Page 79 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

“I forgot you have to do wine pairings for work,” she remarked when they all moved to take their seats. “Are you secretly a bit of a connoisseur?”

“I don’t think it’s a secret,” he said, taking the place beside her.

“Do you like it?”

“Wine?” He looked confused. “Yes.”

“No, I mean, do you enjoy choosing the wines at the restaurant? Is it a part of your job that you enjoy?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I love it. Wine is part of the experience for the guests. Choosing the perfect wine to complement the meal feels like a challenge.”

“I want to sit next to Warren!” Josh shouted.

“Your seat is over here,” Selena said, standing behind the chair with a booster seat on it. “Come and sit down.”

“No! I want to sit next to Uncle Warren.”

“Here,” Jen said, giving up her chair for him. “He can sit here.”

“Mum!” Selena hissed. “He needs to learn that he can’t get his own way all the time.”

“Maybe, but I’d also like to eat while the food is still hot and not have to listen to Josh scream the house down.” Jen tipped her head at her daughter. “Choose your battles.”

“Fine.” She took the booster seat to him and helped him onto it. When her phone rang, she pulled it from her back pocket. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said before striding from the room with the phone at her ear.

Rachel discreetly set bowls of soup in front of them, and there was no mention of waiting for Selena to return – they all tucked in.

“How’s work?” Dennis asked, eyes on Anna. “Have you done any more markets?”

“Yes. There was one on Saturday.” She ran her spoon through her soup, waiting for it to cool. “It went well. And I did a private wreath-making workshop, which ended up bringing in a lot of sales to my online shop, so I’ve been busy fulfilling those orders.”

He nodded, but his attention was on his phone, which lit up beside his bowl. While tapping on the screen, his brow wrinkled. “Carl thinks we should accept fivepercent less,” he said to Jen.

“Of course he does.” Jen replied, her tone clipped. “Carl always prefers to play it safe, but I guarantee if we sit tight, they’ll come around to our terms in the end.”

With no idea what they were talking about, Anna looked at Warren.

“The soup’s good,” he said, nodding at her bowl and subtly reminding her to eat. Then he turned to his nephew. “How’s school going, Joshie?”

“Good.”

“What’s your teacher’s name?”

“Mrs Clarke. She’s the bestest teacher in the whole world.”

“Wow. You got very lucky then. Have you got lots of friends?”

“Yes.” He excitedly listed them and then happily chatted away while his grandparents continued their conversation about business at the other end of the table.

Selena returned when they were in the middle of the main course and took the seat on the other side of Josh.

“Eat the vegetables,” she said to him. “Not just the meat.”

“I don’t have to,” he replied with his mouth full.

“You do if you want dessert,” she said, reaching for her wine.

Josh shook his head. “I have to eat one piece of everything, and I already ate one piece of carrot and one piece of potato.”