Laughter pierces the room.
“Seeing him on social media is one thing”—Jaclyn inhales—“seeing him teach us in person is dangerous.”
I sip the wine, realizing he might not be as arrogant as I first thought. I mean, he’s definitely arrogant, but he also has a following of women who look ready to pounce him right now. Possibly all at the same time.
“It’s the cowboy hat,” Zoe says.
“It’s the forearms.” The women make noises of agreement. “And the way he talks to the dough like it hears his every whisper.” Zara‘s voice powers to a whisper.
Yes, definitely a cult.
“I’m ready to watch him knead dough in real life.” Zoe pretends to knead dough, and I’m not sure if she means to make it look erotic, but she does. “I’m going to get it all wrong, so he comes over to help and says, ‘Just like this,’ and puts his hands—”
“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Her sister’s elbow catches her ribs, and she lets out a little squeak.
“I’ll be finishing something,” she shoots back, spinning the rolling pin between her hands.
They all laugh.
“He’ll smile.” Jaclyn taps her heels on the floor. “He’ll tease. He’ll make you think the flour is flirting with you.”
“That doesn’t sound professional.” It’s out of my mouth before I can stop it.
But I stand by the statement.
He doesn’t sound very professional.
“That’s the thing.” Jaclyn takes a long sip of her wine. “It never goes anywhere.”
I doubt that’s true, but then again, he did straight up tell me he wasn’t sleeping with me.
“Never,” Zoe agrees. “We know the rules.”
“The rules?” If I stopped asking questions, I could leave, but it seems my mouth isn’t syncing with my brain.
“Boundaries.” Zara leans her elbow on her station, facing me. “Clear ones.”
“Confidence, not confusion.” Jaclyn tilts her glass and pours more wine. “He knows exactly where the edge is and doesn’t step over it.”
“And neither do we,” Zoe says.
“If my hips were still fast, he wouldn’t stand a chance.” Nettie’s in her own world.
“It’s a good thing you’re not twenty years younger, Ma. You’d get us kicked out.”
“What?”
Jaclyn squeezes her shoulder. “Boundaries are why this works.”
Are they sharing the instruction manual because they think I’m staying?
Eww.
No.
But they all dive in at once, and I can’t tell who’s saying what anymore.
“He’ll tease a little, smile a little, let the room warm up—” A voice from the far corner starts.
