CHAPTER TEN
SEASON’S GREETINGS
The following morning…
“Girl, you need to try these sample pizza pocket things,” Coast mumbled with her mouth full.
She was thirty-four weeks pregnant now and trailing Ayla throughFresh Cove,pushing a huge cart filled with food. The Blackmoor holiday party was coming up, and Audiemar had tasked her with feeding a small army. She was up for it since she needed to keep herself busy. She was officially on break from culinary school and her other classes, so she was going to need something to keep her idle hands busy aside from sleeping.
Since Kong married Nayelli and moved out with the kids, Ayla swore she fell into some kind of depression. If she wasn’t sleeping all day, her moods were swinging like a family of monkeys on a vine, and her appetite was just off. Cooking was what she did for a living, and she’d always enjoyed it, but nothing felt right with Kong no longer an active part of her life. She didn’t like it, but she had to accept it.
The gag was that she didn’t even hate Nayelli. Since the accident, she’d been tolerable and nice to Ayla, making it hard to hate the woman she felt took her man. The truth was, Kongwas never hers to begin with. That stung more than anything. She saw him occasionally when he would stop by the house, and Audiemar insisted that they institute either Saturday or Sunday dinners that everyone was supposed to attend. Kong would send the kids a lot of the time but make some excuse about why he and Nayelli couldn’t come.
“Nah, no thanks.” Ayla turned up her nose and paused in the seafood aisle.
Audiemar wanted options as far as dinner, so there was seafood on the list along with a few of her original recipes and some classics like lasagna rolls and salad.
“The doctor said this baby can come any day now, but why do I feel like it’s going to be like watching water boil? It’s so damn irritating,” Coast grumbled.
“Mmm hmm.” Ayla’s mind was somewhere else as she stopped in front of the ice display with large lobsters, tails, King crab legs, and prawns.
Audiemar had given her a budget and credit card to use for food expenses when she shopped, so she was adding everything up in her head. Price was usually no object, which she was glad for because some of her recipes called for a lot. Over the last six months, she’d continued as his chef, and he had no problem with her using his kitchen as her stage for her cooking channel. Coast might as well have stepped in as her producer, filming her cooking and taking candids so she could make more content for her other platforms. She’d gone from a few hundred thousand followers to over three million in that time. People loved her recipes and her sensual content in her cute outfits. She’d told the man behind the counter what she wanted and how much, and he took a moment to gather everything to box up and bring to her cart.
“What’s wrong with you?” Coast finished her sample and located a trash can as they cleared the aisle and moved on to another.
“I have a lot on my mind. I’m planning this party for all these people, and I just want to make sure I don’t forget anything.”
“Nah, something else is wrong.” Coast shook her head and trailed her to where they kept the other produce. “You’ve been in a mood for months, Lala. You barely leave the house unless you’re going to school or grocery shopping. Any time Inari or myself have invited you somewhere, you decline. Is this about Kong?”
Ayla stopped dead in her tracks. Just the mention of his name still sent flutters to her belly. The idea of seeing him during all this holiday stuff rattled her as well.
“Why would it be about Kong?”
“Maybe because he up and married Nayelli out of nowhere and took his kids. You love those kids, as bad as Kara and Kyro are,” Coast teased.
She adored them too and loved being Auntie Coast. Ayla smiled thinking about them. When they visited, they never wanted to leave, and she found that sad. Kyro was having trouble in school, and Kara’s pre-school teacher said she was constantly throwing fits and bullying other kids in the class. She hated that they were acting out because of their father’s actions, but what could she really do? It wasn’t her place to step in, so she fell back and kept her mouth shut.
“I’m fine.” Ayla sighed. “Just want everything perfect for this party and… I haven’t been sleeping the best.”
Lately, when she did get to sleep, she usually woke up in a cold sweat after nightmares. It was often hard to go back, so she’d get up and cook.
“You know what you need?” Coast suggested, pushing her cart beside her so Ayla could put things in it as well. “You needa date. Some damn fun. All you do is sit around catering to everyone else. You didn’t even come out to dinner with me and Inari for her birthday last month. I might not be able to drink or smoke right now, but I can still be a good time.”
“I have no doubts about that, Coast,” Ayla drawled, keeping her eye out for things she might need.
With her head down in her phone, she studied her list, mentally checking things off and trying to engrain the things she did need in her head. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, so she ended up running into another cart in front of her.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” Sheepishly, she peered up and stared into a very handsome and familiar chocolate face.
A sexy smile toyed with his pink lips, and Ayla couldn’t hide hers as Coast paused at her side.
“Nah, you good, gorgeous. Don’t I know you?” He squinted.
“I think we have a business class together,” Ayla answered, cheeks suddenly flushed. “Justin? Right?”
“And you are Ayla Jacobs,” he announced, a tinge of flirting in his tone that sent Coast’s brows up as her mouth formed a half smile.
Justin observed the many things in her cart and his eyes widened.
