Take Out Chef

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter's song: Para tu amor by Juanes (I know it's in Spanish, but this song melts me...so, give it a chance 😊 )

Monica's dark eyes glinted excitedly as she buttoned up her toddler's sweater. "The knives are crisscrossing across the shoulder blades?" The little boy wouldn't stop moving but she managed without much effort. Just as she finished on the last button, he stopped scowling at his Mom and ran away.

We were at a small park close to Monica's house. She had asked me to come spend the afternoon with her after school. Andy had tagged along too. Carlitos and him were playing with a ball while we sat on the grass; Monica putting away a few toys she had to take out of the backpack to get Carlitos' sweater out.

She passed a hand across her forehead. "My mama keeps knitting all these sweaters and I feel bad if I don't use them." She huffed as she zipped the backpack. "Carlitos hates them." She shrugged as we both looked at Andy play with him.

"He's really cute." I mean that. Her son had caramel skin and big brown eyes like her. His smile was filled with happiness and it lit up anyone's else face, too. He talked in English and Spanish at the same time, a trait that I found quite endearing. He was only three, but you could tell he was a handful. Especially for such a young girl like Monica.

She shook her head. "He looks so much like his father, though," she trailed scrunching up her nose. "But let's not get sour here." She turned to me. "You have to tell me about Chef Bryan's tattoo!"

I chuckled, my cheeks blushing as I remembered about his chest and back. It had been three days since Bryan took me to get my tattoo. Three days since I hadn't stopped thinking about him. Half-naked. "It was all in black and white and it looked really good on him."

Monica laughed aloud. "That's like, the worst description ever!"

Laughing too, I stared at her little boy again. "I'm so sorry! I don't even know how to describe it! But it was really awesome!"

"I'm so jealous right now! That man is smokin' hot!" She shook her head, "such a shame that he was an idiot to you today."

Pressing my lips together, I plucked out some grass while I thought about it. He had been a complete prick. I was totally biased, though. Especially since he could be sort of sweet and open when we were alone, but an arrogant ass when we were with other people.

He was so obtuse.

I rolled my eyes while slowly blowing out a breath. "Yeah."

We had learned how to make puff pastry today. Not an easy task, let me tell you. Especially when you had a crush on your teacher and he was observing your every move. Okay, not observing, more like correcting you. And not in a nice way, it was more like scolding me all the time. Which made me more nervous and I screwed up more times than ever.

My dough was a complete mass of...something not quite edible by the end of the morning. Other teams finished product was more or less like mine. Still, mine was the grossest. My butter melted and even though I placed my dough in the freezer, it just didn't work out. And Bryan was not happy at all.

"I don't think I could be a pastry Chef, though. It's too damn complicated," I muttered annoyed, while my eyes turned to Andrew. He was being really caring and patient with Carlitos. "Does he know about his dad?" I asked changing the topic.

Monica breathed out. "He's still too young. His father is gonna be in prison for the next ten years, so I don't think he'll remember about him."

"Are you still with him?"

She shook her head, a somber expression flashing through her face. "No. Carlos and I are through." Her voice tone was serious and determined at the same time. I wanted to ask more. Ten years was a lot of time, and I figured that he must have done something really bad. But Monica didn't seem like talking about it and I didn't want be nosey.