Chef Charming by Lyn Ellerbe Page A

limb. It was much
easier to do now, not in person.
    ... I like the saying on your shirt. It reminds me of
one of my favorite quotes about cooking. It’s from Voltaire. ‘Nothing would be
more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as
well as a necessity.’ Goodnight, Aurora. ~Marcus. He turned off the program as soon as he sent the
message, not brave enough to wait for her reply.

Soufflé
Can You See?
    Sorely tempted to skip
tonight’s class, Rori attended under protest .
She was tired from her studio work, which now consisted mainly of packing up
her supplies and preparing her work for transport on Thursday to the gallery.
    The artist refused to admit
to herself that the emotional war waging between her and Marcus was also taking
a toll on her . Jessica had dropped
broader and broader hints that their battles were just romantic tension. To
combat this absurd notion, Rori added an expose on the thirteenth chapter of
first Corinthians, commonly called the Love Chapter, to her sketch of Marcus at
the back of her sketchbook. She had drawn a quick picture of him after the
first class with a countdown of the twelve days of class. She marked off a day
every morning. The title of the masterpiece was You Shall Endure .
    Below the caricature she had
scribbled, ‘You can do anything for two
weeks!’ She quickly wrote out the passage, adding commentary:
    “ Love is patient… Grumpy,
annoyed, irritated
    Love is kind… merciless, harsh
    Does not envy, does not
boast, is not
proud…. Need more
info/background – Jake & Carla?
    Does not dishonor others…not
self-seeking…. Seems to be ok here
    …. Not easily angered ?!? ... Try infuriating... on edge
    …keeps no records of
wrongs... Or has a photographic memory
of every mistake I’ve made….
    Does not delight in evil but
rejoices in truth…. trust Jake’s
opinion, I guess?
    Protects …. Ok I’ll give him that one…. (She drew a heart next to this one)
    Trusts ?... hopes ?.... expects the worst
    Always perseveres…. Or is counting down the days of torture like I am...?
    Thankfully, her sketchbook
was rarely out of her sight so there was no danger in her mischief, or her
feelings, being
discovered .
    Sitting in class waiting for
Jessica to arrive, Rori flipped open the sketchbook.
It was an addiction. She rarely was without a pencil or pen in hand, sketching
on whatever surface she could find. Her notes in all her classes and even in
sermons were covered with artwork.
    Sh e was the only one in the class. Even Marcus was
nowhere to be seen . When she saw how early she was,
she considered hanging around outside, but instead decided to brave the lion’s
den. Maybe he’ll talk to me like we do online if I’m
the only one here, she thought. Knowing that was probably a hopeless dream, and
unwilling to think too much about why it was so important to her, she pushed
the thoughts away.
    She sketch ed fruit, vegetables, and loaves of bread and within
minutes had covered a couple of pages with abstract, interesting drawings.
    “Nice work,” the deep voice
behind her startled her . She jumped and
dropped her pencil.
    “Marcus,” his name came
unbidden. “You startled me.”
    His breath caught as her
blue eyes met his, an involuntary smile on her lips. Marcus had seen her
engrossed in her sketching and realized she had not heard his approach. Drawn
to her like the cliché moth to a flame, he decided to delay the class
preparations to steal a few moments alone with Miss Aurora Sinclair.
    “Chef Marcus, in class
please, Princess,” he smiled as he handed
her the dropped pencil. His fingers brushed the palm of her hand. The effect of
his touch combined with the smile had a devastating effect on her breathing.
She seemed to have forgotten how.
    “Sorry,” Rori bowed her head
to recover her involuntary functions, such as breathing and hear t beating, and to hide the blush she was sure was
spreading across her face.
    “These are quite