Chapter 4

Ally walks into the kitchen of the restaurant where she is head Chef. She looks at her surroundings and cannot help but think about the kitchen she was in last night. Meg comes into the kitchen just behind her, putting on her apron as she walks. This kitchen is nice. That kitchen is extravagant. She would love to work in that kitchen, but then Eric would probably be her boss and she would not be able to concentrate on her work at all.

“That was one damn fine man you were with last night.” Meg tells Ally as they reach their normal work stations. Ally’s work station is almost set apart like Eric’s is. It is just does not have special lighting and it isn’t as big is his. Meg falls into her routine and busies herself with preparations for the night service.

“That is almost an understatement. I cannot remember ever meeting a man that can wreak havoc on all my senses in seconds.” Ally tells Meg.

The whole day, while Ally works, she cannot keep her mind off Eric. Everything about him attracts her. He must really be the perfect man. But there are no perfect men, so what could possibly be wrong with Eric.

When she gets a quiet moment she pulls her laptop closer and types the restaurant name where she met him into the search engine. She opens the website and there, in all his glory, a picture of Eric pops up. He is the head Chef of the most prestigious restaurant in the city. He is her direct competition. She cannot help but stare at his picture. While reading his bio she sees where he studied and what he specialises in. He is in his forties. It doesn’t mention any life partners or girlfriends of wives. He is married to his work.

She closes her laptop as she hears the first bell of the evening service orders ringing. It’s going to get really busy really fast now. She starts counting, fifteen seconds after the first bell the second bell rings. It’s going to be hell tonight. She gets up and goes to the main kitchen area, pleased to see that the rest of the kitchen staff is already on it.

In the first hours of the morning, they finally clean the last bit of the kitchen. It is ready for the next day. Ally rolls up her apron and tosses it in the washing basket by the door. The cleaners will come in, in a few hours and wash their aprons and the table linins in the restaurant area.

As Ally exits the kitchen, she takes out her phone. There is a message from a number she does not know.

ALLY

HOW LATE DO YOU GET OFF WORK?

ERIC

Ally looks at the short message and reads it again and again. A few questions pop into her head. How did he get her number? How does he know she works late hours? Does he know more about her than she thinks he does?

HI ERIC

LEAVING WORK NOW.

ALLY

She looks at the text she just sent. The words feel stupid now. She is barely done with her inner rant when her phone pings again.

WAITING FOR YOU

Ally reads the message and smiles.

5 MINUTES

She replies and gets into her car. She drives the few blocks to where Eric’s restaurant is situated. She parks in the small back street and gets out of her car. As she is walking towards the back door of his kitchen, she hears a shuffle behind a dumpster. She stands still and looks towards the dark space where she heard the sound.

An elderly man shuffles out of the dark shadows. Ally’s heart immediately feels sorry for the old man. She carries no cash with her and she wished now she had something to give him. He shuffles closer and Ally can see the expression on his face in the dim light. He looks angry.

Ally becomes uncomfortable and takes a step back from him. This seems to aggravate him even more and he quickly launches forward and grabs her handbag. Ally shrieks in shock. At that moment the back door of Eric’s kitchen swings open and he comes out running. The old man sees Eric coming at him and grabs hold of Ally. He tears her summer dress leaving her one shoulder open. Ally feels mortified and terrified at the same time. Eric comes to an abrupt stop right in front of them.

He is suddenly calm and stares at the old man. He holds his hand out with his palm facing upwards.

“Give her to me. Are you hungry?” Eric’s voice is soothing and demanding at the same time. The old man lets go of Ally and pushes her towards Eric. Eric folds his arm around Ally’s waist and pulls her tightly against him. He reaches his hand out to the old man again.

“May I have her handbag also?” Ally is amazed at the authority Eric’s tone holds.

The old man suddenly looks sad and hands the bag over. He turns as if he wants to make a run for it. Eric gives Ally the bag without letting go of her.

“Wait. Are you hungry?” Eric asks as he takes a few notes out of his pocket. He holds the notes between two of his fingers towards the old man. The old man grabs the notes and mutters his thanks.

“I am not hungry.” He says and walks away.

Eric pulls Ally into the kitchen and then let go of her. He holds her by her shoulders and gives her a once over. She has no scratches and there is no marks on her body. Her dress is torn and she looks bewildered. Eric heaves a heavy sigh and pulls her by her hand into a small office at the far side of the kitchen. He gives her one of his chef’s jackets and tells her to take off her torn dress. He leaves the office and pulls the door closed behind him to give her some privacy.

Ally is shaking while she takes her dress off to put on Eric’s Chef jacket. She does feel cleaner though. She exits the office to find Eric standing behind his counter. He has dimmed the lights and the counter is set with two domes covering two plates. Eric pours a glass of wine and holds it out to Ally. She takes it thankfully. He pours himself a glass and holds it mid air towards her.

“To great timing.” He toasts. Ally cannot help but notice the tremor in his voice. He is definitely unsettled. There is also a slight shiver in his hand. Ally pretends not to notice as her hand is fully shaking as she mimics his gesture.

They take sips of their wine and Eric nods towards her stool on the other side of his counter. Ally takes a deep breath to calm her nerves and lets it out slowly as she walks around the counter to take her seat.

“Thank you for joining me tonight.” Eric gives her a worried look. “I regret now not coming to you.” Ally smiles at Eric, trying to convince him that she is not rattled.

“Are you kidding me. I live for this kind of excitement. I don’t even know why people call rock climbing an adventure sport when you can just park your car in the city for the same kind of adrenaline rush.” Ally takes another sip of her wine.

“Ok, ok. Now we know how incredibly brave you are.” Eric jokes back.

“So, last night you asked how many of these one-bite-dishes I have created. I have decided to let you experience each of them.” Eric lifts the domes off the dishes. Ally looks at the plate in awe. Every cube is beautifully made. “Each of these are inspired by something in my life. Either something that happened or someone I know.”

There are five cubes in the plate in front of Ally. The last cube she recognises as Ally’s Lips. She points towards it. “This one has my name.” She smiles sweetly.

“That is because you inspired it.” He smiles at her. “Fun fact, that is also the only one that is inspired by a person. The others are all inspired by countries or events.”

The rest of the night Eric and Ally talk about their love of food, how Eric incorporated his love for other countries into some of the cubes. Ally tells Eric more about her place of work and they joke about being each other competition. Eric tells Ally that he actually has great respect for her work as he has also tried one of her dishes while being at a business meeting at the restaurant where she works.

When Eric pours the last bit of the second bottle of wine into Ally’s glass, they start laughing at the fact that they have gone through two bottles. They talked for hours and they still have so much they want to tell each other.

The door between the restaurant and the kitchen opens and the first cleaners come into the kitchen. Ally looks at Eric with shock. Could it possibly be this late already? She looks at her watch and then quickly at the window next to the door that leads out to the sidewalk. The night sky has turned a feint light blue. The sun is starting to show itself already.

Ally looks back at Eric with wide eyes.

“We spent the whole night together!” Ally tells Eric in a mock shocked tone.

The double play on words does not go by Eric without being noticed. He smiles wickedly and looks at the jacket she is wearing. The head cleaner walks past Ally and gives her a disapproving look. Ally sees the look and frowns before looking down towards the jacket she is wearing.

She closes her eyes in absolute embarrassment as she feels how deeply she is blushing. She is wearing Eric’s Chef jacket. She cannot even start to imagine what the cleaner must be thinking right now, but she is damn sure every surface of this kitchen will be disinfected today.