Gabriel made it home with about twenty minutes to spare. He turned on the oven, hurriedly dumped candied yams into a casserole dish, and slid it in to warm. By the time he changed clothes, the food was hot.

The women were all there when he arrived, as was Terri’s husband, Jon. Gabriel joined them at the table, where he saw that Serenity had outdone herself again with a pork tenderloin and roasted asparagus to accompany the two dishes of candied yams.

Serenity’s dark eyes sparkled, and her smile lit up the room. “I know what I want as my prize, and I can’t wait to win.”

He smiled down at her and folded his arms. “And what might that be?”

“Oh, you’ll find out after you lose.”

“You can’t just leave me hanging.”

“Okay, fine. I want…to go on a Napa Valley wine train tour like the one your grandmother was talking about. I’m going to enjoy myself soooo much.” She laughed and sashayed off with an extra switch in her hips.

Gabriel stood there mesmerized. It dawned on him, whether he won or lost, he’d still get to spend time with her. And as he’d told himself a few days ago, he was tired of fighting his feelings.

“Okay, okay, gather around, ladies and gentlemen,” Natasha said. “Here are the rules. This is going to be a blind test. Serenity and Gabriel will put portions of their yams on plates for everyone and line them up on the counter labeled A and B. We’ll wait in the family room until you two are done.”

“Instead of labeling them, how about using two different patterned saucers?” Serenity asked.

“That works. Call us when you’re ready. We’ll taste each, then just bring the entire dish out to the table with the rest of the food so we can really enjoy it.” Natasha shooed everyone out.

Gabriel couldn’t believe how serious they were about this. A part of him felt guilty. However, he did plan to tell Serenity the truth before leaving. He turned to Serenity. “Ready to get this party started?”

She handed him five navy-colored saucers and kept the gray ones. “The question is are you ready?”