Page 29 of Not Just Gal Pals

According to the schedule she’d shared with us, the first course was due to be served any minute.

Jenny turned to me, a smile on her face that made my heart hiccup. “How’s the cake doing?”

“It’s currently cooling on Ms. Levi—I mean, Leah’s—kitchen counter. We’ll go back and assemble the tiers and frost them during the speeches.”

Jenny sighed in relief. “Thank god. I’m so impressed you and George have been able to pull this off.” She dropped her gaze from mine, staring lower on my face. Was she…was she looking at my lips? Without thinking, I rolled my lower lip in and bit it, wetting it in the process.

She leaned in, still staring at my face, and my heart jolted. What is she doing?

“Oh, you’ve got a little flour on your cheek.” Of course she wasn’t going to kiss you, you idiot!

I sat still in my chair as Jenny leaned over and did a slow, gentle swipe across my right cheek with her thumb, igniting sparks in my chest. She looked up at my hair and grinned. “And in your hair.”

“Are you sure that’s not just my gray hair?” I smiled. I wasn’t self-conscious about having some gray hairs in my early thirties. In fact, I kind of liked it. Being a young, female doctor, I often faced skepticism, especially from older men, and I thought it gave me a bit of gravitas.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Jenny said, her lips twitching as she carefully dusted my hair with her hand, causing a small cloud of flour to drift down in front of me, settling on the tablecloth.

“Mmmmh,” she hummed, sending a warm tingle down my spine. “If this cake tastes anywhere near as good as you smell, Amanda will be thrilled.”

After Jenny was done, she nudged me. “Looks like our scheming is paying off.” I followed her gaze to Maya and Jasper, who were engaged in deep conversation, smiling at each other with their eyes sparkling.

“Oh, excellent. Operation Emma is underway. Have you told the caterers to keep their glasses full?” I said jokingly.

“Ha! No, but by the looks of it, I don’t think we need to.”

We both stared unashamedly at Maya and Jasper. “Imagine how horrified we’d have been as teenagers if we’d seen two of our teachers get together.”

Jenny giggled. “Oh my god, can you imagine? Like Mrs. Harding and Mr. Peck, or Mrs. Bingham and Mr. Reynolds?”

We both burst into laughter at the thought of those unlikely pairings.

I shook my head. “It’s actually quite scary to think that when we were in high school, they were probably our age. At the time, they just seemed so old!”

“Ancient, at the ripe old age of thirty-two.” Jenny grinned at me, and for a second, I thought I spotted the same look in Jenny’s eyes as I’d just observed in Maya’s and Jasper’s. But that was ridiculous… Wasn’t it?

* * *

As speeches began, George and I snuck back to the house to assemble, frost, and decorate the cake with fresh blueberries and candied lemon peel.

George usually opted for flavor over form, so we pulled up some YouTube videos on how to frost wedding cakes. After a nail-biting forty minutes, we stood back to admire our work.

“Despite not having all the utensils YouTube recommended and never having iced a wedding cake before, I think it looks pretty good,” I said, looking at George for confirmation.

She nodded. “I think the overall effect is delightfully rustic. Perfect for a barn wedding in the country.”

I hoped Amanda agreed.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

JENNY

“This is incredible, Blake!” I mumbled through a mouthful of cake. To my relief, Amanda had taken the news of her original cake’s demise and its more rustic-looking—but absolutely delicious—replacement remarkably well.

Blake grinned at me. “I’m glad you like it, but I can’t take any credit. If anything, the cake got made despite me. If I’d been left to my own devices, it would’ve been an over-cooked rock. But I will take praise for the very clean blueberries and perfectly zested lemon.”

I swallowed the remaining cake and smiled back at her. “I do love a well-washed blueberry. But you deserve a round of applause for getting George involved. We’d be cakeless if it wasn’t for that spark of brilliance.” I also wouldn’t have seen Blake hard at work in Ms. Levi’s kitchen, wearing an apron and looking completely out of her comfort zone in the cutest way possible.

I surveyed the barn. Most people were still seated at their tables, devouring cake. A few eager guests were already on the dance floor. And Amanda was doing the rounds, making sure she said hello to everyone. She looked stunning and, more importantly, happy.