Chef Charming (8 page)

Dear Aurora: You are very
funny...

His fingers hesitated over
the keyboard. He decided to venture out on the proverbial limb. It was much
easier to do now, not in person.

...
I like the saying on your shirt. It reminds me of
one of my favorite quotes about cooking. It’s from Voltaire. ‘Nothing would be
more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as
well as a necessity.’
Goodnight, Aurora.
~Marcus.
He turned off the program as soon as he sent the
message, not brave enough to wait for her reply.

Sorely tempted to skip
tonight’s class, Rori attended under protest
.
She was tired from her studio work, which now consisted mainly of packing up
her supplies and preparing her work for transport on Thursday to the gallery.

The artist refused to admit
to herself that the emotional war waging between her and Marcus was also taking
a toll on her
. Jessica had dropped
broader and broader hints that their battles were just romantic tension. To
combat this absurd notion, Rori added an expose on the thirteenth chapter of
first Corinthians, commonly called the Love Chapter, to her sketch of Marcus at
the back of her sketchbook. She had drawn a quick picture of him after the
first class with a countdown of the twelve days of class. She marked off a day
every morning. The title of the masterpiece was
You Shall Endure
.

Below the caricature she had
scribbled,
‘You can do anything for two
weeks!’ She quickly wrote out the passage, adding commentary:

“
Love is patient…
Grumpy,
annoyed, irritated

Love is kind…
merciless, harsh

Does not envy, does not
boast,
is
not
proud….
Need more
info/background – Jake & Carla?

Does
not dishonor
others…not
self-seeking….
Seems to be ok here

…. Not easily angered
?!?
...
Try infuriating... on edge

…keeps no records of
wrongs...
Or has a photographic memory
of every mistake I’ve made….

Does not delight in evil but
rejoices in truth….
trust Jake’s
opinion, I guess?

Protects
….
Ok I’ll give him that one….
(She drew a heart next to this one)

Trusts
?...
hopes
?.... expects the worst

Always perseveres….
Or is counting down the days of torture
like
I am...?

Thankfully, her sketchbook
was rarely out of her sight so there was no danger in her mischief, or her
feelings,
being
discovered
.

Sitting in class waiting for
Jessica to arrive, Rori flipped open the
sketchbook.
It was an addiction. She rarely was without a pencil or pen in hand, sketching
on whatever surface she could find. Her notes in all her classes and even in
sermons
were covered
with artwork.

Sh
e was the only one in the class. Even Marcus was
nowhere to
be seen
. When she saw how early she was,
she considered hanging around outside, but instead decided to brave the lion’s
den. Maybe he’ll talk to me
like
we do online if I’m
the only one here, she thought. Knowing that was probably a hopeless dream, and
unwilling to think too much about why it was so important to her, she pushed
the thoughts away.

She sketch
ed fruit, vegetables, and loaves of bread and within
minutes had covered a couple of pages with abstract, interesting drawings.

“Nice work,” the deep voice
behind her startled her
. She jumped and
dropped her pencil.

“Marcus,” his name came
unbidden. “You startled me.”

His breath caught as her
blue eyes met his, an involuntary smile on her lips. Marcus had seen her
engrossed in her sketching and realized she had not heard his approach. Drawn
to her like the cliché moth to a flame, he decided to delay the class
preparations to steal a few moments alone with Miss Aurora Sinclair.

“Chef Marcus, in class
please, Princess,” he smiled
as he handed
her the dropped pencil. His fingers brushed the palm of her hand. The effect of
his touch combined with the smile had a devastating effect on her breathing.
She seemed to have forgotten how.

“Sorry,” Rori bowed her head
to recover her involuntary functions, such as breathing and hear
t beating, and to hide the blush she was sure was
spreading across her face.

“These are quite good,”
Marcus was now thumbing through the five or six pages of food related items
. “I knew you did portraits, but had no idea you had
such an expansive repertoire. I’d be interested in using these for a project
that Jake and I are working on.” He smiled again.

I’m going to die right here
at his feet,
Rori thought. I can see the
headlines now:  ‘Coed falls victim to handsome chef’s deadly smile’. She
laughed.

“What’s so funny about
that?”
Marcus
asked,
his smile fading. Is she laughing at me, again? He thought disappointedly.

“No, no,” Rori tried to
recover
. “I’m just not used to you being
nice to me. Sorry.” Avoiding eye contact, she did not see the devastating
affect her words had on Marcus.
She continued, unaware of his
painful confusion.

“That would be great,” she
said. “
You’re welcome to use whatever
sketches you need. Would you like me to drop some by to you or Jake before
Friday?”

Marcus struggled to regain
his equilibrium.
Apparently, her comment
had not been meant
to wound since she blithely continued
their previous conversation.

“Maybe you could meet with
me and Jake about it one morning?”
He
suggested. Last night he finally admitted that since his time with this
frustrating and fascinating woman was
coming to an end
,
he needed to act soon. He was desperate and terrified all at the same time.

“Say, Friday
morning?” He asked.

“Okay,” Rori agreed
hesitantly
. “You do remember that I won’t
be in class Friday night, right?”

Why do you think I want to
see you on Friday morning, woman
? Chef
thought. Knowing that would shock her for sure, he decided against verbalizing
his thoughts.

“Yes, I remember,” he
replied instead. “You have a preview for your art show, correct?”

“Yes.” She nodded anxious to
end this uncomfortable intimacy as the other students were entering the lab. “I
can meet you and Jake at the cafeteria Friday, say around eight thirty? Is that
okay?”

“See you then.
” He closed her sketchbook and moved away.

Rori could breathe again.
Now if only her heart would behave, she might actually survive the evening.

The soufflés were tricky but
fun, and messy, so Rori thoroughly enjoyed them. Jessica said that Rori never
used the same spoon, or pot, or pan, or potholder, if she could take one, or
two, or all the others out of the drawers, instead. Their station was a wreck,
but their broccoli and cheese soufflé was delicious.

“This is definitely a skill
I will practice,” Rori said.
“I’m going
to make my parents a fancy breakfast before Gwen and I go to Europe.”

“You really ought to ask him
tonight, you know,” Jess reminded Rori about their weekend discussion
. Jessica had suggested that she ask Marcus to make
some culinary recommendations for her upcoming European adventure.

“You know, like what foods
to try in Paris, and the best pastry shop in Rome, things like that.”
Jess was trying everything she could to push these two
lovebirds together. “I’m sure he would love to give you some ideas.”

Rori reluctantly agreed to
speak to him after class
. Their planned
meeting on Friday morning made for a perfect excuse. She made Jessica promise
to stay with her while she talked to him.

“Just in
case he says something to make me mad
.
I wouldn’t want to hurt him without a witness,” Rori giggled.

“Chef
MacRae,” her roommate stopped him before he headed to
his office. “We have a special request.” Jess decided not to give Rori a chance
to change her mind.

“How can I be of service,
ladies?” Marcus had been frantically thinking of excuses to open up another
conversation with Aurora. I
t was like an
answer to prayer.

Jess launched right in,
“Rori and her sister are going to Europe and she needs some input on places,
and food, you would recommend she try.”

“My sister is graduating
with a degree in History next week,” Rori explained as the handsome man smiled,
turning his full attention to her. “It’s our dual graduation gift from our
parents and grandparents.” Stop doing that, she thought, fascinated as the
smile transformed his demeanor. It’s not fair!

“How nice,” Marcus pulled up
a stool and pulled out a notebook. “Tell me exactly where you’re going and I’ll
work on some ideas
. Will Friday morning
at breakfast
be
soon enough?”

Jessica was not aware of
their previous engagement and raised startled eyebrows.

“Yes, that would be fine,”
Rori ignored her roommate. “We’re going to London, Paris, Rome, and Florence.
The travel agent also arranged some open days for us with flexible arrangements
so we can make some detours, too. We’ll end up back in England, where we want
to take the last few days touring the countryside and,” she hesitated,
“Scotland.”

“Ah, the motherland,” Marcus
broke into a thick Scottish accent
. “I’ve
been to visit twice and a lovely land it is indeed.”

Jessica’s giggles were
infectious
. Rori was beet red, but
couldn’t help but laugh, too.

“It’s hopeless isn’t it?”
Rori asked her roommate as they walked away from the building, the cool crisp
air a welcome relief on her still blushing face. “Does he have any idea how
adorable he is?”

Adorable was not a common
word used to describe the six foot tall red headed chef, Jessica thought.

“You’ve got it bad,
sweetheart
. What happened to the
repugnant, stubborn, impatient, mean, unreasonable man you met last week? He
doesn’t seem any different to me,” Jess teased Rori.

“Be quiet,” Rori pretended
to pout
. “It’s just a silly infatuation.
Plus, I’m leaving town next Tuesday morning and will likely never see him
again.” Why did the thought depress her so much?

Wednesday morning Rori and
Jessica worked on their pr
oject. Chef was
letting them do their presentation on Thursday since Rori would be missing
Friday’s class.
They had indeed settled on Italian food and
were doing four dishes: two in the northern style and two in the more
traditional southern style.
Rori was in charge of the report and
shopping for the ingredients. She also wanted to be solely in charge of one
dish, so she chose
Savoiardi
, known to most Americans
as ladyfingers. Baking had been her favorite part of the class so far, and she
didn’t feel she could conquer the more difficult tiramisu, which used
ladyfingers soaked in espresso. Jess was doing a polenta dish, preferred by
many to pasta in the north, and they were working together on a traditional
pizza from the southern region and a fish soup, popular at Christmastime.

The report and presentation
were easy to accomplish and Jess made a detailed list of ingredients for Rori
. Volunteering to do the shopping was another way to
keep her mind off the studio, art show, and Chef Marcus. Jessica was not fooled
one bit. Shopping meant she didn’t have to be the one to meet with the chef to
go over their dishes.

“Finally
.
Desserts!”
John and
Calvin exclaimed as they rushed into Wednesday’s class, running late due to
packing up their dorm apartment. Calvin was a Residence Hall Director and John
was his roommate. Calvin was getting married later in the summer and his wife,
Sally, would be moving in.

“The place should smell much
better next year,” Calvin
had deadpanned
during one of their after class coffee trips last week.

“Okay, class,” Ma
rcus called for their attention. “Tonight is our last
night of cooking. We’re going out with everyone’s favorites – desserts.” There
were cheers and groans of delights. The lab already smelled heavenly, Chef
having begun some dishes to sample earlier in the day.

“At your stations you will
find three recipes
. Choose one to
prepare,” he continued. “For those taking this class for credit, this will
count as a test grade, so I will not be assisting you as much as I normally do.
You should all have mastered the skills required.”

He saw looks of panic from
several of the less confident students, including Aurora
. Seeking to encourage her, he added, “I promise. It
will be very, very easy. I know you all will be shocked to know, I’m not really
a mean guy.”

Why is he looking at me?
Rori thought. Am I that obvious?

The Watkins, Jess and the
boys, and even the two moms exchanged knowing looks. “Oh yes, dear,” the matron
whispered to her husband, “You’re definitely correct. They are head over heels.”

Chef made his way around the
classroom during the course of the evening
.
He stopped at Jessica and Rori’s station and swiped a finger full of their
cheese cake filling,

“Delicious,” he said licking
his lips
. “Good job. Any problems with
the spring pan?”

“No,” Jessica answered for
Rori as she watched her roommate be mesmerized at the chef’s simple gesture. I
wonder if Rori realizes she’s staring at his
lips, she thought.

As the classmates sat around
the classroom later enjoying the fruits of their labor, Marcus watched the
group of four that usually drew his attention
. John was wiping whipped cream from Rori’s nose and she was playfully
patting his cheek with her powdered sugar covered hand. His previously light
mood darkened. He wanted to do the young man bodily harm.

As class was wrapping up,
Marcus reminded the four groups that
were
presenting tomorrow night to check with him before they left. This was Jess’s
job since Rori was doing the shopping.

“I’ll see you eight here
bright and early to get your dishes started
.
One of each group needs to come see me before you leave to make sure everything
will be ready for you.” He was relieved to see Jess walking towards him and not
Aurora. Coward, he said to himself.
Luckily
for John,
Calvin was the spokesman for their group.

-------------------------

Unable to resist what had
become an addiction, Marcus opened his email program and typed:

Dear Aurora:
Are you nervous about your presentation? Do you have
everything you need? Let me know if there’s
anything
I
can do to help. ~Marcus

Aurora had just logged on to
check for a message from her parents
.
They were making final plans for the weekend and she wanted to double-check
their arrival time. Clicking on the message box, she responded out of habit.

Dear Marcus:  I
think we are good
. I’m doing the shopping
early in the morning and then meeting Jessica at nine. Class was delicious
tonight. ~Aurora.

Dear Aurora:  Well,
you and John Liu seemed
to
certainly be enjoying
it. ~Marcus

Wondering if his jealousy
was evident or if he
should change the
font color to green, he hesitated, but sent the message anyway.

Rori was slightly confused
. He sounded almost jealous, but convinced herself
that they must have just gotten a little too loud for Chef’s liking.

Marcus: 
Sorry to be disruptive…again!
John is so head over heels for Jessica it’s hilarious. I’ve threatened him on
numerous occasions. If he doesn’t ask her out by Saturday, I’m going to bop him
on the head. Apparently, he did not take my powdered sugar threats tonight
seriously, since she is still moping around here hoping for a phone call. Why
are guys so dense? ~Aurora

The relief that washed over
Marcus was
overwhelming. He wanted to
reach through the computer and kiss this young woman until she giggled for
release
.
She thinks John has it bad.
If she
only knew.

Aurora:  I apologize
on behalf of all us men-types
. I agree.
We are dense and clueless most of the time when it comes to understanding
women. You should all feel sorry for us. ~Marcus.

Oh, I do!
Aurora replied, smiling at his confession.
I have to go. My dad is calling. See you tomorrow.
~Aurora.

Goo
dnight, Aurora.
~Marcus