Chapter 10 #2
But who was she kidding? She knew what her conditions had been, but the facts were undeniable. They were together, everyone knew, and despite the odd weirdness, they were happy. Her cooking was rock solid. Now she was wearing a shirt he’d bought her.
The sky hadn’t fallen.
While she wouldn’t say she was dancing on a cloud like Thea—because that was so not her—she was dancing to her own inner salsa beat. It was time to take another step. She grabbed his hand. He jerked in surprise, his head swinging toward her.
“This is me being brave,” she told him, putting on a tight smile.
He wove his fingers around hers, a huge grin spreading on his gorgeous face. “You don’t have to.”
“Your gesture deserved one in kind.” Someone buzzed them in, and she opened the gate. “Ready?”
“With you?” His blue eyes nailed her right in the center of her heart. “Always.”
Bringing her hand to his lips, he kissed it in a stately way that reminded her of Sawyer, which had her chuckling. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m just glad you’re the one smooching my hand and not Doc.”
“Imagine Dean making this gesture.” He caressed her cheek as she playfully shuddered. “You’re smiling now.”
“I know.” She made a face. “Weird, right? Let’s go in before we get any weirder.”
When they stepped inside the house, Brooke immediately went in for a tight hug. Madison decided to give her a pass since the holidays had just passed, and all that good cheer, peace on earth stuff was still as common as candy canes and pine trees.
“You aren’t going to say a word?” she asked with an arch of the brow when Brooke finally released her with a soft smile.
“We’re so happy for you two, we don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” her friend said with a headshake so emphatic her blond hair shook too.
Madison lifted Kyle’s hand into the air. “I am holding Kyle’s hand, Brooke. You wouldn’t call that uncomfortable?”
“I love seeing it! Come inside. Everyone is here but Dean and Jacqueline.”
“That dog!” She glanced at Kyle, who only smirked. “Like we don’t know why.”
Brooke waved a hand. “I say, good for them. Maybe Axel and I will be late next time since everyone is keen on the round robin hosting.” She gestured to the coat closet. “Would you like to hang up your coats?”
“Sure.” Madison shrugged out of hers, freezing as Kyle helped her out of it. “Ah… That’s…nice. Thank you.”
Brooke pursed her lips, shoulders shaking like she was trying not to laugh. “Ah…new relationships. If you’ll excuse me a moment.”
Madison turned to Kyle. “Was that funny?”
“A little.” He hung up her coat alongside his. “Remember. These people are our family. They want us to be happy. If and when it gets weird, remember you have more ice cream waiting for you at home.”
Her insides liquified like the ice cream always did on his beautiful abs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Once they reached the living area, everyone turned around. She figured the smiles were a good sign. Thea got up, clearly coming in for an exuberant hug. “You did your recipe! Oh, Madison, I’m so glad! You look so happy.”
She hugged Thea back. She was past her yearly quota of hugs anyway. What was one more? “What’s not to be happy about?”
Jean Luc leaned in and greeted her with the usual two kisses.
“You two were gone when the big thing happened,” Madison told them. “I nailed our first special at Nanine’s, and do you know who showed up that night? William Silver.”
Thea’s ear-piercing squeal had Madison wincing. “William Silver! Oh my God! Is he writing a review?”
“He is, and from what he told me table-side, it should really rock.”
Nanine came forward and hugged her warmly, kissing her on both cheeks, followed by Carl. “William does not mince words. Madison, I was so happy you called and left me a message about his visit. I have only met William once, years ago, when Nanine’s first developed a good following.”
Meaning Nanine’s had garnered enough praise for the famous food critic to want to sample a meal.
She wondered if his long-ago visit had coincided with the early buzz that Nanine’s might be a place worthy of a Michelin star.
Before Chef Auguste Dassault had found a way to stop the committee from awarding it.
Surely history wasn’t repeating itself.
The worry prickled at her as she asked about Nanine and Carl’s trip to Burgundy.
She listened with a half an ear as they described the special bottles of wine they’d discovered on their trip, bottles which would be added to Nanine’s new cave, but her diaphragm was tied up in knots.
God, it was going to be hard to wait for the Michelin announcement mid-March…
She needed to focus on the now. Cook. Build momentum. Celebrate wins. Do it all over again. She could not afford to worry about the past.
“Once William’s review goes public, Nanine’s is going to be in even greater demand than it already is,” Brooke noted as she grabbed a bottle of champagne from an ice-filled bin containing other bottles. “We need to celebrate.”
“Not yet.” Madison lifted a warning hand. “Most chefs are superstitious. Let’s wait until the review is out. The proof is in the pudding. Hey, Sawyer! Do you know why people say that?”
He pushed up his gold spectacles. “I believe the phrase used to be the proof of the pudding is in the eating. From the early sixteen hundreds. It was likely shortened for length. Back then, a pudding was a sausage—originating from Scotland a few centuries beforehand.”
“Aha!” She snapped her fingers. “I get it. You had to make sure you wouldn’t get sick—because of botulism.”
“Likely,” Sawyer replied with professor-like seriousness. “Although entomology can be tricky.”
“So can sausage making,” Madison quipped.
“I find it quite easy actually, once you have the right ingredients for your favorite sausage,” Phoebe joked as she sauntered forward, wearing a fabulous tight-fitting red dress Madison liked, along with red tights and red boots, the latter of which seemed like a lot to buy and then color match.
Thinking of Kyle, she sniggered. “No arguments from me there.”
“So do we fist-bump or do the Parisian kiss routine?” Phoebe asked with her hands out.
Madison extended her fist. “I appreciate someone not wanting a holiday hug.”
“I know! It’s like a hug outbreak,” Phoebe said with a laugh as she executed the greeting. “You look good. Glad the New Year started off well for you.”
The subtext was obvious as Phoebe sent a none-too-discreet look toward Kyle.
“With a bang,” Madison said, because she could fire back subtext with the best of them. “You guys?”
Sawyer finally stepped forward after half man-hugging Kyle. “We’re as happy as the happiest of larks.”
“Oh, Horatio!” Phoebe pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Not larks. Their song was the sign that told Juliet she and Romeo had to separate.”
“My rose, you’re so right.” Doc removed her hands and kissed her sweetly on the lips. “I withdraw my lark comment.”
Madison shook her head as the term lovebirds finally made sense. Man, love made people weird. Look at these two. God knew what she and Kyle looked like. “You guys really have your own love language, don’t you? But don’t all couples?”
Kyle snorted. “Speaking of which, anyone want to bet how late Dean and Jacqueline are going to be?”
Sawyer checked his watch after puffing out a laugh. “I give them another ten minutes.”
A few other people laid down their guesses. Madison decided her contribution to Kyle’s happiness today would involve kicking off the discussion on The Paris Roommates Group starting a new restaurant with her former boss and mentor.
“Hey!” she called out to the group. “Kyle needs to tell you the other exciting news that came out of William Silver’s visit to the restaurant.”
He cocked his head to the side and simply smiled at her. “Thanks for the reminder, Madison.”
“What is it?” Thea asked, bouncing in her heels.
“Chef Marcel Fournier called and asked if PRG would be interested in opening a new restaurant here in Paris. With him.”
The ear-piercing squeal from Thea said it all, and before Madison detoured to the kitchen, Brooke caught her arm and whispered, “Perfect for Kyle.”
Exactly.
Axel was quietly tending to something on the stove when she bumped his side in greeting. “What are you cooking for us today, Chef?”
He gave a pleased murmur. “I like being called that. You must tell Brooke. I made the Norwegian national dish. F?rik?l. It’s a lamb stew with cabbage and potatoes.”
“Axel also made us a special almond wreath cake in the form of a tower,” Nanine said, coming up and putting her arms around both of them for a moment before letting them drop. “You’ll have to pronounce it for me again, Axel.”
“Kransekake,” he supplied. “My cookbook said it’s actually inspired by the French pastry and cake tradition of the sixteen hundreds where people formed towers with their confections.”
“First puddings, and now kransekake,” Madison quipped, chuckling. “Clearly those were good times. Axel, it was nice of you to cook.”
“I love it, so I was happy to hear we were all going to start hosting.” He covered the dish and turned, not a stain on his apron. “The practice seems more fair.”
“I agree.” Nanine gave them one of her motherly smiles.
“It also gives others a chance to shine. Phoebe was speaking earlier about making one of her favorite Italian dishes—Stinco d'Agnello—which is also one of Jean Luc’s. Which led to him saying he was going to ask his mother for her lasagna recipe for when he and Thea host. I love the idea of sharing our favorite cuisine from around the world.”
Madison smiled as she contemplated making some of her favorite Miami dishes for everyone. “You sure you don’t mind not cooking Sunday dinner, Nanine?”