Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 68 - Cooking with the Saucy Chef

Molly

"What the hell, Sugar-puff! You can't squeeze a tomato out like it's a bloody orange!" Danny yells when she turns away from the serving window and sees what Tanner is doing.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised too. He gouged out the stem parts of the tomatoes, used a paring knife to cut a cross into the bottom of each and then boiled them for a few minutes while he attacked some chillies and onions as if they personally scarred him. He really knows his way around a knife.

All of that made sense to me, but now he is squeezing the boiled tomatoes like... well, oranges, and their flesh is plopping out of their skins in blobs and splatters, landing in the big pot he is using to make the base sauce. I don't think I've ever seen a chef do that before, but... it's Tanner, and watching him work is making me feel tingly all over. His hands are moving fast, and he doesn't miss a beat.

Eddie joined us in the kitchen a few minutes ago and has been eagerly finding utensils for Tanner, handing him tools like a good operating room nurse. He is clearly ecstatic about having the god of gastronomy cooking up a storm in his family restaurant's kitchen.

"Why not, Pancake?" Tanner grunts, turning to the bowl of cold water containing the freshly boiled tomatoes.

"Because, Muffin... it's weird..."

"No, Fudge Cake, you're the one who's weird."

"Well, Vanilla Custard, this..."

"Vanilla Custard?" Tanner chuckles, interrupting her tirade. "Really? So many things come to mind," he grins, making Danny squeeze her lips together as if she's about to spit at him or laugh; it could go either way. The girl is extremely unpredictable.

"Look, Cupcake..."

"Seriously!" I interject. I don't care what she wants him to look at; we'll be here forever at this rate, and Tanner is fondling the tomato he'd taken from the bowl in a way that makes me feel a little breathless. I really never thought that cooking could be this sexy, but watching this guy at work is making my nerves sing. "Are you two going to open a bakery, or are we going to make some bloody chilli sauce?!"

It might've come out a little more aggressively than I meant it to.

"I really hope it's not going to be bloody," Tanner mumbles, "but I guess it might be..."

"Chill out, Merida, no need to be jealous," the broom pilot scoffs at me.

What the hell?! Merida? Again? Why?!

"I'm not jealous..." Of course, I'm not!

"Right?" Tanner smiles, nodding his approval, totally ignoring my indignation. "You see it too?" he asks Danny or tells her; I'm not sure which, and I don't think he's referring to the jealousy part of her accusation.

"Of course! It's hard to miss with that fiery passion just smoking out of her ears, and that friggin' bloody ridiculous hair of hers just screams Merida. It's all sunny and thick, with glossy curls all over the place. It's obscene! It makes me want to go shave my mousy head in shame."

What the hell is she on about now?

I only understood about a quarter of that speech, and Tanner kept on grinning and nodding his head as if he actually knew what she meant and fully agreed with her. I feel like I'm trapped on a planet where people name each other after baked goods and say weird shit about other people's hair.

"I'm not sure; are you complimenting me, or was that just a really horrible insult involving my hair?"

"Dude!" Danny snorts, shaking her head. "I'd kill for hair like yours. I'd literally kill for it." She suddenly gives me a rather scary grin, her eyes sliding to look at one of the knives Tanner has ready on the work table.