“Jesus Christ, what in the hell happened to you?” Kyle asked.
Candace walked up to Luke, wiped her finger over the sauce on his cheek, and then proceeded to lick it. “Needs more salt.”
“What?” Luke asked as his hand went to his cheek.
“Dude, you have food in your hair.” Hunter reached up and took the blueberry out, showing it to Luke.
Candace folded her arms and shot me a dirty look. “What have you done to this poor man?”
“What? Me? I haven’t done anything. He’s helping me since my parents decided to go to Boston.”
Luke ran his fingers through his hair. “If I remember right, you wanted them to leave tonight.”
“Yes! So we could have sex! I haven’t had sex in four months, and I can’t have sex if my parents are here!”
A throat cleared from behind me—and we all quickly turned to see a woman standing in the doorframe. My face instantly heated.
“Mrs. Cole, what can I help you with?” I asked.
With an embarrassed smile, she cleared her throat again. “I was going to see if you might have a banana?”
“A…banana? Well, dinner will be ready in about ten minutes.”
She stepped into the kitchen and looked around at everyone, her eyes widening when she took in Luke. “It’s for the, um…the…ahh…
As she tried to find her words, the stray piece of spaghetti that had been on the ceiling decided to fall. And land in her hair.
I gasped, and so did Candace. Mrs. Cole, however, didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy staring at Luke.
Hunter grabbed a banana and handed it to Mrs. Cole. “Here you go, a banana for you or whoever’s in need of it. Don’t forget that dinner will be served shortly, so don’t get too full.”
As Hunter ushered Mrs. Cole out of the kitchen, Candace and Kyle fell into a fit of laughter.
Pointing my finger at them, I whispered, “Hush!” Then I spun and faced Luke. “You need to go get cleaned up. You can’t go to dinner looking like this.”
“No, what Luke needs is to get the hell out of here,” Kyle stated.
“I agree,” Hunter added. “Dude, you look like you’ve been through the ringer. What has she been making you do?”
Luke sighed. “I had to zest a lemon. Twice.”
I blinked several times as I watched Hunter and Kyle take pity on Luke.
Kyle walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s poker night. You’re coming with us. I’m afraid if we leave you here any longer, you’ll be high-tailing it back to Boston.”
“Wait, what?” I said, stomping my foot. “I need him here! To help me!”
Hunter looked at me and winked. “Don’t worry, we’ll have him back in time for you to be able to…you know.”
“Have sex,” Kyle deadpanned.
Candace slipped on the apron that MaryLou, the traitor, had hung up. “Let them go. You and I can handle this.”
I faced Candace, wanting to hug her. “Are you serious? For some reason I feel so flustered and unorganized.”
She gave me a knowing look. “It’s the lack of sex. And the fact that the man you want to have it with is standing right here, and you can’t do anything about it.”
I pointed at her. “Yes! That is exactly it.”
“Right,” Kyle said, giving Luke a little push. “Go take a shower and meet us in the living room.”
“Candace is right, this does need more salt,” Hunter said after he tasted the sauce in the pan.
I glared at him. “If you don’t want me to take this pan and hit it upside your head, you’ll get the hell out of my kitchen. Now.”
Hunter lifted his hands in surrender and headed out of the kitchen. “Some thanks I get for rescuing Spaghetti Head from the kitchen.”
I closed my eyes and fell back against the counter. “I’m exhausted. You’d think I made a seven-course meal. I spent more time trying to keep Luke from messing everything up that I would have been better off doing this alone.”
Candace chuckled. “I think it’s kind of cute he was trying to help. He looked adorable with all that flour on his face.”
Smiling, I nodded. “He did look rather adorable, didn’t he?”
“Yes. Now, come on, let’s get your guests served. I can hear them all talking in the living room with Kyle and Hunter. Lord knows what those two will say or do.”
After announcing that the food was ready, Candace and I successfully served dinner and dessert without an issue. It was hard to sit through dinner, though, and not focus on the spaghetti that was still in Mrs. Cole’s hair. Her husband had clearly not noticed, and if the other two guests did, they pretended not to.
At some point after we sat down, Kyle, Hunter, and Luke slipped away from the house and headed to Kyle’s house for poker night.
As Candace and I cleared the dishes from the table, I informed everyone that game night would be in the living room, and I’d have pie and ice cream available.