Page 26 of Recipe for Romance

Chapter Thirteen

~Aiden~

The morning after the kiss that continued to play over and over in Aiden’s mind despite his best efforts had been an interesting affair. Aiden had come downstairs, tired and sexually frustrated beyond reason to find Nicole busy making breakfast on her own. The kitchen still looked like a disaster with ingredients scattered about and no apparent rhyme or reason to the order in which she cooked things, but there was a new determination about her that he had to stop and admire as he watched her sloppily attempt to poach an egg.

Her hair was tied back neatly in a braided bun, no stray hairs falling in her face to obscure her view, and her shoulders were squared in the button down shirt she wore. When his eyes moved south and took in her no-nonsense black slacks and close-toed shoes, Aiden could see that she meant business. It was the most professional looking he’d ever seen her, and hehatedit. This wasn’t the same woman he’d kissed at the brewery, the one he’d had underneath him on the couch. This Nicole was all business again, but before Aiden’s heart could despair at the loss of her, she turned and smiled at him.

There was conviction in her eyes, but the lightness, the sunshine that seemed to emanate from her very being was still there. Seeing it helped ease the ache he’d started to feel, though it didn’t help him to know how to interact with her now. They’d talked of creating a new normal, but he wasn’t sure how to go about that.

Firm boundaries were easy to him, putting people into categories or tidy little boxes was something he’d always done. Family, friends, coworkers, and employer all resided in their own designated space in his mind, but Nic was different. She wasn’t a coworker so much as a student, but helping her learn to cook felt more like helping a friend. A friend he was immensely attracted to, but a friend nonetheless. That was the box he would have to put her in and where she would have to remain for the time being.

Listening to Nic talk about her father, his mentor, the night before had stirred up so many emotions in his body. Aiden had felt anger on her behalf at the father who would ignore her wishes for so long only to push her off on someone else, he felt heartbroken that Nic felt as if she was a disappointment when it came to Eddie, but more than either of those, he’d felt ashamed. Guilt at his having acted just like her father, not only to her but to other chefs in the past as well flooded his system.

Was his idea of perfection really worth the cost of someone else’s feelings of self-worth? Aiden wasn’t so sure anymore. Before he would tell himself that what he put on the plate was all that mattered, but perhaps that wasn’t true. Maybe those articles saying that his food lacked passion weren’t as far off the mark as he’d thought. Had he been a mindless automaton, churning out food decorated with micro herbs placed with tweezers and made with nothing but perfection in mind? It didn’t take much consideration for him to see that he had acted that way, wasstillacting that way. It wouldn’t be easy, but he could be better. For Nic, and for himself, he would continue to try.

So instead of barking at her about the water not being hot enough or her stirring it too strongly as she worked on poaching the eggs, Aiden simply stepped up behind Nic and turned up the burner with no more than a gentle reminder before taking her hand and guiding it into a gentler motion as the egg cooked. After another few rounds of his instruction, she seemed more confident in her actions and Aiden left her to it while he toasted sourdough bread and sliced avocados. Swallowing his frustration at her incorrect procedure had been difficult, but when they’d sat together for breakfast, Nic seemed happier than she had been the evening prior, and it steadied his resolve to do better, tobebetter.

The mornings after that first one had gone very much the same way, but the days progressed differently. Instead of sequestering themselves and going about their own business, they worked together to try and achieve both of their goals. Aiden would meet with contractors before walking about the slowly transforming restaurant space, and Nic would be right there with him. As he inspected used kitchen appliances and considered wood stains for the floors and walls, he would quiz Nic on her knife cuts, cooking temperatures, and sauces.

As the weeks rolled past, they moved on from the basics up to harder things like curing meats, baking bread, and cooking en papillote. The first time Nicole had attempted the method of steaming food in a parchment packet, she’d somehow managed to catch the damn thing on fire. Luckily, Aiden had received enough fire safety information from his brother to put it out quickly, but the entrée had been beyond saving. Being able to start a fire in an oven was extraordinarily hard, though if anyone could manage to do it, it was Nic.

It seemed that despite the two of them putting hours and hours into her training, things still weren’t quite clicking for her and his rented kitchen had become the scene of a number of accidents and injuries. After the fire in the oven, there had been a few grease fires on the stove, a countless number of broken plates and glasses as well as numerous cuts and burns to Nic’s delicate skin. There had been so many catastrophes in his kitchen that Aiden had decided that it might be time for them to move to a more professional setting.

The kitchen at his restaurant was still under construction, so until they had that space to work in, they would have to make do with something else. Aiden had known the owner of Applewood Diner since he was old enough to speak. Mr. Harvey had been a friend of his grandfather’s and had welcomed the Kemp’s into his eatery with a friendly smile anytime they had opted to dine there. Their visits had been more frequent when Aiden was young, but as the number of his brother’s increased, the times they ate out decreased.

Still, after one phone call to the older man, Aiden had secured the ability for him and Nic to use the diner kitchen after closing. Luckily for them, that was three o’clock in the afternoon, so they had all evening to work on her skills with the promise to clean up after and always have a table reserved for the Harvey’s in his new restaurant. It was a promise easily made and as Aiden punched in the code to open the back door, he felt better about his career than he had in a long time. He may not have the support of the culinary world at large, but he had the support of his family and members of the community.

That was enough for now, and maybe if he worked really hard at it, he could see it as always being enough. Aiden knew that Nic was worthy without anyone else’s approval, but did he feel the same way about himself? Looking back, Aiden wondered if what he thought of as self-worth might not have just been a potent mix of determination, natural talent, and arrogance. He’d never felt as low as he had immediately following his departure from Zoretti’s, and if he’d really felt he was worthy without exception, shouldn’t that have rolled right off his back?

“Aiden.” Nic calling his name brought him out of his complex meandering and back to the matter before him. Instead of pondering his worth, he would focus on helping Nic realize hers. Turning to the woman next to him, he smiled softly at her and ushered her inside. She glanced back at him over her shoulder with a speculative look. “Is everything alright?”

Hiking the bags of groceries up on his hips, Aiden nodded and followed her into the space that was slightly larger than his mother’s kitchen, but far better equipped. A six-top stove, deep fryers, and large ovens lined one side of the space while countertops and sinks lined the other. A large walk-in refrigerator stood near the back next to the dishwashing area, but they wouldn’t be needing that today.

Their first lesson in this kitchen was all about hot foods and for that, Aiden brought pork tenderloin and Granny Smith apples that he and Nic had harvested from his family farm that morning. Travis wasn’t happy about Aiden poaching apples anytime he wanted, but he’d relented after he’d promised his brother to set up a proper order requisition once his restaurant opened. Apples were going to be a large focus of his fall and winter menus, and there was no better place to get them than the orchard he grew up with as a way to honor his heritage and his family.

“Alright.” Aiden looked at Nic, getting used to seeing her looking more professional but missing her bright, summery dresses all the same. “We’re going to keep it simple with some roast tenderloin with apple and onion.” He started to empty the grocery bag, peeking over at Nic to watch her roll out his knife kit, smiling at how reverently she performed the simple act.

It was a shame that her father had never even given her one of his own, something Aiden planned to do for his children when they were old enough. In fact, the more Aiden learned about how Eddie acted outside of the kitchen, the less he considered him a mentor. The man’s cooking abilities were at a level Aiden wasn’t sure he would ever reach and were easy to admire, but his skills as a father were objectively awful and nothing anyone should try to emulate. If there was ever a catalyst for Aiden to look deeper at his own behavior and realize that there was more to life than cooking the perfect meal, that was it.

Aiden wasn’t dumb enough to think that every child had parents as free with their praise and unconditional love as his own, but until he’d been confronted with the alternative, especially by someone he was starting to care for, he hadn’t really thought too much about it. Seeing Nic curl into herself when she spoke of how her father saw her had broken his heart and pissed him off at the same time.

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