Leo hugged his aunt. “Bears kill people, Aunt Loretta.”

“He’s a big, cuddly teddy bear, underneath the big bad bear. Don’t forget that, either.”

Uncle Cosmo slapped him on the back. “Leo, you’ve worked hard. We’re proud.”

Leo placed his arm on Tessa’s shoulder and guided her to a seat at the table, then went to get his dad.

Tessa’s mouth was dry, and her palms were sweating. She could barely manage polite answers to Aunt Loretta’s questions about her dessert. At last Leo guided his father outside onto the patio. Mr. Castorini walked over to the table, acknowledging Tessa with a brief nod as he took everything in. As he scraped his own seat back, he said, “The patio looks nice, Leo. But we’ve got a lot of work to do this afternoon, so let’s get to this lunch, whatever it is.”

“It’s just lunch, Dad.” Leo sent Tessa a confident nod.

All her thoughts were jumbling up inside as she forced a smile. Not just about Leo and how they’d finally cleared the air between them, but about herself and her own work. She might not be a professional baker, but she had no doubt her cake was beautiful. And no matter what happened at this lunch today, she felt…proud.

Mr. Castorini glanced up from his seat at the head of the table, his gaze resting on Tessa. She gave him a little wave and a smile.

“Hello, Tessa. You’re part of the test group now, too?”

She tried to read if he was saying that in a nice-inclusive way or a bad-intrusive way. But she decided to hope for the best.

She tilted her head in Leo’s direction. “Chef invited me.” Then she did her best to smile widely, even though her face felt as stiff as cardboard. But smiling worked for Leo, so she could try it for his sake.

Her response got an unexpected wink from Leo. Which made her smile for real. And blush. Again.

Gia came back with a cutting board full of sliced bread.

Leo stood up at his place across from his father at the opposite end of the table. He rubbed his hands together and cleared his throat. “Thank you, everyone, for coming today for this special meal brought to you by Tessa and me.” He gestured and smiled in her direction. Tessa felt touched but didn’t want any credit. Leo deserved the spotlight today. But he didn’t seem to feel the same way, because he said, “Tessa, would you like to tell them about the bread?”

“It’s warm, and it smells good,” Gia said.