The Icing on the Cake Read Free Page B

TV right now?”
    â€œReally?” She sounds surprised, but pleased. “Good thing his show doesn’t air in Georgia—Momma would be furious with me for sharing her secret recipe.”
    â€œSo, like, you’ve been keeping in touch with Chef?” I ask her. “Lately, I mean?”
    â€œActually, I saw him when I stopped by the studio the other day, Lize.”
    â€œReally? Why?” I don’t like this, not one bit.
    â€œAntonio invited me to see the new studio design. Nice, huh?”
    â€œYeah, it looks really shiny. Why didn’t you tell me you saw Chef?”
    â€œWell, I was planning on keeping it a surprise.”
    This is getting weird. “Keeping what a surprise?”
    â€œWell, I guess I have to tell you now, Liza Lou. I signed us up for Chef Antonio’s next class—as an early birthday present. And I talked to Frankie’s and Lillian’s moms, and they’re up for taking it too. Can you believe it? So we can all go together again! Exciting, right?”
    Instantly, I feel myself relax—I hadn’t even realized I’d gotten so worked up! My mom’s been talking to Chef because she signed us up for another class. That’s not exactly flirting! Frankie and Lillian have romance on the brain.
    I hang up with Mom and text them again.
    U guys are clueless. But I <3 u anyway.

CHAPTER 4
Frankie

    Feng shui. Every time I’m at Lillian’s house, all I can think about is feng shui . Not that I really know what that means, exactly, but I’ve seen it in magazine articles about where to put the couch, or which direction your bed should face. I’m pretty sure it’s more than that, though, like at Lillian’s, where everything is calm, peaceful, neat, and—I think this is the right word— serene . Beyond how ridiculously clean her house is, beyond the totally amazing food that hermom is always cranking out to make us feel welcome, there’s also just this feeling you get when you’re there, a sense of . . . I don’t know . . . balance? Like things are as they should be.
    I know Lillian feels like she has to live up to her mom’s expectations. And with a sister like hers, those expectations must be set pretty high. But at her house I always feel like everything is right with the world and we can all take a deep breath. Maybe that’s not what feng shui means. All I know is that there’s something about Lillian’s house that’s the perfect antidote to mine.
    We’re scarfing down pot-stickers as fast as Dr. Wong can make them today, and I’m eating so many that I can actually feel my pants getting tighter by the minute. Not that I care. These babies are so tasty! We’re all pretty focused on the food, because Liza’s still annoyed that we mentioned the Totally Obvious Situation with her mom and Chef Antonio when we were texting yesterday. Apparently, we’re all taking theclass again (which I guess my mom would have gotten around to sharing!), and she thinks that explains everything. She says we’re the ones who are clueless, but when it comes to Liza and her parents, she sort of sees what she wants to see.
    During cooking class last fall, Lillian and I totally knew sparks were flying (as my dad would say) between Chef and Liza’s mom. I mean, it wasn’t like they were flirting up a storm or anything, but you could just tell that they liked each other by the way they talked and looked at each other. And there was that whole thing with Chef Antonio making the family recipe Liza’s mom taught him. Like I said, Totally Obvious Situation, but Liza just pretended it wasn’t happening. Or maybe she really couldn’t see it.
    I don’t blame her. Who wants divorced parents? My parents have been together for an eternity. They have four kids, two jobs, a crowded house with cereal ground into the rugs and laundry literally falling from the