Page 72 of Why Cheese?
“Is this safe?” I ask. Old carbon monoxide PSAs dance in my head.
“There are air vents all around. Don’t worry.”
“We need them for whenever Cheddy cuts the cheese,” Cam shouts and wafts a hand under his nose.
“What?” Cheddy complains. “I never get to cut the cheese. Only Roq’s allowed to do that.” His earnest response causes Cam to break out into laughter.
Crossing his arms, Roq glowers at them both. “Don’t you two have curds to mold?”
Cam sighs deeply. “Grab the sacks, Chedward.” Both of them pick up cheesecloth dangling above the trough sink. With care, they carry them toward the back while water drips off. Brie follows after, guiding the runoff toward a drain in the floor.
“What are they doing?” I ask.
“Preparing the curd for molding,” Roq says.
“Should I be watching them?”
“They’re handling a later step. I thought it would be…easiest for you to understand if we go from milk to cheese and not skip around.”
A loud slap echoes off the brick ceiling from deep in the dark. “Owe, you brigand!” Cam cries out.
“You’ll never catch me,” Cheddy adds, and he takes off from the back tables toward us laughing manically. A brief flash of white cuts through the darkness, striking Cheddy in the ass. “Damn, you caught me.”
Roq watches it all with pursed lips. “Or would you rather join their tomfoolery and not bother with cheesemaking?”
“No. I want to learn.”
He folds his hands behind his back and nods. “Good.” I swear a hint of a smile teases his lips before he turns on professor mode—if the professor’s jacked, with blue hair, and half-naked. “As I said, we are heating the milk to thirty-two degrees.”
“Heating?” I ask, confused. “Isn’t that freezing?”
“It’s in Celsius.” Roq sighs. I can see a rant building in his throat as he rubs his eyes, but he shakes it off. Pulling a thermometer as long as his arm out of a cabinet, he explains, “The milk must be prepared in order to encourage the cultures to flourish. Here. I will put you in charge of watching the thermometer.”
He places the long glass tube in my hands like it’s a royal scepter. Before I can even take it, he clasps his palms over mine and stares into my eyes. “This stage is vital. If the temperature drops or rises too high, the cheese will be inedible. Do you understand the trust I’m placing on your shoulders?”
Gulping, I nod and turn to face the vat that’s nearly as tall as I am. I strain my arm high and manage to slip the precious thermometer in. Hands bounce into my ankles and Roq places a little step stool beside me. After climbing to the top, I’m able to see the rising red line.
“Do not take your eyes off of it for a second,” he says and places his thermometer into the other vat.
Focus. If you turn away, the milk will spoil. You’ll ruin their lives. They’ll hate you forever.
“You bastard!” Cheddy shouts, followed by the sounds of goop hitting stone.
“My mother and father bore me in a proper, hate-filled marriage, thank you very much,” Cam cuts back. “Duck, Brie.”
“I’ve never had duck with brie…” Splort. “Oh.”
Even with the rising distractions of three men turned into schoolboys, I laser focus on the numbers, watching the red creep up from fifteen to thirty-two.
“Roq,” I cry out and wave a hand. Then I rub my eyes to make certain I didn’t imagine it. He lingers behind me and pinches the thermometer between his fingers. “I think this is it.”
“Indeed.” His voice rumbles over the back of my ear. I turn in surprise and nearly swipe my lips over his cheek.
Dipping my chin down, I try to shrink away when his other hand grips the lip of the vat, pinning me between him and gallons of hot milk. His jaw almost skims my ear as he stretches to test the temperature in the center of the vat.
“It’s best to check twice,” he says like this is a classroom and I’m not sweating from his thighs and hips nearly pressing into the small of my naked back. If I take one deep breath, I’ll be sitting in his lap.
Roq shakes the thermometer and the downy tufts of his chest hair brush my skin. A shivering tickle races to my feet, but he pulls away with a smile. “Perfect. Let me turn down the flames and then we add the cultures.”
