After Julie Delgado’s restaurant closes, she temporarily takes over the catering position at the Rose Chalet, a full-service San Francisco wedding venue. She plans to dazzle the bride and groom so the Chalet’s owner will keep her around, but fate has other plans for her when the bride’s brother shows up for the first food tasting
.

Andrew Kyle is not only the Cuisine Channel’s Edgy Eats host and chef, but his recent review of Julie’s restaurant was the final nail in its coffin. Once he meets Julie at the Rose Chalet, he’s certain she’s playing it safe. And he wants nothing more than to be the one to break her guarded passions loose.

But despite the undeniable sparks between Julie and Andrew–and the fact that he seems to believe in her when no one else does–can she afford to be taking risks with her cooking, with her career…or with her heart?

Chapter One

Delgado’s: 2 out of 5 stars

When I eat at a restaurant, I expect the first course–a seafood bisque, in this case–to be well prepared. I expect the chicken to be perfectly roasted, the homemade ice cream to be sweet and cold, and the service to be friendly. This newcomer to the San Francisco restaurant scene met all those expectations.

Unfortunately, simply meeting expectations isn’t enough at this level. Chains and fast food joints do that. Restaurants should offer more than bland food. A special night out should provide an overall culinary experience that shows the owner is passionate about the food she is serving.

That passion for food didn’t come across at Delgado’s. Judging by the many empty seats all around me, the other customers felt the same way.

Perhaps in future, the owner will couple her obvious skills with a more imaginative menu, but for now, Delgado’s is one to avoid.

Unmemorable.

~ Andrew Kyle,
Edgy Eats
host and SF Online reviewer

* * *

“Come on, Julie, you’re going to be late if you aren’t careful. You know I—”

“—was never late,” Julie finished. “Yes, Aunt Evie, I know, but I’m meeting new clients at the Rose Chalet today. Do I look okay?”

Julie’s aunt was in her sixties now, with iron gray hair and a slight stoop caused by too many years of bending over hot stoves; but she still looked good for her age, and still put out the same no-nonsense attitude she’d always had when Julie was a child.

Even though Julie was twenty-eight now, the older woman still didn’t hesitate to wipe off a spot of smudged makeup from her cheek. “You look lovely, sweetheart.”

“Are you sure?”

Julie checked her appearance in the mirror hanging by the door one more time, knowing everything had to be perfect for today. She usually tied her dark hair back when she was cooking, but she’d left it down, knowing she made a better impression on strangers when it was falling down around her shoulders. She’d decided on a simple combination of a navy blue sweater and dark pants for the day, because they were practical enough to cook in while still looking responsible.

Aunt Evie nodded. “Of course I’m sure. Though you could do with putting on a few pounds. Whoever heard of a thin cook?”

“This from the woman who wouldn’t dream of missing her exercise class twice a week?” Julie countered. She glanced at her reflection again and ran one hand over her hair. “Maybe if I—”

“I’m not going to stand here complimenting you when you should already be on your way to work,” Aunt Evie said. “You have had breakfast, haven’t you?”

“I’ll get something later,” Julie promised.

“Probably from one of those food trucks you seem to love so much,” her aunt harrumphed.

Julie gave her aunt a kiss on the cheek, then ran out to the car she was borrowing. Her Mustang had gone the way of her old apartment, sucked away by debts when the restaurant went under.

Julie wove through traffic, hoping she wouldn’t be stopped while she completely ignored the speed limit in an effort to be at work on time. As Aunt Evie had pointed out,
she
had never been late in all the time she’d worked up at the Rose Chalet, and since Julie now had her aunt’s old job…

Actually, she was just filling in. Rose Martin, the owner of the chalet, had been clear about that. It was just one wedding they needed help with before Rose found someone permanent to handle catering at the Rose Chalet.

Julie couldn’t afford to screw this up. Not if she wanted a chance to turn temporary work into a permanent job.

The Rose Chalet was a beautiful place to work, Julie had to admit as she stepped out of her car a few minutes later. The building had a refined, old-fashioned elegance, while the small grounds around it were expertly maintained. It was just what Julie could imagine people wanting from their wedding venue: a little slice of paradise carved out of the middle of a big city.

At present, however, the reception area was a bit chaotic. Rose was there, looking as pristine and lovely as ever, her red hair carefully arranged, her delicately patterned dress suiting her perfectly. She was standing at the bottom of a stepladder while RJ, the handyman-slash-gardener, worked to replace some damaged wooden scrollwork up near the ceiling. Given that he was both muscular and good looking, Julie could think of a few women who wouldn’t have minded holding ladders for him, or anything else he wanted held onto, but apparently, Rose didn’t agree.

“Could you hurry up, RJ?”

RJ flashed a smile back down at Rose. “I would hurry, but I know you couldn’t live with yourself if I fell off this thing and broke my neck. Just hold it steady for a few more seconds, boss.”

Julie wasn’t sure if Rose was going to start yelling or laughing at that point. No question about it: RJ was very charming. But Julie knew she’d never dare to speak to Rose like that.

“I have some very important prospective clients coming today and I need to make sure everything is ready for them.” Rose broke off then to look over to Julie. “Oh good, you’re finally here.” Rose pulled out her phone with her free hand and scrolled through her calendar. “The happy couple will be coming by this afternoon, and before that, you’ve got to produce the samples for the food along with an overall menu, while I’ve got to coordinate all the other samples, the budget, and about a dozen other things before I head out for my lunch date with Donovan.”

“I’ll be ready,” Julie promised. “Why don’t I hold the ladder, and you can take care of your preparations?”

Rose looked at RJ for a moment before nodding. “Thanks.”

Julie took her place by the stepladder while Rose bustled off. She always seemed to be in a hurry.

“So,” she said to RJ, once Rose was gone, “who’s Donovan?”

“Rose’s fiancé. He’s a plastic surgeon. Look, I only had Rose holding this ladder to get her to take a break. She’s been here working since the crack of dawn. But I know you’ve probably got more important things to do than stand around and watch me work.”

He was right; for one thing, she had a whole menu to finish off. Not that she could cook most of it until early afternoon, of course. That was one of the things with cooking: she could do all the preparation she wanted, but she still ended up trying to control about five things at once as she rushed to get it all out.

There was a time when Julie had enjoyed that feeling. No, she’d
loved
that feeling, the rush of working with ingredients she could transform with heat and spices, with unique presentation and combinations.

Now all she wanted was to make sure everything went smoothly to give her a chance of impressing Rose. Enough to turn a one-shot-deal into a permanent gig with the Rose Chalet.

“Yes, I probably should get going,” Julie said. “I would hate to disappoint Rose.”

RJ smiled down at her from atop his ladder. “Don’t worry about Rose. Her bark’s worse than her bite. She just wants everybody’s special day to be—”

“Special?” Julie broke in with her own grin.

“I was going to go with
perfect
. Good luck with the menu.”

Julie hoped, as she made her way over to the Chalet’s kitchen, that she wasn’t going to need luck.

The kitchen was a big space, well up to the task of producing food for several hundred wedding guests. It was quite a bit bigger than the kitchen at Julie’s old restaurant, but quiet in the early morning hours in a way that Delgado’s had never been. She’d loved the constant activity of her restaurant’s kitchen, a half-dozen people working together to feed hungry people.

Julie shook her head. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t think about the past. Working at the Rose Chalet was a fresh start, a pathway to getting out of Evie’s guest room and back on her own feet. Julie couldn’t afford to let herself fall back into memories of everything that had happened. Into regrets.

She forcefully turned her focus back to the wedding she was going to be catering. The menu itself was pretty straightforward. After all, when a bride and groom had relatives coming over from every part of the country, who wanted to risk something they might not like? Julie had decided on seafood and a salad for the first course. After that, there was either duck in plum sauce or pesto pasta, followed by a selection of small cakes that would take a nice second place to the wedding cake.

By lunch, Julie had most of the preparations completed. She’d made the mixture for the small-scale cakes she was using as samples and put them into the walk-in freezer to set. The duck was slow-cooking on a timer, and there wasn’t much that could go wrong with it. The vegetables and the ingredients for the sauce were ready. The pasta would wait until she was nearly ready to serve, and the combination of fish and scallops was ready to go. Now all she had to do was wait for those manic last twenty minutes, which meant that now was the best time to go get her own lunch.

Julie loved the food trucks that lined the city’s streets. Over the past few years, they’d popped up, one after the other, serving all kinds of food, from greasy to gourmet, American to international fare. She’d known exactly where all the best trucks would be parked within a twenty minute walk of Delgado’s, but although she didn’t know the area around the Rose Chalet very well, she figured if she was quick, odds were she’d find a good one.

Julie headed out just in time to see Rose leaving for her own lunch date with a blond haired guy with looks to die for, driving a sports car that practically screamed “successful surgeon”.

No wonder Rose had been so eager to make the date despite her workload, Julie thought. Lord knew Julie had been without a date of her own for long enough.

Fortunately, she didn’t have time to mull over her pathetic lack of a love life. Not when her every thought should be about impressing the socks off of Rose’s clients in a couple of hours.

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