Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love - Kim Fielding Page 0,56

hair—a bad idea since they left a flour track—and chewed his poor abused lip. “I guess we could use part of it and throw the rest away.”

“That’s wasteful, isn’t it?”

“So you want to bake it all?”

Teddy did not want to bake it all. There was nothing creative about burying Joyce Alexander in flatbread, not even if it was floral themed. Besides, it wouldn’t fit in the oven. He gently pushed Romeo out of the way, removed roughly one sixth of the blob and set it aside, and carried the remainder to the trash can under the sink. It was a very ordinary trash can, nearly identical to the one that took up all the space under his sink in Chicago. He would have expected Joyce to have something more upscale, maybe a designer garbage can.

Teddy’s stomach suddenly reminded him that it was lunchtime. Dave wasn’t back yet, and there wasn’t much he could do to assist Romeo, so Teddy assembled a couple of turkey sandwiches and plated them up with some little apples. In one cabinet he discovered a trove of Pringles cans, which shocked him more than the trash can. Did Joyce, of all people, eat Pringles? He put some of them on the plates.

They ate at the pretty white table tucked under a window overlooking the water. They didn’t talk much, but it was nice nonetheless. It made Teddy realize that although he went out to restaurants with friends now and then, he never had company for his meals at home. He liked sitting with Romeo over sandwiches.

“What are you thinking about?” Romeo asked before crunching his way through a chip.

“That I’m an idiot.” Although he wasn’t sure whether he was more foolish for vowing to eschew romance—or for now wanting to break that vow. Especially when he was perfectly aware that he had no future with Romeo.

“I don’t think so.”

“Thanks.”

“No, I mean it. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

Teddy snorted. “You should see my grades. I made it through school thanks to a few close scrapes and a couple of sympathetic professors.”

“I got almost straight As. Summa cum laude. But I can’t even dress myself without other people’s help. Want to hear more of my mama’s wisdom?”

“Sure.” Teddy figured Mrs. Blue must be a pretty smart person to have done such a good job raising her kids, and he wanted all the wisdom he could get.

“When I was a kid, I’d get upset because I sucked at sports and I was just...awkward around everyone. I used to come home and cry over it, Teddy.”

Teddy reached over and patted Romeo’s hand, wishing he could time travel just long enough to give young Romeo a comforting hug and tell him that someday everything was going to be all right. “I cried when I realized I was never going to make it to Broadway,” Teddy admitted.

“But you found your light somewhere else. That’s what Mama calls it. She says everyone’s got their own light, and instead of envying someone else’s we should each do our very best to shine. You shine bright, Teddy Spenser.” Romeo stroked his scarf, which he’d draped over a chair to save it from the flour. “So bright I’m almost blinded.”

Teddy might have remained there, gaping, for the rest of the day. Or he might have hurdled the table, tackled Romeo, and torn those new clothes right off him. Luckily Dave entered the kitchen, laden with fabric grocery sacks. A hint of annoyance may have shown near the corners of his eyes, but if so, Teddy couldn’t really blame him.

“Got everything but the squash blossoms,” Dave announced, setting the bags on the island. “Not available this time of year.”

That was disappointing but not an utter disaster. They could sub something else. “Thank you,” Teddy and Romeo said in unison. Dave gave a regal nod and left the kitchen for parts unknown. Maybe he sat in the Rolls all day, regardless of what was scheduled. If Teddy had to be stuck in a vehicle for hours on end, he’d choose that one too.

The flatbread was still rising, in theory. It didn’t look any different to Teddy. Maybe rather than rising gradually, it would bloom all at once, having reached some magical yeasty apex. In any case, since Romeo was now the more experienced of them when it came to making dough, Teddy appointed him chief pasta maker. That left Teddy to prep the flowers and juice the lemons for the tartlets. They’d opted for premade tartlet shells,