Jessica Conant-Park - Cook the Books

“What are you making, Chloe?” Kyle was dressed casually tonight in a pale blue fitted shirt and jeans. I realized that it was the first time that I’d seen him in anything other than a suit. I wasn’t complaining either.

“Stromboli dough,” I said. “I thought I’d get it going early since we’ve got so much to do.”

Kyle followed me into the kitchen, where I showed him the recipes we were going to make.

“These all look really good,” he said. “I’m glad you were able to get hold of your friend Digger’s recipes, too. We’ll do a nice section on him. I’m sorry again about how my father behaved the morning of the fire. He’s just very focused on getting this book done right, and he wasn’t thinking about anything else.”

“I’m happy about the food, too. This stromboli is Digger’s, so I’m sure it’ll be good.”

“So Adrianna is helping us out tonight, too?” Kyle sat down at my small kitchen table, but I immediately grabbed his hand and lifted him up.

“Yes, help will be here shortly,” I promised. “You’re in charge of washing vegetables, so roll up your sleeves.”

“Aw, really? That’s not exciting. I was hoping to be in charge of searing and roasting and sautéing!” He feigned a pout and then smiled. “If you insist.”

I opened the refrigerator and began covering the counter-top with produce. The ingredients for all of tonight’s dishes had come with such a hefty price tag that I hoped Kyle wouldn’t faint when he saw the receipt. Kyle began scrubbing celery root while I located an assortment of mixing bowls, sauté pans, knives, and cutting boards. I’d acquired a lot of decent cooking equipment over the past year, mostly because I’d been embarrassed to have Josh try to cook in my house with lousy stuff.

At least the good knives hadn’t followed him to Hawaii.

Iheard the back door open when Ade and Owen let themselves in.

“We’re here and ready to follow orders,” Ade called as her high heels clicked across the floor.

She came into the kitchen, carrying Patrick close to her body in a Snugli. No one but Adrianna could manage heels that high and a baby, too. Patrick must have been sleeping well, I thought, because she looked rested. Her thick blonde hair was flawlessly styled, and she’d made up her eyes in smoky gray eyeliner and heavy black mascara. I had a strong suspicion that I wouldn’t look nearly so glamorous if I had a three-month-old. But that was Adrianna for you: she could survive a tornado and emerge sultry and sexy. If Adrianna had flaunted her looks, I might have been filled with envy, but she remained so oblivious to how attractive she was that I couldn’t hold her spectacular beauty against her.

“Hi, Kyle. Chloe’s got you working already? Tough boss, huh?” Adrianna winked at him and laughed.

“Hey!” I protested as I set a ceramic bowl on the table. “I’m just trying to be organized about this. We’ve got a lot of work to do and not that much space, so we have to go at this with a game plan. I’ve got the timeline all worked out.” I rubbed Patrick’s feet and grinned at his sleepy face.

“Well, Patrick just ate, so he should go to sleep for a while. Owen is just setting up the Pack ’n Play in Chloe’s bedroom.”

“I didn’t realize Owen would be here, too,” Kyle said over the whoosh of the faucet. “I finally get to meet him.”

“Yes, but don’t let him cook anything,” Ade warned. “Last night we had hamburgers that were burned on the outside and still mooing on the inside.” She wrinkled her nose. “We had to finish them off in the oven, but that didn’t help the burned taste.”

Kyle moved the celery root to the side and started peeling some of the fruit for the salad. “Adrianna, do you want to start the squash?”

“Sure. Let me just set Patrick down and I’ll be right there.”

A few minutes later Owen tiptoed into the kitchen. “The little man is out like the proverbial light. And I am ready to cook!”

I raised my eyebrows at Owen. He had on one of his awful T-shirts, the one that was supposed to look like a tuxedo top, and on his head was a towering red- and-white-striped felt hat. The Cat in the Hat had come to dinner. I giggled and shook my head at Owen. “Thank God Adrianna is around to dress Patrick. If you were in charge, who knows what the poor kid might be wearing?”

“Patrick is lucky to have me as a role model. All of us need a little Dr. Seuss in our lives.” Owen bowed dramatically.

“Even in that outfit, you still look adorable.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “And yes, there is something to be said for Seussing up one’s life, but at least I got you to cut out your attempt at duplicating his style in your wedding vows!”

Owen rolled his eyes as Adrianna came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist. She looked at Kyle and explained. “We wrote our own vows, and Chloe performed our wedding ceremony. My dear husband had the audacity to write his vows to the beat of Dr. Seuss. Chloe had to practically throttle him until he agreed to go a more traditional route.”

“Hey, it would have been funny!” Owen stuck out his lower lip. “So, you must be Kyle?” He stepped toward my boss and stuck out his hand. “I’ve heard so much about you. Thanks for treating Adrianna to dinner the other night. She said she had a wonderful time. Not as good as my burgers, but a close second.”

Kyle laughed. “I’m glad. It’s nice to meet you, too.” He shook Owen’s hand politely, but I could see that he was taking in Owen’s eccentric attire.

“So, where do you want us?” Owen looked around my cramped kitchen.

“I think it might make sense to send you and Kyle into the living room. You can prep all the vegetables and fruit that we’ll need there. Just move whatever’s on the coffee table onto a chair. Here,” I said, reaching behind my toaster, “take this cutting board and the two from the table. Kyle, is everything washed?”

“Yup, just about.” Kyle handed Owen a colander filled with ingredients and then grabbed the stack of bowls I’d set out for him. “We’ll chop, slice, and dice, and be ready in no time.”

“And, here, take this.” I gave Kyle a large serving bowl that held the ingredients for the aloha salad dressing. “Ade and I will work on the stromboli filling, the pork loin, and the swordfish.”

“Hey, Chloe?” Kyle said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for doing all of this. I know you have a lot going on with school and your internship, and maybe this job is more than you bargained for. But I’m really grateful for your help.” He followed Owen to the makeshift prep station in the living room.

“Well, well.” Adrianna shot me a questioning look. Almost whispering, she asked, “What’s going on between you two?”

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I murmured. “He’s my boss.”

“Yeah, right,” she said with a laugh. “We’ll talk later.”

Adrianna was great in the kitchen. In particular, she helped me follow the recipes exactly as they were written; if we improvised, we’d be playing with the recipes rather than testing them. So far, I’d found no glaring errors in what the chefs had written, and I expected tonight’s dishes to be successful. Adrianna talked about Patrick: he was growing so quickly and doing something new every day. We could hear Owen and Kyle talking in the background, and I was pleased that the two were getting along so well. This was a fun foursome we had tonight. Maybe it would become a regular thing?

“Chloe, do you want to come taste this dressing?” Kyle called.

I joined the men and surveyed their progress. Bowls were spread out on the table, and they’d done pretty well slicing and dicing the ingredients. Then I eyed the bowl of dressing that Kyle held out. “Oh my. That’s quite a bit of dressing.”