I sucked my finger clean becausedamn it if he hadn’t made it even better than the one he’d helped me with. “No,nothing. Sorry.” My cheeks turned red with embarrassment. “It’s justsogood.”
Shane smiled, appeased by mycompliment. “It really is. I could drink that sauce by itself.”
Molly tilted her head curiously, butwaited to try anything until Shane had walked away again.
“That’s my sauce,” I told her. “Theone he stopped by to improve.”
Her voice dropped, and sheimmediately plated one of the kabobs to try it. “He stole it?”
I wished. “No, not really,” Iadmitted. “Mine was good. His is from a different planet of good. But it’sdefinitely similar to mine.”
“Could we call it ‘inspired’ byyours?”
I ignored her sly grin and shook myhead. “Only in the general sense of he realized how awesome he could make itand how not awesome I had made it. Besides, I keep changing up my menu, so it’snot a huge deal. Those meatballs were so last month.”
“You’re not mad? Really?”
Honestly, I was flattered, but Ididn’t want to admit it. “I’m always mad at him. The man is obnoxious.”Although I hadn’t expected him to ever steal something from me. Killian Quinnwas a complete original. I got the vibe that he loathed doing the popularthing. He wanted to be the first, set the tone, create the trend. Not follow insomeone else’s footsteps.
We were going over the rest of themenu, trying to narrow our main courses to a couple of options we could share,when Wyatt stepped out of the kitchen. He walked over to Shane, who pointed in ourdirection.
“Oh, no! Molly, we’ve been made!”
She ducked down, holding the menu tothe side of her face. “I told you we should have worn disguises!”
“Well, well, well,” Wyatt crooned,stepping up to our table. “If it isn’t our nosy neighbors.”
I peeled the menu from the front ofmy face and braved looking at him. “I would have had you bring me something,but I felt sorry for you and didn’t want to get you fired.”
The high planes of his sharpcheekbones turned pink. “Thanks for that.”
Offering him a genuine smile, I madea show of glancing around. “I mean, I don’t personally understand why anyonewould want to work here, but I guess if you need to pay your bills orwhatever.”
He laughed and held out the tray Ihadn’t noticed yet. “Yeah, I just need the basics really. Like electricity,water, cat food.”
Molly and I shared a look.Cat food?
“I think you need better priorities,but hey, I’m not one to judge.” I leaned toward the tray, pulled in by theinteresting bites of food he’d brought with him. “What do you have there?”
He grinned at me. “A little amusebouche, compliments of the chef.”
“How generous,” I mumbled.
“He wanted to thank you for stoppingin. He always loves another chef’s opinion.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.“We were hungry,” I explained. “We didn’t have anything else going on tonight.”Lie. “We’re not here to spy.” Another lie. “Besides, if anyone has been spying lately…”I pointed to the remnants of the tzatziki sauce that hadn’t yet been licked offthe plate. “I think I’m the one with the right to complain.”
Wyatt chuckled, not taking meseriously. “You know the entire kitchen blames you for the new menu.”
“What? Why?” Panic jumped aroundinside me. My insides became a mosh pit of confused emotion. The very notion seemedtoo absurd even to consider, and yet the sauce sat there glaring at me, provingthat it wasn’t entirely impossible.
“The last time Killian changed themenu in the middle of a season, was after a Jarod Campbell review. Killian hadall but lit the menu on fire and started from scratch. It was terrifying.”
Jarod Campbell was one of thetoughest critics in the country. He never gave glowing reviews. He preferredscathing criticisms with a few positive notes sprinkled throughout. But I wassurprised even Killian had suffered Jarod’s harsh opinion.
My eyebrows jumped to my hairline.“So you’re saying he hates me as much as Jarod Campbell?”
Wyatt gave me a goofy look. “That isnot what I’m saying at all.”
