Cold Outside

13 - Fleecing

Taking in the gleaming professional equipment, she smiled at him. "You really have achieved your dreams, haven't you? I knew you had, obviously, but seeing all this makes it so real."

The beautiful pastry chef watching her. Oliver smiled at Beth. "We worked hard to get here... both of us." He added the last as the woman approached.

"Here's your pizza dough, Romeo."

"Ava." He hissed. "Meet Bethany Howes."

"You two are what?" She embarrassed them, but she needed to know.

"Friends. Just friends for years. I've got a hot guy of my very own." Ava winked with a cocky grin.

Oliver quipped, "Is Josh hot because I hadn't noticed?"

"Hey, Chef are we making pizza?" Beth relaxed knowing Oliver and Ava were more like siblings than lovers.

"Absolutely." Oliver smiled at her. A pulse rushed through her body.

As they spread the dough and put on toppings, she was aware of him next to her. Cooking together brought back too many memories. Pizza was not just a meal they made together, it was what they made on a very special night. She spent years trying to forget, yet she still remembered. Don't think of that, she repeated in her head. To focus on something different, she said, "Over three years." He looked at her questioning. "You asked how long Lucas and I have been together."

"I'm glad you found love. You seem happy."

She felt a lump in her throat. "I've been upset with him because he did something without consulting me." Oliver was the one person who knew how much she loved her house.

"What did he do?"

"Oh, I've been renting out the beach house. The taxes are so high and I was in school. Anyway, I haven't spent a summer there since... well since my grandmother was alive. I thought this summer I could spend some time at the beach, but he leased it right through the summer behind my back. I shouldn't complain because he's fleecing the fool."

Oliver frowned. "Um Beth, I'm the fool you're fleecing."

"What? You! You're living in my house!"

"I wanted to be down by the beach, because... well just because. I never dreamed that the house I would see was yours. He offered me a one-year lease, and I took it. Ironically, I asked him just yesterday if I could get out of the lease. The commute is getting old, especially with the hours I keep."

"What did he say to you about the lease?"

"Oh, he didn't give me an answer. I assume he wanted to talk to you. Looks like you can spend some of this summer at the beach. Beth, if you need the rental money, I'll stay until summer. I don't want you to suffer because I changed my mind. Okay?"

"Let's wait until after the gala. We have enough to do right now."

"Alright. If you're sure. The pizza's ready." He opened the oven. "Come look at it."

They discussed the gala over pizza. He convinced Ava to join them. "Come on Ava. We need you, half the food will be desserts and you're creative."

She relented, and the three had a productive conversation. Oliver and Ava hashed out his fondue idea. They thought of winter comfort foods that they could make into appetizers or finger foods. "Pot pie tarts," Ava suggested.

Oliver said, "You mean coq au vin and beef bourguignon tarts."

"How about this pizza?" Beth asked.

"Is pizza too plebeian?" Oliver asked.

Thinking of the caliber of guest they were expecting, she agreed. "Maybe, but I want this again."

"You can make it at home. Don't you cook anymore?"

"Not as much as I should."

"You had enough lessons."

Her belly flipped as if it had a mind of its own.

"Well, I've got work to do. Bethany, it was nice meeting you. Oliver, should I bring out some pastries?"

Oliver looked at Beth who shook her head no.

Oliver looked right into her eyes. "You're sweet enough."

Her stomach felt as if it had just sped down the hill of a roller coaster. She had spent years hating him. Was that changing? No, it couldn't, because if she didn't hate him... No! She needed to leave. "I really have to go. Goodbye."

Once again, she was running away. Oliver was living in her house. She debated confronting Lucas, but she would get nowhere. Her bigger problem was that she had enjoyed herself.