Chapter Fourteen
Ali knew she shouldn’t flirt so hard with JT, but it was too easy to make her blush.
And even after only a few days, Ali really liked the way JT’s face looked when she blushed.
It was cute and sweet and unexpected. Ali assumed JT had many women fawning all over her.
She probably could have just about any woman she wanted.
But here she was, in her hometown, single and entering a ridiculous contest with Ali, simply because Ali had asked her to.
It made her feel strong, and a little powerful. Not that she’d use that power for anything nefarious, but it had been a long time since she felt like she had the power to draw someone in, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed that feeling.
She spent a couple hours at home, tidying the remains of boxes.
Most of the boxes she opened made sense.
Items from the bathroom were in several boxes together.
But then she’d open a kitchen box and find her hairbrush, or a pair of slippers.
She had a vague memory of things getting a bit wonky toward the end of her packing, but this was like a drunk chipmunk had been in charge of getting it packed away.
She hated past her. She was a mess and present Ali was paying the price.
It had taken a long time to decide that things with Kyle weren’t going to get better.
Once she realized she wasn’t prepared to sacrifice her happiness to keep up their perfect image, she rushed to sever any remaining connection.
Which meant the boxes strewn around her house were occasionally filled with items she’d grabbed at random as she ran through her old house.
She swore she would get through half a dozen boxes before JT showed up.
JT knocked as she was finishing her fifth.
She looked into the next one and saw there were only a few things left, so she dumped them into another box so she could say she’d finished six.
This was clearly how she ended up with those disaster boxes full of random items. She was going to suffer later but now she hurried to the door.
“Hi, come in.” Ali struggled with whether she should hug JT or not, but JT covered whatever awkward moment they were about to have by taking off her coat.
“It looks great in here. You must have been working nonstop!”
Ali appreciated JT lying to her. Things hardly looked different, but the encouragement felt great anyway.
Ali led her into the kitchen. “Do you want some tea before we go?”
JT shook her head. “No. I’d hate to have to pee in the middle of the task.”
Ali clicked the kettle on for herself. She’d found the tea earlier and decided she was going to have it as a reward. “I like to live dangerously. And I think we are allowed to go to the bathroom. This isn’t Survivor.”
JT shrugged. “Still. I wouldn’t want to let the team down by having to run out during…wait, what are we doing today?”
“Cocoa.” Ali grabbed the paper off the refrigerator—the one place she knew she couldn’t lose it.
“Our task for today is going to be at the bakery on Main Street. We are supposed to concoct the most delicious and enticing cups of cocoa possible. It says we will be given access to a variety of items from the bakery, including marshmallow, caramel, fudge sauce, et cetera. And we have to combine it to make the best-looking and best-tasting mugs of cocoa.”
JT grinned. “I fucking love cocoa. This should be fun.”
“How are your presentation skills?”
JT shrugged. “If you’re comparing them to my siblings’, not too good. If you’re comparing them to, like, a kindergartner’s…still not too good.”
Ali laughed. “Well, that doesn’t give me much hope. Good thing I’ve been decorating classrooms for years. We should make an okay team, I think.”
JT made a face. “My stupid siblings are professional artists. We’re screwed. But ours will taste good at least. How’s Kyle at this stuff?”
Ali made a face. “Artistic isn’t a word I would use to describe him. But I don’t know about my doppelg?nger. She could be a culinary whiz.”
JT frowned. “Well, does it say if anyone gets eliminated in the first round? That would be super embarrassing.”
Ali scanned the sheet with the events and rules on it. “Good news. No one gets knocked out on the first day.” Ali poured the water into her mug. “You sure?”
JT shook her head. “What’s our game plan, then? You decorate and I taste?” She drummed her fingers nervously on the counter.
“No way. I want to drink cocoa, too. I’m not letting you have all the delicious fun.”
JT held up her hands. “I didn’t mean it like that. I should have said you’re in charge of making it look pretty and I’ll try not to screw it up.”
Ali considered JT. For someone with incredible swagger in the bar, on the ice, talking about hockey, she was surprisingly unsure of herself in this silly competition. Was she worried about losing? Letting Ali down? Failing publicly? What was making her nervous?
Ali reached for JT’s hand. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you played in the Olympics, so why are you nervous about this silly little contest? You know this isn’t on TV, right?”
JT laughed. “Sorry. I like to know what to expect.” She swallowed and gave Ali’s hand a little squeeze. “I don’t want to let you down.” Ali watched her closely until JT met her eyes. “And, honestly, you know how much I want to crush the competition.”
Ali laughed. “Me too. But it’s not worth worrying about.
Today is the first event. No one gets eliminated, so let’s go have fun and drink way too much cocoa.
” She looked up at JT and thought how easy it would be to rise up on her toes and kiss her.
It would be so easy, and she wanted it so badly, but it wouldn’t make things any less complicated.
“Come on, golden girl, let’s go kick some ass.” She grabbed JT’s hand and dragged her toward the door.