Chapter 2

TWENTY YEARS LATER

Ally steps through the back door of the restaurant kitchen where she just had the worst date ever. Luckily she knows the Chefs in the kitchen and they let her escape through it. She thanks her friend that closes the door behind her, before taking the few steps down to the sidewalk.

It is already dark outside. Ally wished she never came on this date. Never again. Blind dates are not the way to go. From now on she will insist on meeting the person in a group setting before spending one-on-one time with anyone. Thinking about the man she left at the table in the restaurant only makes her want to gag.

Ally takes out her phone and dials her roommate’s number. Megan answers on the second ring. She is the most reliable person she knows. She always answers and she is always willing to help.

“Hey Hun.” Meg’s sweet voice rings over the phone.

“Hey! Are you busy?” Ally asks Meg. Meg has a very busy social life. Something Ally tries to avoid at all costs.

“Hanging out with friends in our neighbouring town. How did your date go?” Meg goes silent for a second before continuing. “Oh, it’s still so early. It must be a bust.”

“Absolutely. He started the date by announcing that he sure hopes he is getting lucky tonight. At first, I thought he was joking but then he also mentioned that when a man takes a girl to such an expensive restaurant that he should certainly be rewarded for the good time he is giving her.” Ally waits a second to let Meg laugh it out on the other side of the phone.

“He then ordered for me, told the waiter that he didn’t like waiting for too long as he has more important things to do tonight. When he said that he looked at me hungerly and smiled. It is about here where I decided ‘oh hell no’ and excused myself. Since he is going to eat all that food alone, I am sure he will spoil himself when he gets home.” Ally tells Meg. Meg is laughing uncontrollably on the other side.

“Meg, please pick me up. I don’t want to walk home in the dark.” Ally asks in a sweet pleading voice.

“Ok, ok.” Meg says through bursts of laughs. “I am a while out. Will you be able to wait till I get there without being propositioned by any other low lives?” 

“Yes, yes. I will wait.” Ally answers instantly. There is no way she is going anywhere with that man. She will not let him take her home because then he will know where she lives. She is also sure that if she goes with him, he will tie her up and refuse to let her leave anyway.

“Ok, I will call you when I get there.” Meg says and ends the call.

Ally sucks in a deep breath and lets it out loudly. As she turns around to look at the door where she exited the restaurant her eye catches a man sitting on a little wall a few steps away. He is wearing black pants and a white Chefs jacket. He has a white chef’s bandanna, tied at the back of his head.

He drops his cigarette to the ground and stands up to step on it. Ally cannot believe that she did not see him before, being dressed in white, he practically shines against the darkened background.

Seeing Ally stare at him, he flashes her a big bright smile. Ally realises that she is staring but she cannot take her eyes off this beautiful stranger.

“You seem to have had an interesting night?” The stranger asks her. His voice is as attractive as he is. It takes a lot of Ally’s determination to force herself out of her daze.

“Oh, you heard that.” Ally says almost too softly.

“Well, yes. I could also hear how your friend laughed over the phone.” He tells her with a chuckle. Ally rolls her eyes and lets out a sigh.

“Yes, Meg is a loud one.” Ally tells him as she drops her phone into the pouch hanging off her shoulder.

“Come, wait in my kitchen until she gets here. I will not be able to sleep if I left a lady alone back here, not knowing if she got home safe.” He says over his shoulder as he takes the few steps up to the back door of the kitchen of the neighbouring restaurant. Ally gives her surroundings a quick look around. She is in a small back street where there is no traffic at all. It is probably not the safest place to wait for a friend. She quickly makes her way towards the door being held open for her. As she steps past the man holding the door open, she thanks him shyly.

She hears him closing the door behind her. She looks at her surroundings in awe. This is the most beautiful commercial kitchen she has ever seen. She takes a few steps into the kitchen, taking in the lines of stainless steel counters. The shelving with all the appliances and utensils hanging off hooks. Everything has a specific place and when Ally observes their places it makes perfectly sense to her why these things are placed exactly where they are. This kitchen is perfectly planned to be as efficient and convenient as possible.

“Here,” The man walks past her. “My personal station is over here.” He walks to a counter on the far end of the kitchen. It has better lighting than the other counters. On the counter is an open book with what looks like a recipe written in his hand writing. Next to the recipe are scribbles of notes.

On the other side of the counter, are various ingredients and utensils being used to test his recipe’s elements. Ally recognises instantly what the man is doing as she is also a Chef and everything in this kitchen screams to her. She would love to work here.

He pulls up a stool for her to sit on the other side of his counter before going around it and taking a seat at his side of the counter.

“I am testing a recipe.” He tells her. “My passion is one-bite-meals.” He tells her as he takes out a small white plate before placing it in front of himself. He then takes a tiny sauce bottle and expertly drips five drops of the dark liquid onto the plate in a neat circle. He then takes a very expensive looking fork and drags it through the drops in one swift movement, leaving the sauce to look like little comets following each other in a circle. He leaves the fork in the middle of the comet circle.

“You can put a whole meal into one bite?” Ally asks him. His eyes meets hers and there is a playfulness that pulls her in immediately. She smiles brightly at him.

“It refers more to the taste than the amount of food you receive.” He tells her. Ally stares at him shamelessly as he busies himself with what he is doing. He has dark hair that is slightly greying at the temples. She cannot see the rest of his hair that is covered by the bandanna.

He has strong features and he moves with great confidence. He is not only a beautiful face. He has nice strong shoulders and his Chef’s jacket sits perfectly on him. He looks comfortable in his own skin.

He takes out a flat sheet pan with a thinly baked biscuit on it. He slices the biscuit into a perfect square. He then takes out another element and slices it into the exact same size as the biscuit square. He does this a few times with different elements of his dish. He stacks these perfect squares on top of each other into a beautiful little colourful cube. He sweeps the cube up with one swift movement using the tip of a very sharp knife. He then places the cube on the tip of the fork in the plate he prepared before. He then places a tiny blob of sauce on top of it before placing the plate in front of Ally.

“Please” He smiles at her. The smile alone is enough to make her forget her own name. His deep soothing voice added to it could easily make her forget to breathe. She forcefully pulls herself out of her daze and looks down at the plate in front of her.

It really is just one bite, and it is served on a fork. The whole concept is intriguing to Ally. The bite looks perfectly prepared. There are different layers, the first being the dark biscuit which will provide some texture, there is a green gelatine-like layer, a creamy layer, a thin slice of salmon and a blob of sauce. It smells good too. Ally pics up the fork and places the cube in her mouth, meeting his expectant gaze as she does.