The Wedding Gift

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"You're sure you're okay?" she asked again. "You don't seem like yourself."

He shrugged. "Are we ready to get cooking?"

"Pretty much."

Good. The sooner they were done, the sooner he could get away. He wouldn't even have to pack. He could be on a flight within a couple of hours of the end of shooting. That thought made it a little easier to smile his trademark smile as he stepped out into the middle of the set kitchen.

"Hello and welcome to Edgy Eats. For our final show of the season, we have a special treat for you. Several people who have been cooking with me this season graciously agreed to come back for our grand finale. To make it extra special, they're going to be cooking not just for me, but for a panel of critics taken from San Francisco's food press and restaurant world. Please welcome our judges."

Lanie reported on food happenings for the Cuisine Channel, and had the bubbly good looks that came with the territory. Geraldine was a local chef with a reputation for an abrupt tone and an unsmiling face to match. Steve was a restaurant critic for one of the local newspapers who, given the size of his paunch, obviously enjoyed his work.

Andrew had met them before, but didn't know any of them well. Now, though, he had to smile and pretend they were best friends. That was TV for you.

"The rules today are simple," he told the audience. "Our cooks will produce four courses for our judges. An amuse-bouche to give us a little taste of their cooking style, a first course, an entrée and a dessert. They can use any ingredients they wish and I, for one, am looking forward to a real taste revelation or two."

"I certainly hope so," Lanie agreed.

"Though, obviously, the standards achieved are vitally important, too," Steve put in.

Geraldine nodded. "I was told the chefs are among the finest cooks who have been on your show, so I will be expecting high standards from all of them."

And no doubt taking the opportunity to turn the knife if they weren't up to it.

Still, the contestants presumably knew what they were getting themselves into. Which reminded him...

"Shall we welcome our contestants?" Andrew asked the audience, waiting until their enthusiastic response died down a little before continuing. He had the names on the teleprompter, just to make sure nothing could go wrong. "Please give a big welcome to Mitchel Crane, Antonio Summers, Elaine Neilson, Gregory Brown, Natasha Smith and... Julie Delgado?"

Andrew couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice at seeing Julie's name on the screen. He fully expected the director to yell "Cut" and explain it was all some big mistake-that they had added her name when they'd still been trying to get her on the show, and then forgotten to remove it from the list.

But there she was, walking over to her workstation with the others, all the ingredients for her chosen dishes in a box...and looking so beautiful that he could hardly believe his eyes.

Somehow, Andrew managed to get back to the job at hand, wishing them all good luck then starting the big timer for the cook-off. Knowing he couldn't very well go over and have a talk with Julie about their relationship while they were live on air, he had to wander among the contestants instead, asking them what they were planning, and what they'd been up to since the last time they'd been on the show.

He found this hard going with the first contestants, mostly because his attention wasn't focused on them. It was hard to keep up one half of a conversation about how someone had expanded their café or had dramatically improved their approach to fine dining when it took every last ounce of his effort not to stare at the women he'd fallen head-over-heels for.