Page 40 of Tempting Fate

“Hope so. I’ll freeze the leftovers. You can have some when you come to visit.”

“Oh, I’m coming there, am I?”

“I figure with all the potential for drama in my life that you’ll be on the next train down.”

“Prick,” Cate mutters, but the laugh is back in her voice. “Sadly for you, I’ve got plans this weekend, but I’ll let you know when I can come to visit, okay? Don’t go making any rash decisions in the meantime. I know what you’re like when I leave you alone.”

“I won’t.”

“Em, seriously.”

“What?”

“No major life decisions after ten at night. Remember?”

I roll my eyes, even though she can’t see me. I remember. It’s something we decided when we were teens, despite the fact that we were sneaking out after ten all the time to go find whatever magical or mythical creatures might be hiding in the darkness.

“I remember. I’ll text you if I make any.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Bye, Cate! Love you.”

“Love you too, I guess,” she replies but laughs again when she hangs up.

I turn back to the soup and let out one last heavy sigh. No major life decisions. Sure. That’ll end well.

Jamie texts, asking for bangers and mash, which means nipping to the shop to pick up sausages before either of them gets home, but I quite like the short escape. I grab a cake while I’m there, too, just a chocolate sponge because then we can have dessert if we want it, or save it for another day if we don’t.

Both Jamie and Nick seem astounded by the dinner I serve them. The soup goes down well, which warms me about as much as the kiss Jamie and I shared earlier, to my own surprise. Jamie offers to cut up the cake, and once we’ve all finished eating, bellies full, Nick takes over cleaning up, though I’ve been careful to wash up as I go for the most part.

“God, that was amazing,” Jamie says with a groan. He sprawls out on the sofa, apparently boneless and comfortable. “Want to quit your job? Nick and I will find a way to pay you to cook for us all the time.”

I laugh. “I’d get bored with it after too long,” I admit. “It’s nice to go all out once in a while.”

“You should meet Drew,” Jamie says, then sits up straight like he shouldn’t have said that.

“Drew?”

“He’s, uh… A friend. One of Vince and Dax’s friends, I mean. He works at this café, loves to bake. I went over there for dinner on Sunday.”

“You’ve got a lot of friends here, huh?”

Jamie nods. “Yeah, I do.”

I glance at the door. I can hear Nick moving things around in the kitchen, which means he can probably hear us.

“And if you…?”

“I’m good at making friends, Em,” Jamie says with a smile. “It’ll all be fine.”

Do I believe that? That he’s good at making friends, for certain. That it will be fine?

Yes, it will. Of course it will. And knowing him for a couple of weeks gives me precisely no claim on him or his life, even in spite of that kiss earlier today.

I still feel like I can faintly taste him.

If Jamie feels the strange, sudden tension, he doesn’t comment on it. He smiles at me again instead, looking utterly content, and pride beats against my ribs, knowing I put that look on his face. When he switches the TV on, I settle more comfortably in my chair, and then Nick joins us, the three of us hardly speaking as we let the thing play.