Chapter 10 #3
They’d been so careful to preserve her role as chef and mother to all of them, but perhaps it was like Thea had said.
That was the past. Nanine seemed happy traveling with Carl to different wineries, selecting special vintages like she had done on her coveted vacations years ago with her first husband.
“Our family is growing,” Nanine murmured with a delighted smile.
“Everyone has so much to share. I love the idea of our Sunday dinners reflecting that. Besides, we both know how wonderful it can be to have other people cook for us, especially when it’s from their heart.
Food is love, but only when it’s cooked with love. ”
“Wise words,” Axel agreed. “I believe Dean and Jacqueline have finally arrived.”
Sure enough, Madison heard Dean’s contagious laughter in the hallway as Axel excused himself. She glanced over to where Kyle was standing in the connected living room, and they held each other’s gaze with an unspoken understanding, smiling.
“Kyle looks happy,” Nanine murmured, touching her arm. “Creating a new restaurant with Chef Marcel would be good for them both. He mentioned his mother was ill when we spoke at the menu tasting before Nanine’s opened. I know he’s always wanted to come back to Paris.”
“He has, and Kyle is just the man to make that happen,” she replied easily.
“He also seems to be the man for you.” Her mentor’s intent gaze held a knowing glint. “I’m so pleased for both of you.”
Well, she had wondered if Nanine would say anything. “We agreed to try things out, and so far, it’s going well.”
Nanine laid her hands on her shoulders, her brown eyes full of her usual warmth and understanding.
“Bernard used to say love is like cooking a goose. Not that he ever cooked a goose, but he’d watched me many times on the holidays.
His reasoning was simple. Making a goose is a commitment as much as a process.
Once you buy the goose, you’ve chosen your track.
You have to find space for it in your kitchen since it’s not insignificant.
And then you must dedicate yourself to the goose itself.
You must season it and then baste it, being keen on the temperature as much as the cooking time.
” She paused, lowering her hands but keeping her eyes fixed on Madison’s.
“I know there were moments when I wasn’t sure if I had enough heat or had cooked it long enough or too much. ”
Madison held her breath, knowing Nanine was speaking of doubts.
“Except I wanted the goose to turn out so beautifully that I loved it with all my heart, from the dressing of its flesh to the rendering and roasting of its meat. Every time, Bernard would finish that first bite and say I had done it again. I’d made a beautiful goose—because I’d applied myself to the process with love.
And since love can never fail, neither could my goose. ”
Coming to Paris—before and now—she’d learned one simple truth from Nanine.
Love didn’t let you down, people did. Since no one had loved her growing up, her family of origin had naturally let her down.
But not this family—and if she continued to give these relationships the kind of care and devotion she would give a goose, she would always come out okay. No, better than okay.
Dean danced over and noisily kissed her cheek and then Nanine’s, laughing, before moving off again toward the rest of their party in the living room. Yes, the dude had clearly gotten laid.
“If I were talking to Dean,” Madison said, jerking her thumb in his direction, “I’d crack a joke. But I can’t with you. I understand what you’re telling me, Nanine.”
Love was a process, and one you dedicated yourself to, meaning you could not fail. Something shifted around her heart.
“I knew you would,” Nanine said, cupping her cheek with the kind of devotion she was talking about, the complete tenderness making Madison’s heart glow with warmth.
“However, I’ll also confess a secret. When I first started cooking goose, I would call my father up since he was a master at preparing and cooking birds.
Hence why Paul Bocuse loved his deliveries at his restaurant.
Madison, there are always people around you whom you can count on if you have a moment of doubt. Feel free to call upon me anytime.”
“Thank you, Nanine,” she said, giving in to the urge to hug her.
Only Nanine didn’t let her go. She patted Madison’s back, smelling of Chanel No. 5 like she always did outside the kitchen. Madison hadn’t known a female chef could wear perfume until she’d met Nanine.
Then again, Nanine had taught her plenty about what it meant to be a chef and a woman, and she knew she still had more to learn. Thea’s recipe for Operation Madison came to mind. After today, she had a few new additions.
Recipe for: Madison’s Delicious Partnership Spicy New Reality
Date: January 1
Prep time: When you’re ready Every Day
Ingredients: Trust, Belief, Friendship, Experimentation, Humor, Dating, Joy, Work-home boundaries, Michelin star, The Romance Shrine, Laughter, Heart-pounding sex, Ice Cream, Breakfast, 12:01 a.m.
Hard-to-find ingredients: see Belief above, Faith in the man you love Kyle and yourself, Bravery (buying shirts and holding hands in public)
Notes: You can do it! You already love Kyle, and that’s the biggest part.
Let your friends help you. Let love enhance your creativity and help you cook better.
Let it make you believe even bigger things are possible, in life and food.
Put yourself out there more. Let the walls down. Maybe ask Brooke for a podcast.
Instructions: Cook like a rock star. Build in redundancies. Have a backup plan. Say the whole I love you thing. Sleep in Kyle’s bed. Love someone like you’re cooking a goose.
That last part was pure gold in the advice department. Kyle. Goose. Got it.
No wonder things were going so well for Operation Madison, as her friends liked to call it. Instructions mattered in cooking—as did timing, precision, ingredients, and skill. Those were the hallmark of success.
Now all she had to do was keep doing it every day.
Only she couldn’t stop thinking about Operation Kyle.
Good thing she was his best friend.