Nikki opened the door to the building, curious about what Ryan’s surprise date was. She knew that he’d been planning it for about a week, and he’d been mysteriously coy in divulging any details about it. She remembered the smirk on his face just a few days ago as she poked and prodded at his chest, excitedly trying to find out any details about what he was concealing. She even tried withholding kisses from him until he gave her some small morsel of detail about the date. But that didn’t even work. She actually gave in after just a couple of minutes, unable to withstand the temptation - which came from just staring at him - of tasting him on her lips.
Just as soon as Nikki stepped inside the building, she knew exactly what Ryan had planned as his secretive date. And she was flattered. Beyond flattered, actually. Seeing what Ryan had been so excited about made her realize she couldn’t just end things right at the start of their date. That would hurt him too much. She’d have to stick it out to the end and then break it to him softly.
“Hey, babe!” Ryan energetically came up and gave her a strong hug combined with a delicate kiss on the cheek.
Nikki’s insides quickly melted. She loved how Ryan had randomly switched to calling her babe about a week ago. It had felt natural back then and was one of the things that made her fall for him even more. But combine that with the dichotomy of feeling his muscular arms around her while delicately kissing her – that was a recipe which would make any woman rethink breaking up with the man.
And speaking of recipes, that’s exactly what Ryan had planned for them that evening: a cooking class. With knowing what their date was now, Nikki knew it would be even more difficult to end things with Ryan – he had planned something just for her interests!
Nikki had always found it curious that Ryan was so good at candle-making yet never really understood her magnetism toward cooking. In her mind, they were both expressions of creativity. Somehow, though, Ryan obviously had a different perspective of his profession. But, now, Nikki knew he was trying to take another huge leap forward in strengthening things with her. He was working on seeing things from her perspective. Working on something she enjoyed. And working on improving one of his weaknesses. A cooking class focused on her interests was his method of showing his personal improvement.
Nikki wondered if any of the ovens in the cooking class’s kitchen were on – because she had all but melted in the moment that Ryan’s plan came into focus for their date. As for Ryan, he could be taken out of the oven now, he was near perfect!
“What is this?” Nikki feigned ignorance while Ryan hugged her. Her instinctual reaction of smiling at seeing they’d be in a cooking class quickly pushed any thought of breaking up with him aside momentarily.
“So, I don’t wanna brag …” Ryan said, the excitement in his voice at his surprise was as obvious as a kid on Christmas. “But it was really hard to get into this class. Now, I know it’s not the same as culinary school or being a chef, but I thought it’d be fun to see what you do!”
Jokingly, Nikki responded: “If it was so tough to get in, how’d you manage to do it?” By now they had locked fingers while walking into the larger open kitchen area affixed with separate workstations for each couple. In the middle was the class instructor’s kitchen counter, centered so that all of the other kitchen workstations would be able to see it.
Ryan cracked a smile, “Oh you know – since you won’t sleep with me, I figured I had to get it out of my system somehow!”
Nikki instinctively jabbed Ryan in the side with her elbow. She knew Ryan well enough by now to know he was just kidding. Since she’d brought up her perspective on things with him, he’d never once pressured her. But still, it was a good light-hearted jab at her, so she retaliated by physically jabbing him back.
Just then, an older woman who looked about in her sixties arrived into the middle of the room, revealing herself as the class instructor. Seeing this, Nikki couldn’t hold in her comeback. “Well, if that’s who you had to sleep with to get us into the class, that was quite the sacrifice!”
“Hello, class. Thank you all for coming this evening. My name is Chef Delia Gand. Thanks so much for joining my class this evening. I’ll be leading you tonight to discover the art of fine chocolate.”
Nikki’s jaw dropped. “Delia Gand!” She couldn’t help but exclaim out loud. Her heart raced, though, when she realized just how loud she had instinctively said the famous chocolatier’s name out loud, sending several eyes her way.
“Yes, Miss – and what is your name?” Nikki was floored to find that Delia had also heard her reaction and was now staring right at her.
Nikki looked around, nervously hoping that Delia was actually talking to someone else besides her. When the realization quickly hit that, indeed, Delia was asking her a question, Nikki couldn’t help but let everything out that had rushed into her mind upon first hearing their instructor’s name.
“You’re … you’re … Delia Gand!” Nikki felt Ryan put his strong arm around her waist, the security of which instantly gave her confidence to continue with her train of thought out loud excitedly. “I learned all about you in culinary school. You’re the queen of chocolate – they called you The Sugar Fairy!”
Delia winked at Nikki. “Sugar Fairy, huh?” Surprisingly, for how much Nikki was star-struck at seeing who their instructor was, Delia didn’t seem to have an air of arrogance about her. “And what do they call you?”
“Nikki,” she said boldly, “And I’m one of your biggest fans.”
“Great to meet you, Nikki – who’s that you came with?”
“This is Ryan. He’s …” Nikki stuttered for a moment before saying it out loud for the first time: “He’s my boyfriend.”
For as nervous as Nikki was approaching this date, knowing she’d have to break up with Ryan, her words surprised her. But even more than her words surprising her, the way she actually felt when she said them out loud surprised her even more. She felt relieved. She felt happy. And even crazier – those words felt surprisingly right to say.
Nikki looked over at Ryan right after saying those words, a bashful smile coming over her. She looked into Ryan’s exuberant eyes and could feel the excitement radiating from him.
But in that moment, Nikki knew it. She was in trouble.
Chapter 19
She was in love with two men. Two very different men, and in love with the two men in two very different ways. All this time, she’d been searching – interviewing, even - for just one love of her life. Now, she was forced to question if there ever could have been just one love for her. All of those failed dates. All of those men who hadn’t worked out. All of it for her quest for one love, and now she’d stumbled upon two – and at the same time, no less.
Did fate exist? If it did, she had been so sure that it had pushed her toward Luke. But, then, why did it also bring Ryan into her life? The fact that she’d fallen in love with Ryan only had the effect of making her doubt now if fate really existed. And if she questioned that, then she also questioned whether the force which had made her feel so inevitably compelled to Luke - fate - was really just a figment of her mind. Maybe it was all happenstance and she strung together the sequence of random events to mean something that she was giving greater purpose to under the guise of ‘fate.’ Question after question rolled thru her mind in the thunderstorm of chaos within the flash of the moment that she realized she’d also fallen in love with Ryan.