Page 179 of Sing with Me

Skye stepped in a booth and stood in the shade. Someone handed her a small bottle of water. “Two, please.”

She handed one to Jared.

Jared rolled the cold water over his forehead. “Saffron is doing well. Great food. Super chefs. Never an empty seat.”

“There you go.” Skye tried a piece of teriyaki chicken. Too salty.

Jared picked up a sample too, and winced as he chewed his chicken slowly. “I don’t like dark meat.”

“But you still ate it.”

“I like the saltiness.”

“If you were to rate it from one to ten, where would it be?” Skye asked.

“Eight,” he said without hesitation.

Sky had rated it at four on account of the crazy amount of salt. She wondered if they had used a store-bought teriyaki sauce and then added more salt. That could explain it, but it was not her job to ask. The rules of the booth competition included zero questions.

Just go to each booth, taste the food, and hope your stomach won’t revolt.

Skye wondered if this would be the last time she would judge at a food festival. She’d rather not have the pressure of having to perform. That was why she hadn’t entered a single cooking competition since Sebastian married and moved to Athens.

The next stop was another sushi booth. It was probably a good idea for an outdoor festival like this because visitors and beachgoers could simply treat sushi as finger food.

Jared was still tagging along, though his interaction with Skye had become less personal and more like they were casual acquaintances. He let his guard down and stopped behaving rich and spoiled.

Jared put a dollop of bright green wasabi on his sushi. His eyes flared.

Skye laughed so hard she nearly dropped her iPad onto the sand beneath their feet.

His tongue was out and he looked for water. He ran to the next booth where they gave him ice-cold coconut juice.

“Y’all are brilliant,” he told them after his second cup.

Skye sampled a lychee drink. Tapped in the score and moved on. She couldn’t get Jared to stop tagging along, and she had a limited time to finish her judging round, so she just took it all in stride.

Jared handed Skye a can of coconut juice.

“Was it all canned?” She hadn’t noticed when she was at the booth.

“Some are canned, but the ones you judged were made right there at the back of the booth—except the lychee fruits.”

“Okay. Good.” She shook the can to get the coconut flakes mixed up. Then she pulled the tab to open the can. It was refreshing and cold. “Thank you.”

“I aim to please.”

“So you bought Sebastian’s share of Saffron to save him from Talia’s talons.” Jared wiped his forehead on the back of his hand.

“Talons?” Skye asked. “That’s not a nice thing to say about the mother of your child.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Have you ever said that in front of her?”

“I don’t recall. Haven’t seen her in months.” Jared shrugged, like he didn’t care. “It’s not like I fly to London all the time. My mother likes having me around at the office—she feels less alone since Dad died—so I don’t have time to visit Talia.”

“Or your daughter?”

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