Page 1 of Sawyer
A CALL TO ACTION
Ten years ago, six twenty-year-olds decided to answer a call to work in a restaurant called Nanine’s in Paris for room and board while studying abroad.
I was one of them.
Granted, I’d been going to Nanine’s with my father since I was a little girl, so when Nanine put up the notice, I asked her if I could join. While I wasn’t planning on going into the restaurant business (design is my passion), she has always been like a mother to me, so spending time with her filled my heart.
The five other people didn’t know Nanine—or me. When we became roommates that year, I had no idea that our friendship would define our lives. Now we’re back in Paris because Nanine and the restaurant needed us, and our lives have been transformed again.
Paris is and always will be the best city in the world to follow your dreams and find love. Nearly everyone in our group is well on their way to reinventing themselves. I would call it a journey. Nanine would call it life’s feast. She’s always said that together the six of us make the perfect dinner. She refers to us fondly as her courses.
Thea, our little sister and proverbial baker, is First Course:l’apéritif.She used to take small bites of life with trepidation, but now she’s doing it with purpose. She’s about to marry a wonderful Frenchman and open her own bakery here in Paris. A new confidence thrums through her, and she’s no longer afraid to make a statement, including in her fashion choices, which makes my couture heart sing.
Dean, our dreamer, class clown, and tech guru, is Second Course:l'entrée.While Dean has always known how to whet your appetite like a delicious appetizer, he’s had the problem of wanting to do too much. But he’s honing his focus more these days. He’s going to open anavant-gardewine shop of sorts with his new fiancée, a sommelier, and is ready to join the main stage of life. Although I anticipate him finding new ways to surprise us. Leopard. Spots.
I come next as Third Course:le plat. The main part of the meal that anchors everything together. Is it any wonder that I’m type A when it comes to my loved ones? I always want to get to the big stuff, the main event. In the past, that meant I didn’t always stop and smell the roses, so to speak. I’ve undergone my own personal transformation, though, and have given my heart to my Nordic beloved, with whom I share a passion for interior design. I’m also starting a new career—one I plan to be a genius in, of course.
Sawyer, our art professor and sensitive artist, is Fourth Course:la salade.While a refined tradition here in France, most people don’t understand when a salad comes outafterthe main meal. But if you look deeply enough, you’ll understand the reason; it’s about helping to digest and integrate everything that’s come before to prepare yourself for more inspiration. Sawyer sees through to the heart of things and looks deeper than everyone else. That’s what makes him a great painter, which is the dream he’s pursuing here in Paris. One I’m cheering on from the sidelines.
Madison, Nanine’s newchef de cuisine, is Fifth Course:lefromage.A simple yet complex course that doesn’t suit everyone. That’s Madison in a nutshell. People who don’t know her might only see her tough exterior, but those in her inner circle know she’s the most devoted friend a person can have. Madison is betting that her new menu concept will win Nanine’s a Michelin star. One thing I know about Madison is that she won’t take no for an answer. She’ll keep working toward it until they give it to her.
Then there’s Kyle, the head of our hospitality group, The Paris Roommates Group, who is Sixth Course:le dessert.No one is smoother than Kyle. Maybe it’s his Southern background, but he loves to bring pleasure to others. He’d say life has come pretty easy to him, but right now? He mayseemto have the world, only he’s totally fallen head over heels for his best friend—Madison—and it’s the elephant in the room no one knows what to do with. Me included.
Make no mistake. I know he’s going to figure it out. Madison might have her trust issues—don’t we all?—but she and Kyle take things head-on usually, so I know they’ll figure things out.
It’s Sawyer I’m the most worried about right now, because he’s the opposite of bold. He took a sabbatical from his university job—and his overbearing mother—to come to Paris and help Nanine. This trip to Paris means something else for him too: he sees it as his last chance to prove he can be the artist he’s always wanted to be. One of the great Old Masters, the kind who could make a living while being lauded as one of the best artists of his time. Like Chagall or Matisse or Monet.
Unfortunately, he tried and failed ten years ago, which really messes with his head. He’s still struggling with doubt and a lack of self-confidence despite having finished a couple of brilliant paintings for Nanine’s. A legacy from his mother. I know all about sucky mothers, but Sawyer’s mom makes mine seem like Mary Poppins. Sure, mine left me in favor ofstarting a new family, but Sawyer’s mom nitpicks his every move. She’s ensured Sawyer is constantly at war with himself.
But he’s not fighting alone anymore.
What do you do when you have a battle to wage?
You create a plan for victory. There’s nothing you can’t fix with a solid plan—even a life—and I applied that not only to Nanine and myself but to Thea and Dean as well.
Next up: Operation Sawyer.
CHAPTER
ONE
Holy—
No freaking?—
You’ve got to be?—
Whole sentences were beyond Sawyer at the moment. He was readingLe Monde’s review of Nanine’s, the restaurant he, his friends, and Nanine herself had worked tirelessly to relaunch over the last several months. The review itself was exultant, and the way it had ended…
The last thing he’d expected was for his art to be recognized in the leading Paris newspaper on the arts! And the review wasn’t even supposed to be about his paintings.
Sawyer clenched hisLe Mondenewspaper, rereading the food critic’s final salvo.
Now you can come to the new Nanine’s for gallery-quality art as much as for an exquisite culinary feast for the senses.
That was him they were talking about! Dr. Sawyer Jackson, aspiring artist since gripping his first paintbrush while he was in diapers.
Mind-blown. Someone might have smacked him with one of the copper pots from the restaurant’s kitchen three floors below.
