Free A Table for Two by Janet Albert Page B

glanced at Tracy and kissed her on the cheek. Anyone could see she was totally infatuated.
    Ridley noticed a huge sheet cake on the kitchen table. "Laurie told me you were making Karen's birthday cake," she said to Tracy. "I can't wait to try it."
    "Go over and see how I decorated it," Tracy said.
    Ridley went to the table and checked out the cake. Tracy had used brightly colored icings to paint a likeness of Karen and Laurie's row house on the cake. The windows were tinted with yellow and white icings to suggest that warm lights were coming from inside the house and their street number was on the front door. Next to the house she wrote, Happy Birthday, Karen.
    "It's a work of art," Ridley remarked. "Loaded with calories, too, I'll bet,"
    "No need to worry. It's a carrot cake, so it's full of veggies and therefore, healthy. I also used a secret technique they taught us in chef's school that removes all the calories. It's highly technical, but it's worth it in the end, or should I say in the derriere?"
    "Honestly, Tracy. Do you think Ridley's dumb enough to believe that?" Dana chimed in from her private corner of the kitchen. "Knowing the way you make cakes, it would be easier to believe that you used a secret technique to get even more calories into it."
    "I'm deeply wounded that you would say such a thing about me, Dana." Tracy clutched at her chest and pretended to swoon while the rest of them laughed at her antics. "I know Ridley's not dumb and I would never do anything like that."
    After the merriment died down, Ridley moved closer to Dana who was bending over in front of the oven checking on two large foil covered rectangular pans. Dana lifted a corner of the foil with a fork and dipped a finger inside and then she began to put what appeared to be several big loaves of garlic bread wrapped in foil into the oven alongside the pans."What's that you're making?" Ridley asked her.
    "Chicken cutlets baked in a homemade blush sauce with thin slices of prosciutto and fresh mozzarella on top. I made it for Karen once, a long time ago, and she loved it so much she never forgot it, so I told Laurie I'd make it as a birthday gift. I made it earlier at the restaurant and now all I have to do is heat it up with the garlic bread."
    "It smells luscious." Ridley inhaled deeply. "I can't wait to try it."
    "I hope you like it," Dana said as she closed the oven door. After she straightened up and laid the potholders on the stove, she turned and met Ridley's eyes. "I'm happy to see you."
    "Are you?" Ridley studied Dana's face. Standing this close to Dana made her feel giddy and weak in the knees. Those fiery brown eyes held on to hers and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't tear her eyes away.
    "Yes."
    "That's good, because I'm happy to see you." Ridley's gaze shifted to Dana's mouth and she found herself fantasizing about what it would be like to kiss her. She felt it down to her toes as if her lips were actually touching Dana's and she shoved that thought out of her mind. What good would it do to think along those lines or to torture her mind with wild desires? Just because Dana wasn't involved with Tracy didn't mean she was interested in her. Ridley tried to focus her eyes on something else. "How's your apartment coming along?" she asked Dana, her heart racing and her breathing reduced to short little puffs.
    Dana appeared to be unaware of Ridley's discomfort. "I got a lot done this week. They delivered my furniture on Wednesday and I finished unpacking the rest of my things. Now, it feels more like my home."
    "My place is finished too, Ridley," Tracy called out. She must have been listening to their conversation. "In case you're even remotely interested. If you ever feel like climbing all the way up those stairs, you can come in and visit me."
    "That's Tracy's indirect way of complaining about living on the third floor, Ridley." Dana gave Tracy a penetrating stare. "You need to climb up and down those stairs, because you're always