Fierce

Chapter 10

Lincoln stood next to Tanie at Georgiana Abel's front door, both of them struck with nerves. Lincoln had been a hot mess since leaving the market, and Tanie had been bubbling away with barely contained enthusiasm all afternoon – but standing in front of Georgiana Abel's door, she was suddenly quite shy; which was incredibly amusing for Lincoln. She was always so obnoxious about everything.

He gathered himself and knocked on her door, and a moment later a bare footed Georgiana opened the door in a rush. "Hi guys. Please come in. Would you like a quick tour before we get stuck into things?"

Lincoln spoke up, "Could you please show me to the kitchen first? These really should be in the fridge."

"Of course – sure. Just follow me," Georgie closed the door behind them, and slipped pass to lead the way into the kitchen. She was dressed quite casually, but he tried not to admire the way her high-waisted jeans hugged her hips.

They rounded the corner and Lincoln was instantly smitten. The kitchen was like a dream. It had two industrial size ovens, a six stove electric cook-top, two enormous sinks, and expansive amounts of bench space for all the prep work he could imagine.

Both the girls laughed at him, and he quickly closed his mouth and straightened up. "I think you've got some drool on your chin mate," snickered Tanie.

"Georgiana, this is...perfect," he was slightly star-struck himself.

"Yes, well, obviously I don't appreciate it properly. The man who designed the apartments was a foodie, so I've been told this is a cooks kitchen...not being a cook myself I can't verify that," she said – enjoying his amazement.

"This is definitely a cooks kitchen," he whispered, dragging his hands along the marble bench.

"You'll find most of the appliances tucked away in the butlers pantry."

"A butlers pantry??" he squeaked.

"Do you mind if we just leave him to cry?" Tanie asked impatiently. "I've got too many questions for you to waste time on him fangirling."

"Won't you want a tour as well Lincoln?" Georgiana questioned.

"I'm fine here," he said absently. "Thank you...but no, leave me here." Linc couldn't drag his eyes away from the ovens.

"Feel free to get started then. Use anything in there, and just hunt around if you can't find something, or come and ask me if you need anything – we won't mind the interruption."

Tanie's face said otherwise, but he was thankful for Georgiana's generosity.

Tanie was whisked away by Georgiana for the tour and he was left alone in the kitchen. Linc didn't mind though - he wasn't entirely comfortable going through her home anyway. It seemed Georgiana was an intensely private person, something he totally understood. He wasn't invited here, not fully like Tanie was, and so he was perfectly happy in the kitchen.

He was curious though.

It was an open plan layout, so from what he could see from the kitchen the apartment looked amazing. It was airy, and spacious; full of light wood, soft tones and pops of brilliant colour. The art on the walls was abstract in a gentle way – probably modern from the little Linc knew of art - and there were floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the city. It was a magnificent space.

Not as magnificent as the kitchen though. He turned his back around with twitchy fingers, itching to get started. Linc wandered through the space warily, rolling up his sleeves as he went. He opened various cupboards, trying to make sense of the layout. Everything was exactly where he expected it to be, and soon he was comfortable enough to begin: chopping and dicing and grating and folding until he found his rhythm and the dishes were taking shape before him. The recipes were so well known, and the flavours so familiar to him, that he didn't even lament the recipes he'd forgotten. He hadn't had this much fun in ages and the time was disappearing quickly.