He narrowed his eyes. “For the number of times you’ve now said it is not a big deal, I’m beginning to think it is.”

“Remember when I asked you about Joni and her cheesecake?”

He threw his hands into the air. “Ah. I was afraid of this.”

“Just hear me out, okay? Joni is the sister of the bride, the matron of honor, and the maker of what I’ve heard are very delicious, tiny, top-hat-wearing cheesecakes.”

“And she’s bringing them to the wedding.”

“Yes.”

“And I’m supposed to serve them.”

“Yes.”

“Alongside the food I went to a very expensive culinary school to learn how to make myself.”

“Yes?”

“You know, we have a no-outside-food-or-drink policy for a reason.”

“I do know. But just this once, Ida believes we can compromise. It’s important to Joni. It’s an act of love for her sister.”

“An act of love. How sweet. What if her act of love makes somebody sick and the blame gets pinned on me?”

“I thought of that. Which is why we should do something like this.” I turned around and grabbed the tiny sign I’d made minutes before. I read it to Gaspard. “‘Cheesecakes provided with love by Joni Anderson—sister of the bride.’ See? We put this on the table wherever the cheesecakes are being served, and people know they aren’t yours.”

Gaspard grunted. “She is not going to use my kitchen.”

“Absolutely not. The cheesecakes will arrive fully prepared and ready to serve.”

“Do they need to stay cold? How much room do I need to clear in the walk-in? One shelf? Two? Should I clear an entire wall for Joni and her stupid little cheesecake hats?”

“Gaspard, I get it. It’s annoying. I would be annoyed too. But there is literally nothing that can be done about it now. The cheesecakes are coming. Friday afternoon. They’ll have to be refrigerated overnight, then served at the reception on Saturday. Since this is going to be my very first wedding at the Winding Way Inn and I’m trying desperately to seem like I know what I’m doing and like I wasn’t just dropped into the middle of a crazy situation with no one to train me and piles of responsibilities I’m somehow supposed to know about all on my own, I’m asking for a favor.” I finally took a breath. “Please. I really need you to be okay with this.”

He still wore a scowl, but I could see acceptance in his eyes. “Fine. But only because this is a mess you didn’t make and it wouldn’t be fair for me to make you accountable.”

Uh, no, it was a mess of Ida’s making, surly chef dude. And she’s the big boss lady now. I was pretty sure if Ida had been the one speaking to him about this, he wouldn’t have responded like he did with me. Still, he’d agreed, and I’d spared Ida a little bit of drama. That was all that mattered in the end.