Page 108 of The Broken Heart Playlist
The girls are intrigued enough to traipse obediently into the dining room. I follow more slowly. Who is this man? He doesn’t appear hesitant or unsure of himself, acting as though commandeering children’s birthday parties is part of his everyday skillset.
“Take a seat.”
They each take a seat at the table.
“Anyone have any food allergies?” he asks.
“I’m allergic to peanuts,” one girl pipes up.
“Got it,” Gideon says. “Anyone else?”
They all shake their heads.
“Good. Our first game will be a MasterChef blindfold tasting challenge.” He waits for the round of excited murmurs to die down before he looks at me. “The girls will need to be blindfolded. Do you have any scarves?”
I raise my eyebrows at him. Did he seriously ask me that? Scarves are my absolute favorite fashion accessory.
“I’ll have you know I’m a scarf girl all the way,” I tell him.
His eyes hold mine for a fraction of a second, then one corner of his mouth tips up into a grin and he winks at me. That wink slides right into my stomach, stirring up all kinds of sensations there.
Oh.
I refuse to allow my imagination to follow whatever path his mind has evidently decided to travel.
“My assistant will fetch the scarves,” Gideon declares, “as well as paper and pens for everyone.”
There’s silence while we all wait in anticipation.
Gideon looks pointedly at me. “Assistant?”
My eyes widen. “Me?”
“Correct.”
“But—”
“Chop, chop. We don’t have all day.”
Lisset and the girls explode into giggles. Gideon’s mischievous expression tells me he’s enjoying playing his part to the hilt.
I execute a slightly sarcastic curtsy. “Your lowly assistant is here to do your bidding...sir.”
I return with paper, pens, and scarves, and dump them onto the table. The girls will have fun sorting through them and buying us time to organize food samples.
In the kitchen, I ask Gideon, “What do you have in mind?”
“We’ll do two tastings—a savory and a sweet one. I’m thinking five food items in each category. Kids this age can be fussy, so we’ll choose foods that won’t gross them out. We’ll make it challenging, so no easy-to-guess foods like bananas or apples, but nothing too difficult either.”
My mind is buzzing. “It’s a great idea. I also have prizes for the winners.”
I’d bought a bunch of cheap, fun toys I know the girls will be delighted to win. Pretty keychains they can hang off their backpacks, scrunchies, sparkly hair clips, and fragrant erasers.
We quickly debate the various food options. For savory, we settle on Doritos, pickles, celery, carrot, and feta cheese. Sweet items will include Skittles, dried dates, kiwi fruit, nectarines, and licorice.
We move comfortably around one another in the kitchen as we cut the food up into bite-sized pieces and place them into reusable paper cups. Gideon is relaxed and teasing, and we end up laughing a lot while working alongside one another.
Once the food prep is done, I blindfold the girls, who are still chatting away. They inform me this is the first time they’ve done a tasting challenge at a birthday party. Lisset’s face shines withhappiness when the girls compliment her on such a cool idea. I have a feeling they’ll be talking about this for weeks.
