the traditional recipe and a more modern take on it."

Without waiting for him to tell her to begin, Julie reached for the ingredients.

Quiche. Such a simple thing to make. Eggs, pastry crust, cheese, half-and-half, heavy cream and some simple filling ingredients like bacon and vegetables. It was all very easy. Far too easy for Andrew Kyle to ever do it that way, of course, which presumably explained why there were so many extra ingredients available on the kitchen bench. There was a full selection of herbs and spices and some unusual fruits and vegetables.

Julie concentrated on the recipe she knew. No distractions-that was the way.

Except...she should have known that Andrew wasn't going to let things be that simple.