Chef Charming (9 page)

Thursday’s gloomy rain
-swept morning matched Rori’s mood. The call from her
dad had brought bittersweet news. Gwen had received a prestigious job offer to
teach at a new school in their district. She was thrilled, but it meant
cancelling their European trip. There was no one to take Gwen’s place on such
short notice.

Thankfully
, they had purchased trip insurance from the travel
agent so the majority of the money
would be refunded
.
Her dad had encouraged her to wait at least a week before officially cancelling
her trip. They would try to find someone else to go with her, and besides they
had until forty-eight hours before the first flight to cancel.

Shopping for the ingredients
was a breeze since Jess had provided a detailed list
. Even the sights and smells of the market did not cheer
Rori.

Marcus
was so attuned
to her by now
that he immediately knew something was wrong when she walked through the door.
He pulled Jessica aside.

“
Is everything okay?” he asked. At this point, he did
not care if Miss Johnston thought his inquiry was unusual. He did not know that
she knew about his and Rori’s late night conversations.

“Yes, it will be fine,”
Jessica
said, only partially
surprised at his concern. “Rori just got a bit of bad news last night.”

“Nothing serious, I hope,”
Marcus continued
. “Mom and Dad are okay,
right?”

“Yes, just a bit of a
disappointment, nothing earth-shattering.” Jess said, trying
not to smile at his barely disguised interest.

“Okay.
” Marcus moved away, not completely reassured by
Jessica’s words. He was extremely curious about what was troubling Aurora, but
resisted the urge to push the issue further. “I’ll be in my office if there’s
anything anyone needs. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle any emergencies, Miss
Johnston.”

The groups worked on the
dishes steadily and the aromas filled the classroom
. Rori was very quiet. The two weeks were taking their
toll. Her art display was almost complete. She had stopped by the studio on her
way back from the grocery store to check on her last oil painting. It needed to
be dry so she could move it and her last two large pieces to the gallery in the
morning.
After breakfast with Marcus and Jake.

“Oh, I forgot about
breakfast,” Rori groaned
. Jess looked at
her in concern. She just shook her head quickly, adding, “It’s nothing, I’m
okay.” The roommate wisely let the matter drop.

The presentations that
evening went well.
Even she and Jess did
well, despite her distraction and disappointment. Rori had heard again from her
father and he reiterated his suggestion that she not panic.

H
e reminded her in his calm, professor voice, “God is
in control, even of silly young girls who panic over silly European trips and
silly logistical problems.” Her dad cracked her up sometimes with his lame
attempts at humor. Still it had served her well. She admitted that in light of
world events, and the universe, not being able to go to Europe in four weeks
was a minor deal. Not that she was any happier about it, but she was in a
calmer state tonight.

“Marvelous, class,” Marcus
saluted the four groups at the end of the evening. “We have had a
wonderful world tour. Our trip tonight took us to
lovely Italy,” nodding to Jessica and Rori, “through Asia and the Pacific
islands, “indicating the two young moms who had chosen Chinese food, and John
and Calvin’s Hawaiian fare, “and my personal favorite, hearty food from the
United Kingdom. Thank you all. I look forward to tomorrow night.”
Several people in class that had noted Chef’s use of the word
‘lovely’ in reference to Jessica and Rori’s presentation.

As they cleaned up and
shuffled out of the room, he reminded them to pick up the study guide for their
final exam, which would be on Saturday morning. “I promise it’ll be the easiest
exam you’ll ever have.”

“See you in the morning,
Princess?” Marcus asked her as she picked up the two-page handout.

“Yes, Chef,” Rori answered.
She was so exhausted that she didn’t see his desolate
look
as she seemed to brush off his inquiry. “Goodnight.”

-------------------------

He decided that it was now
or never. Jake was hounding him ruthlessly over taking a step forward before it
was too late.

“
She’s moving home on Tuesday, remember?” His friend
kept reminding him.

Dear Princess
Aurora:  I hope everything is okay
.
You seemed sad tonight. I will be praying for you. I look forward to breakfast
tomorrow.
Yours, Marcus.

He backspaced and changed
‘Yours’ to ‘Sincerely’ and back again before hitting send, doubtful she would
even notice.

Rori fell into bed in an
exhausted sleep immediately after class, without checking her email.

A good night’s sleep having
gone a long way to restoring her optimism,
Rori
was already enjoying her second cup of coffee as Jake and Marcus joined her at
the corner table she had chosen. They had laden their trays with an array of hearty
breakfast foods.

“How can you eat that much
in the morning?” she asked them, laughing as they
jostled each other for table space. She held her
sketchbook over her head in mock protection. “Watch out you two, or you’ll ruin
my masterpieces.”

Finally clearing space by
combining some of their side dishes onto a bigger plate, and stacking the extra
empties on a neighboring table, they settled in.

“Are you not eating
anything?” Marcus asked. “Didn’t you learn your lesson earlier this week?”

Jake raised an eyebrow
in response to his friend’s pointed attention to
Rori’s eating habits, and smiled to himself. This was so much fun, he thought.
About time, Mr.
McLoner
got his comeuppance
.

“I’ll go get some toast in a
minute
. Here are the sketches that you
saw earlier, Marcus,” Rori blushed slightly at using his name in front of his
friend. She had long ceased referring to him by anything else in her mind.

As the two chefs tackled
their feasts, she pointed out her favorites from the forty or fifty quick
sketches she had done
. They argued back
and forth good-naturedly about their preferences, each insisting they had the
better artistic eye.

“Art is a personal thing,
gentlemen,” Rori inserted into their mock disagreement
. “Besides, we aren't talking about the Sistine Chapel
here. It’s just a student cookbook, right?”

“Speaking of the Sistine
Chapel,” Marcus reached for a folder in his backpack
. “Here are my suggestions for your trip.” He watched
as her face fell. “What’s wrong?”

“My sister
was unexpectedly offered a job and won’t be able to
go. Looks like I’m going to have to postpone my adventure.” The disappointed
lady explained, “Jess doesn’t have an up-to-date passport, and my mom can’t
take off that much time from work.”

“Well, maybe you
can find someone else to go with you,” Jake said,
nudging his best friend with his foot under the table. He received a shark kick
in response. “Ouch!” he cried. “I mean, that’s a bummer!”

“I’m going to go refill my
coffee,” Rori
said as she rose from the
table. “I could bring you both something to round out your meager meal,” she
offered dryly, eyeing their numerous empty plates. Before walking away, she
turned back to Marcus. “And yes, Lord Marcus, I will get something to eat.”

“
Lord Marcus?” Jake asked after Rori made her way to the
now long food line.

“Inside joke,” Marcus
mumbled, now thumbing through Rori’s spiral bound
sketchbook.

“Do you think you should be
doing that without permission?” Jake asked, noticing that the food pictures
were just a small portion of the work in the book.

Suddenly, Marcus froze. As
he reached the end of the book, the image of his face on the last page seemed
to mock him. It was an absurd caricature, complete with devil’s horns and a
lopsided halo.

“Marcus,
I don’t think this is a good idea,” his friend’s voice
held a warning. “That is obviously not something she intended for you to see.”

Marcus was beyond reason as
he noticed
a set of twelve boxes,
entitled “Countdown to the End of My Misery” representing each of the ten
classes. All but Friday and Saturday’s boxes
were checked off
.
The words ‘
You
can do this’ were written and
underlined in the margin.

Below the timeline was the
beautiful passage of scripture from
Corinthians.
Beside each line, the Princess had added commentary, pointedly directed at him
and his character.

“Wow,” he said
as he read the first few lines. “I had no idea she
hated me so much. She should have majored in theater where her tremendous
acting skills would be put to better use.”

He was furious
. He grabbed a pen and checked off Friday and
Saturday’s boxes.

“
And to think I thought I was falling in love with this
woman.” His words conveyed his fury and despair.
“Princess?
More like Prima Dona.”

“Wait, Marcus,” Jake tried
to calm down his friend. “Don’t do anything foolish. Give her a chance to
explain.”

As she returned to the
table, Rori knew something was very wrong. Marcus had risen and was angrily
stuffing the list for her trip into his backpack and zipping with furious
motions. She glanced at the table and saw her sketchbook open to the picture of
Marcus.

“
Oh no!”
Her words were barely audible as her
knees buckled and she slumped into the chair Jake had pulled back out for her.
Marcus stood fuming, his green eyes boring accusingly at hers, which were
filling with tears.

“You weren’t supposed to see
that.”

“Too late,” Marcus stated.
Too late for everything, he said to himself
,
bitter and disheartened.
“You
will notice that I have released you from the onerous duty of coming to class
tomorrow morning,” pointing to the check marks he had added. “I will adjust
your grade accordingly. You are officially exempt from the final exam. Good
day, Miss Sinclair.”

Jake stood and attempted to
stop his friend
.

“
Don’t be a fool
, Marcus,” he
repeated his plea. “Let her explain.”

“I’m done being a fool,
Jake,” Marcus spat out
. “Thanks for your
concern.”

As he stormed off, Rori
wiped quiet tears
. She did not want to
admit to herself that the tears were from anything more than exhaustion.

“I’m sorry, Rori,” Jake
tried to comfort her. “He’s a bit of an idiot sometime
. I think he will come around. You just seem to push
all his buttons.” In more ways than you can imagine, Jake thought.

“I know he hates me,” Rori
said quietly, “but I thought we had begun a sort of friendship
. The last few days were so much better. I was even
going to invite him the art show.” She refused to add the real motive behind
her proposed invitation.

“Hate is definitely not what
he feels for you,” Jake muttered mysteriously
. “Don’t give up hope, okay?”

“Well, it’s not my first
experience with rejection,” she said dejectedly. “I guess I was foolish to
think this time would be any different.”

Jake was slightly confused,
but knew this was his opportunity to get to the truth from at least one of the
two involved in this fiasco.

“What do you mean? Why do
you think his reaction was rejection?”

She shrugged and ate her
toast. It tasted like cardboard, but she didn’t want to give Chef Charming any
more fuel for his fire. The last thing she needed was to faint at the preview
tonight and have word get back to him. She knew he would immediately assume she
had purposely not eaten to spite him.

“It doesn’t really matter
now.” Rori started to slip the offending sketchbook into her shoulder bag.

“Wait,” Jake stopped her.
“Can I see the picture again?”

“You can have it for all I
care,” she said morosely, tearing it out of her sketchbook and handing it to
him. “I don’t care to ever see it again.” Jake set the picture aside and gave h
er a quick hug before she left.

“I’m prayin
g for you two, also,” he added.

“Thanks,” Rori said, adding
with a half-hearted
grin, “I think.” Jake
laughed.

“
I’ll be okay, I promise, Jake. I’m just exhausted. If
I can get through tonight, tomorrow night should be fun and then I get to
graduate and get out of here!” Somehow, her unenthusiastic tone did not make
her words believable.

After she left, Jake sat in
stunned silence as he read her words at the bottom of the sketchbook page.

‘I am finally truly in
love and yet ‘Happily Ever After’
seems
just as far
away as ever.

Jake realized that Marcus,
in his typical hotheaded fashion, had not read past t
he first few lines on the page.

“I can’t wait to tell Carla
that she was right!”

Across campus, Rori
collapsed on her bed in dejected despair. Jessica sat on the floor, begging her
roommate to tell her what happened.

“I can’t fix this unless you
tell me what he said,” Jess pleaded.

“This can’t be fixed,” Rori
muttered. “The page made my feelings perfectly clear and he just stormed out.
Obviously, he has no interest in me at all. What you think you saw was
completely wrong.”

“Where is the sketch?”
Jessica asked.
She had seen the
masterpiece, and knew that it
had been done
in
frustration. She also knew that Rori’s last addition to it probably revealed
more of her true feelings. Jess suspected Marcus had not read the whole page.

“I gave it to Jake.
Hopefully he will burn it,” Rori said. “Please, can we just drop this? I want
to forget about the
whole
torrid mess. I wish I had never taken the class and never met Chef Marcus
MacRae.”

“You know that’s the
farthest thing from the truth,” Jessica said as she prepared to go to work.
“But I’ll let you wallow in your sorrow. I have to go
to work. Try to get some rest.”

Minutes later, Jessica sat
across from Jake in his office. She in fact did not have to be
at work for a couple of hours.

“What are we going to do
about this?” she asked Chef MacRae’s best friend. “I am so angry with Chef
Charming I can hardly see straight.”

“Chef
Charming?”
Jake laughed. “Is that what she calls him? That’s priceless.”

“Well, he teased her the
first night over her name, calling her Princess Aurora,” Jess answered Jake’s
questioning look
. “You know, Sleeping
Beauty.”

“That’s hilarious! I may
have to use that one some time,” Jake laughed. Turning the conversation back to
their dilemma, Jake continued. “And as far as being furious with Marcus, join
the club!”

“If he had taken the time to
look at the whole page, her feelings would have become quite clear,” Jess
explained. “The whole reason she did the sketch in the first place was because
she was battling her attraction for him from day one.”

“I’m sure he didn’t read
more than the first couple of lines, if anything,” Jake said. “I think he was
mainly reacting to the picture and her countdown to the end of the class,
treating it like a prison sentence she was enduring.”

“Unfortunately, she thinks
he read the whole thing and knows that she has feelings for him,” Jess
explained. “She thinks he’s rejecting her.”

“This is just getting
worse and worse,” Jake said. “I will tell you this,
though. He’s going to be devastated when he finds out how he blew it.”

“Good,” Jessica said. “Maybe
that will get him to act before it’s too late. Before this morning, I would
have bet my last dollar that she was irrevocably and totally in love with him,
but now she is so sure he wants nothing to do with her that it will take some
major convincing skills to get her to accept the truth.”

“He does love her, doesn’t
he?” Jessica thought she knew the answer, but asked anyway.

“Oh, yes,” Jake said.
“Definitely.
But now, with
this misinformation, I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s hopeless.”

They sat in silence, contemplating
their next move.

“They’re completely
clueless, aren’t they?” Jake laughed.

“Yes,
” Jess agreed. “How do we convince Chef Charming to
woo Princess Aurora?”

“Well, for sure I’m going to
drag him,
kicking, and screaming if
needed, to the art show. I think he’ll admit that he owes her that much.”

“She was actually hoping to
have him meet her parents,” Jess spilled Rori’s secret. “I think I had finally
gotten her to admit her feelings and at least give the guy a chance
. I hope it’s not too late.”

“Well, I
will get Carla and her Bible study group praying,”
Jake grinned. “Who better to call to arms than a group of young romantic
newlywed ladies? They’re all natural matchmakers. Not that I would mind having
my best friend in the same state of happy captivity that I so nobly endure.”

Jessica headed to work,
calling Rori’s mom before her shift started.
She arranged to meet with her roommate's parents alone before the art
show. She knew they needed to know about the unfolding romance.