Page 90 of Sing with Me

Kissing friends?

Perhaps those kisses had been premature.

“Forgive me, Lord,” Skye prayed. “It just happened.”

There was no doubt she and Diehl were attracted to each other.

But the Bible said she had to walk by faith and not by sight.

“That’s my other prayer, Lord. That I would walk by faith in You and not by sight in my circumstances or the world around me.”

She wondered what Diehl did all week when her crew wasn’t in his kitchen. According to Brinley, he was supposed to be on a no-work sabbatical. How did he spend the rest of the day? Read a book? Watch TV? Walk on the beach?

What was he doing at this moment?

Skye tapped her phone on the side table to see what time it was. Nearly midnight.

“Lord Jesus, whatever Diehl is doing right now, I pray that Your perfect will would sweep through his life and prevail over the difficulties and hardships that he had—or has. I don’t know what he’s going through right now. It’s hard to know what’s on his mind when he doesn’t show it. As it says in the Bible, we humans look at the outer appearance, but You look at the heart, Lord. I pray that You will deal with Diehl, whatever he is going through.”

She chuckled at her own words.

Deal with Diehl.

Sometimes Skye wondered how different Diehl’s life was to hers. On the outset, their jobs, incomes, and lifestyles differed. The contrast couldn’t be clearer when Skye was with Jared. That flamboyant billionaire liked to throw money around as though paper money trumped all. Someone should tell Jared that money wasn’t everything—but then he might take that as a challenge to prove them wrong.

Even though Diehl and Jared had run in the same circles back when they were younger, Skye found Diehl different than Jared. While Jared was loud, Diehl was quieter and more thoughtful.

I prefer thoughtful.

While Jared looked at Skye as another woman to conquer, Diehl had talked to her with respect—although she wondered if Diehl had taken advantage of her by kissing her before she fully sorted out her feelings for him.

Their relationship was still in the early stages of a work in progress.

In any case, since Diehl knew Jared and how the latter ticked, perhaps Skye should ask Diehl for some business advice on how to handle Jared.

She had broached the potential sale of her shares to Chef Onada, but he wasn’t interested. He said he did not want to own a restaurant.

Well, neither did Skye. Not anymore.

Skye’s mind wandered to the future. When she got up the next day, the first thing she had to do after reading her Bible and eating breakfast was to pack for her weeklong trip to Atlanta. She looked forward to seeing her brother again after all these busy months.

Accompanying Sebastian to food festivals had been their thing for many years. She missed those times away, even when they did not participate in competitions. They would attend just for the sheer fun of it.

Okay, so she would pack on Saturday, and then fly out to Atlanta after evening church on Sunday to catch a connecting flight to Miami Beach. She wished there was a direct flight, but not now.

Chef Joseph would not only manage things for her while she was gone, but he would also cook in her place at Diehl’s house next week.

Would she miss Diehl?

Would they call each other?

She left the questions unanswered as she fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Skye turned into the driveway of the beach house, and parked behind Chef Joseph’s van. His door opened and he stepped out of the passenger side, dressed in a blue chef’s coat. Above them, the clouds moved. Rain clouds were coming in.

“We rang the bell, knocked, rang, called, texted, the gamut,” he said.

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