Page 30 of Recipe for Rivals
When Alice Walker passed me, I offered her my fist and she bumped it with a bashful smile. The girl was shy, and I was determined to win her approval.
“Hayes,” Randy called, jerking his chin to indicate he needed me.
I reached over to a little black-haired boy and ruffled his hair on my way out of the school line.
“Bet you didn’t expect to have such an adventure today,” I said, approaching Randy and Principal Hurst.
Neither of them looked very pleased.
“Parents are going to be a nightmare after this,” PrincipalHurst muttered, looking at the parents lined up on the sidewalk waving goodbye to their kids.
I scanned the moms until my sight fell on Nova giving Ben a wave. She pulled her sweatshirt tighter around her waist and grinned. Her smile was so pretty, less guarded, when she was looking at her kids.
She glanced over and caught me watching her. I felt like I had a split second to decide how I wanted to play the moment out. I sent her a big, wide smile. Iwaslooking at her, so there was no sense in pretending otherwise.
Nova seemed to chuckle lightly, shaking her head and pulling her attention away. I finished speaking to Randy and Mr. Hurst about the situation, and when I looked back at Nova, she was chatting with Chad Lincoln.
Hold on.I threw up inside my mouth a little.
“Don’t go over there,” Randy said in warning when he followed my gaze. “There are kids around.”
“They’ll be gone soon,” I muttered.
“It ain’t worth it, man.”
My stomach was already clenching, as if preparing for a fight. Which happened to be the case most of the time when I saw Chad.
If there was a bigger tool in this town, I didn’t know him.
There were textbook, good-natured rivalries all over town. My beef with anyone who went to Texas A&M, my university’s rival. Or people who didn’t hand out candy to kids on Halloween. Or my best friend and his fellow electrical linemen. We all engaged in good-natured ribbing.
But Chad Lincoln? The man was actually a jerk. I tried not to engage when possible, but his smug little face made it hard to walk away sometimes.
It was going to feel so great to beat his department in Battle of the Badges.
Because I was going to win. In most things, I just faked my cockiness and it usually turned out all right. There were few things I was legitimately confident in, but cooking was one of them.
Watching him flirt with Nova, though, made my blood run cold. It sent me flashes of high school, when Chad had always tried to steal whatever girl I was into at the time. He wasn’t successful every time, but the fact that he constantly tried made me hate him back then. I didn’t feel much differently now. He’d been jealous of my relationship with Coach Gable, and since I worked with the man on the high school football coaching team, that hadn’t gone away.
I started toward them and heard Randy muttering behind me, but I ignored him. Pasting a wide smile on my face, I kept my gaze entirely on Nova. “This guy bugging you?”
Her eyebrows shot up, and I realized immediately I’d made an error in judgment. She wasn’t going to appreciate me riding in on my trusty red engine and trying to save her.
But, because I’m an idiot, I kept talking. “I’ve heard the cops around these parts can get mighty pushy. It’s better to be firm when dealing with them. Know your rights.”
“Hello, Dusty,” Chad said tightly, like he deserved sainthood for putting up with me. “Can we help you?”
My blood simmered with jealousy, which was exactly what he wanted, given his use of the word ‘we’. My reaction was entirely unwarranted, so I tried to suppress it. I widened my grin and clapped him on the back. “You know I’m just messing with you, man.”
We both knew how strongly I disliked him, because the aversion was mutual. I dropped my hand.
Nova peered at me with bemusement. “I need to get back to the diner. Is everything okay in the school?”
“Microwave caught on fire in the teachers’ lounge, but it didn’t spread. There will be some smoke damage, but it was contained. The students shouldn’t be affected.”
“Even the ones with asthma?”
“Even them,” I confirmed. “We’ve aired it out and are leaving the fans for a few hours.”