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Dan looked up from the stove.
She snapped a picture of him before he could stop her and ran back out of the kitchen.
“I can erase that, you know,” Dan called after her.
“You don’t know my password, hotshot,” Jenna said, as she took her shopping bags up to the master bedroom. Jenna kept busy upstairs, setting out her outfit for the cocktail party, picking out her jewelry, and making sure she wore no jewelry she would mind losing if worse came to worse.
The cheesecake showed up, and she took it to the kitchen, but Dan wouldn’t let her peek at what he was preparing. She got a glimpse of chicken and saw evidence of onions, mushrooms, and garlic, so at least there was a clue.
He ushered her out of the kitchen, asking her to toss his sweats down.
She found his sweats and took those to him, but he rushed her out of the kitchen again. She then repaired chipped nail polish on her thumb, gave herself a mini-facial, and got into her most comfortable yoga pants and much-washed tee. Feeling a little wifey, which made her a bit uncomfortable, she looked at the clothes Dan brought to make sure he packed an appropriate suit and shoes. To her surprise, they were perfect. Then again, he was always full of surprises.
Chapter Nineteen
“Jenna, stop admiring your new stuff, and come down for late lunch and dinner,” Dan called from the bottom of the steps.
“Two minutes.” She smiled. When she returned to the kitchen, she stopped and watched Dan for a few seconds before he knew she was there. He had changed out of his boxer shorts and apron and into his sweats.
Dan turned, saw Jenna watching him, and smiled. “Come on, down to business. This is serious.” He ushered her to the table and then began to plate his creations.
First, it was the bread, two loaves of it, and which smelled like a bit of heaven to Jenna. “Wow, you can cook. This bread smells amazing.” She inhaled the aroma.
“And here, my love, is my masterpiece, Coq au Vin.” He brought the plates to the table. “And of course, nothing goes with it like a good burgundy, which I happen to have ready.”
“Wow, some late lunch,” Jenna said.
Dan poured the wine and took a seat, smiling. “Are you impressed?”
“Okay, let’s have it. Where did you learn to cook like this? Some lovely French woman is involved, I have no doubt.”
“A French woman, yes. A sixty-five-year-old French woman who was my landlady. She got tired of seeing me drag home takeout containers. She told me it was a sin to eat the way I did. She reminded me I was in Paris, where the people put a real value on good food and taking the time to make it and enjoy it. I am channeling her now. I think she told me this every time she caught me coming home with a takeout package of any sort. She took me under her wing and taught me to cook. She gave me something to do when I was rattling around, half out of my mind over what happened to me, my brother’s accident, and losing you. Well, she saved me in a way, did Madame Lily Bourdeaux.” Dan held up his glass. “And here is to her.”
Jenna smiled and shook her head. “Dan of many talents. Just when I think I know all about you, there is this…” She gestured toward the food. “Thank you, Mrs. Bourdeaux. And well done you, Dan. You have changed, haven’t you?”
“For the better, I hope. I’ve learned how to appreciate what I have and the people in my life who are important, no matter who they are or where they are from or how much money they have or don’t have. Now, enough about the new me. Enjoy,” Dan said, as he cut the bread. “This bread is addictive; I warn you now. I put on the ten pounds I lost during the worst of my days in recovery by eating the bread the good Mrs. Lily Bourdeaux brought me. Baking bread was the first thing I learned in the baking category.”
“What else can you make? Do you mean you can bake other things?” Jenna slathered butter on a piece of bread.
“Well, only a few kinds of bread so far and a cake she called the bachelor cake. It’s her own recipe. But it’s all very therapeutic, the baking process. You should try it, Jenna, it’s relaxing.”
Jenna shrugged, her mind reeling a bit from this new Dan sitting across from her, and took a bite of the main course. “This is fantastic. I mean, really good. You missed your calling.”
“I’m good at following recipes as it turns out. Lily left me alone for a good while after I rented the apartment, but she seemed to know when the day came when I was sick of eating out all the time or bringing home leftovers or takeout food. When Lily adopted me, she gave me something else to do and something else to think about.”
“Whatever the reason, this is fabulous, and I like this new more introspective you.” Jenna nodded.
Dan lifted the glass of wine. “Then that makes all the work worth it. Please don’t count calories, only enjoy. To you and me and to many more dinners together.”
Jenna raised her glass and drank, feeling a bit off balance. As the meal progressed, she could see them in this house, especially in this kitchen. She could see Dan cooking, his dark hair falling over his brow, clad in his boxer shorts, as if she watched it play out on a movie screen. She didn’t tell Dan what she was imagining, but she liked what she saw.
Later, they both fell asleep on the sofa watching television, and Jenna woke to Dan rubbing her arm.
“Wake up. We need to go to bed.”
“Am I not in bed?” Jenna opened her eyes and looked around. “Ah, the dinner. I’m not used to all this hearty food.”
Dan laughed. “I think the second glass of burgundy played the starring role, to be honest. Don’t blame my food.”
