The Wedding Gift

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rose was waiting for Julie when Andrew walked in with her.

"Oh, Andrew, it's nice to see you again." Rose was clearly surprised to see the two of them together. "Have you and Julie had some time to work on revising your brother's menu?"

Andrew nodded. "We just finished conducting some research with a chef friend of mine. I hope you don't mind me stealing her away for an hour?"

What was it about him that made things go so easily? Julie wondered. In any case, she was glad when Rose smiled. She'd half expected Rose would fire her for coming back so late from the grocery store.

"No, it's no problem," Rose said. "I hope there isn't any more research to do today, however. Julie has some other clients to cook for, and they'll be arriving soon."

By way of an answer, Julie lifted her bags of groceries. "I have all the ingredients, so everything will go just great."

It felt good to be confident again and it also helped that she was actually starting to believe it. She had been inspired earlier that morning when she'd planned her menu, but after eating lunch at The Glass Square, Julie's head was fairly bursting with ideas.

Yesterday, on set with Andrew, she'd seen what she could do if she trusted her palate. Today, she was determined that Rose's new customers would have a wedding menu the likes of which the world had never seen.

"I've got to get back to the studio, anyway," he told them. "The producers love the idea of local chefs cooking alongside me so much that they now want me to do that as a regular thing."

He made no direct mention of Julie, but even so she tensed, waiting for Rose to pick up on their connection. Maybe she should have mentioned her impromptu appearance on his show, but there hadn't really been time to talk to Rose about it since then, had there?

Fortunately, Rose replied, "That sounds like fun," in a distracted way. "Sorry, I've got to run. There are so many things to get ready." She actually broke into a bit of a jog in her heels as she headed back inside.

Julie turned to Andrew. "Thank you for a really lovely lunch."

"It was my pleasure," Andrew said, and her breath actually hitched when he stared into her eyes. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Very soon."

This time Julie's breath simply stopped altogether. Finally, when Andrew had driven away and she remembered how to breathe again, she turned to go back to the kitchen and saw Rose talking with RJ.

Whatever the gardener said had her boss laughing out loud for a moment. Rose quickly recovered her composure, then hurried off to get back to work. The Rose Chalet's proprietor never seemed to slow down.

Julie got to work herself as she began writing out the menu and preparing the dishes that were taking shape in her head. The details weren't quite all there yet. It was almost as if her ideas were half-remembered tastes rather than the carefully planned recipes she normally stuck with.

It would be far safer to do something tried-and-true. Except that was what she'd tried with Andrew's brother's wedding menu, and look at how that had turned out.

Besides, today, the thought of doing things that way suddenly felt restrictive.

Instead, following her instincts, she tasted and smelled the dishes as she worked on them. Piece by piece, dish by dish, the food came together. Her first course would be squid, served with papaya segments. For the main course, traditional meats would be presented sushi style, relatively rare, and backed with delicately flavored rice wrapped in greens. The new approach was relatively simple, but one that would make a huge difference. As for the dessert, she would flambé pancakes at the table, enfolding them around a mixed berry and tart ice cream filling. This food would undoubtedly make a statement.