Page 62 of You Chive Me Crazy

“What if I was?”

I grinned. “Then I am, too.”

Zoe snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Only if you are,” I said, laughing.

There was something so intimate about our chatter in the dark.

And yes, I was still grinning from ear-to-ear.

Zoe was silent for a moment, then said, “Tomorrow’s a big day, I’ve got so much food prep for the festival. Everything has to be perfect.”

“You still need to take it easy. I’ll help you,” I said. “And speaking of that, who works with you in the food truck when you’re out peddling potatoes?”

“My nieces, Brianna and Brooke. They’ll be driving over together every morning since Brianna is a bartender at night, and Brooke doesn’t have a car.”

“Wow,” I said. “She’s going to be putting in some serious hours and miles.”

“She doesn’t mind. They both love helping me, and I love them being there since they’re family.”

“Speaking of that, how are things on the potato farm?” I asked.

Zoe sighed. “Not great. A shady bookkeeper robbed the family blind. The DA is searching for him, but in the meantime, they’re barely scraping by because of all the money we lost. That’s one reason the franchise is so important. All the contracts state the franchisees will have to buy the potatoes from us, which would take the burden off the family.”

“Sorry to hear about that, but it sounds like you’ve got the perfect solution,” I said. “I’m sure everything will turn out fine.”

“What about you?” Zoe asked. “You’re insanely successful, obviously. Come to think about it, I don’t even recall how you ended up becoming a food critic. How did that happen?”

“I was just looking for a job, any job, because I needed money,” I said. “I took what I thought was a temporary job as a restaurant critic for theGarden Grove Gazettefor the small paycheck and free food. However, my bitterness towards not being a chef led me to write a harsh review for a chef who used canned vegetables for one of his soups. That review went viral. It was the very first review I had ever written, and my boss told me to run with it, and to not change a thing for future reviews. That led to popularity, notoriety, awards, and eventually, a job atDevour Americamagazine.”

“It’s crazy how that all just fell into place,” Zoe said, yawning again. “You've done so well for yourself. I guess it was meant to be that neither of us became chefs.”

“That’s what Rolando usually says,” I replied. “That these things happen for a reason. Like how you and I ran into each other again after all these years. Calling it a coincidence doesn’t seem just.”

All Zoe said was, “Yeah . . .”

She switched positions and her arm suddenly came to a rest right against mine. I relished the feeling of our bodies touching. There was no way I was going to move an inch, even if I had to sleep in that position all night.

Speaking of sleeping . . .

Thirty seconds went by and Zoe was still quiet.

“Did you fall asleep?” I whispered.

Zoe hesitated with her reply. “Not quite, but I’m getting there. We can keep talking a little longer. This isveryrelaxing.”

“Okay . . .” I nodded, wondering what to talk about. “Tell me something I don’t know about you. Something that may surprise me.”

Zoe answered with an even groggier voice than before. “I had a crush on you in culinary school.”

“Seriously?” I said, thinking about it. “It might take me a while to process that one. Wow. Really?”

“Really.” A few seconds later, Zoe said, “What about you? Tell me something I don’t know.”

I could tell her that I also had a crush on her back then, but would she even believe me? Or would she think I just said it because she said it?

What else could I tell her she didn’t know?