Page 90 of Recipe for Rivals
She stood at the table, folding her arms over her chest. “Here to gloat?”
“Don’t try to blame the ants when y’all lose,” I said. “My burgers beat Chad’s fair and square.” I hadn’t had a bite yet, but they were obviously dry just from looking at them.
Nova tucked her chin. She didn’t have time to reply when a voice boomed behind me.
“What are you trying to say?” Chad asked, his voice in my ear. Where had he even come from? “You calling me a cheater?”
I mean, hewasone, but I wasn’t about to start something. This was a family event and I would swallow my pride.
“No,” Brody said, coming to my side. “He’s saying your burgers are burned, so ours are better.”
Chad looked ready to deck me, but his gaze fell to Brody’s defiant stare and seemed to think better of it. “I got you a plate, Nova.”
“Oh.” She looked from Chad to the picnic tables. “My aunt got one for me already, but thank you.”
Chad hovered. He didn’t seem to want to walk away while I remained. My little yappy guard dog was giving him the evil eye, though, so he relented and retreated.
Nova stepped around the table, keeping her arms crossed. “Did he really burn the sliders?” she asked Brody.
“Yeah, they aren’t very good. Wanna try?” He lifted his plate toward her.
“That’s okay. I’ll grab a fresh one from your table.”
“What about the plate Gigi made you?” I teased.
She shot me a look. “I need to learn how to let people down firmly, I guess. That wasn’t even gentle—it was a straight up lie.”
My face screwed into incredulity. “You’ve let me down firmly many times, and I have only known you for a few months.”
Nova’s face split into a grin. “True.”
“I want to eat,” Brody said, walking away.
“Coming.” I turned back and lowered my voice. “Hey, my grandpa is here. I’d love to introduce you if you get a minute. Just come find us.”
She looked at me for a beat longer than usual. “Okay.”
“Okay,” I repeated, somehow feeling like I’d scored a major win today that had nothing to do with the Battle of the Badges.
My winslowly deflated as the event petered to a close and Nova didn’t come to our table. Had it been too forward to tell her to come meet the last member of my family? No, my parents didn’t count. I had no idea if they were even alive. Nova had seemed to consider my invitation, so I knew she’d given it some thought. She hadn’t answered blindly.
Great, now I was overthinking. That wasn’t normal for me.
Someone had given Captain Bowman a mic, which everyoneknew was a bad idea. Our fire chief was a man of few words, but Cap never knew when to stop talking.
“Police won the football game,” Mayor Dunmore said into the mic as he wrested it from Cap’s hand. “Fire won the ticket sales. We’ve tallied the votes on food and are pleased to announce that, when added to other wins, the Battle of the Badge trophy this year goes to…drumroll, please.”
People pounded on their tables, including Grandpa across from me, his wrinkled eyes twinkling. Great, had he voted for the cops again?
Randy sat hard on the bench beside me and scoffed. “They’re gonna take it.”
“We don’t know that,” I said, but I had a feeling he was right.
“The winners are the police crew!” Mayor Dunmore said. Cheering and shouting went up all over the picnic tables, but our section stayed silent. Grandpa frowned, which was something of a relief. Guess he’d voted for us after all.
I looked where Nova was sitting with Gigi. They were clapping, but a line formed between Nova’s eyebrows. She was just as confused as I was. Yes, her berry compote and cream were delicious, but their burgers weren’t. Not to be cocky, but no part of our meal had been messed up.
“Looks like we were destined to lose anyway,” Randy muttered. “Hard to beat a cheater.”