Chef Charming (11 page)

Half an hour later, the pair
met up with Rori’s parents, and the two chefs, at the refreshment table
. Marcus handed her a cup of punch and plate full of
snacks.

“Eat
.”
His voice brooking no argument.
She made a face at him behind his back, not knowing that he could see her
reflection in the large mirror behind the refreshment table.

Jess, John and Calvin had
joined them just in time to see Marcus catch Rori’s nonverbal comeback and saw
his secret grin. Marcus shook the young men’s hands and gave Jessica a quick
hug.

“Thank you,” Marcus said to
Jessica, his comments including John and Calvin, too.

“For what,
Chef?”
Jessica asked,
fairly certain
he was talking about her conversation with
Jake, having confirmed Rori’s feelings.

“Clearing things up for me,”
Marcus said. “I have a favor to ask, though.” He continued as she nodded over
her cup of punch, “Could you distract Aurora for a few minutes
? I need to place a bid on one of her paintings and I
don’t want her to know.”

“Aurora’s
Castle?”

“Yes,” Marcus smiled, “Am I
that obvious?”

“Yes!
” The trio answered in unison.

Marcus’s laughter spoke
volumes about the relief that was
growing
with each passing hour.

Jake, Carla, and Marcus left
shortly after
. Rori’s parents left a few
minutes later, offering John, Calvin, and Jessica a ride. Rori would have to
stay to give last minute instructions about packaging for the storage company
that
had been hired
for the event. She had no idea how
many, if any of her pieces had sold.

Professor Smith waved her
over to t
he auction and cashier’s table.

“You did well, tonight,” he
said
. “Looks like only two of your ten pieces
will be going with you on Tuesday. Unless, of course, you’d like to donate them
to the art department,” he hinted broadly.

“We’ll see,” she laughed
. “I’m too tired right now to make a logical decision.
“ I’ve got to get home or I will sleep through graduation.” When she got back
to the empty apartment, she knew that Jess and John were still out on their
date.

She was
emotionally drained and
totally
confused. Marcus had behaved tonight as if nothing had happened at breakfast
yesterday. She was too tired to do anything but crawl into bed, so she still
hadn’t read his email apologizing for his childish behavior.

The Masters degree and May
undergraduate ceremony
was
scheduled
for ten in the morning. She hated missing church, but it was a
long-standing tradition at the secular school. Knowing she had to face
Marcus
one more time made for more butterflies than expected
in the morning.

She donned her white dress
and
three inch heels. Her vertically
challenged roommate cried foul when she had purchased them for the event.

“That’s just cruel!” Jess
had protested, “You
do not need any more
height!”

“But they are the most
comfortable ones I’ve found.” She was glad for the extra inches now so she
could look Chef High-and-Mighty
Charming
right in the eyes.
Not that I’m going to be able to gather
enough courage to do that, but if I do, I’ll be prepared!

As the strains of Pomp and
Circumstance echoed in the small auditorium, Rori’s eyes searched for a tall
figure among the line of professors
.
There were almost as many instructors present as there were graduates.

She saw him, towering above
the petite Spanish teacher next to him
.
Jake was on his other side. This being the smallest graduation of the school
year, the instructors traditionally lined their exit path and greeted each of
their students. Rori was not looking forward to walking that gauntlet after the
ceremony.

Th
ankfully, the speaker was funny and quite
inspirational. And succinct, she was sure her father would add. The professor
had endured more boring graduation speakers than he could count. As the
graduates filed into the center aisle, their instructors now lining the right
side, the realization that this may be the last time she would see Marcus
MacRae suddenly dawned on Rori. Fighting tears, she walked past the first few
instructors, not having had them for any class. She smiled at one or two she
recognized from church or as parents of her school students. The art instructors
all greeted her warmly, Professor Smith giving her a big bear hug.

“I’m very proud of you and
wish you the best, Aurora,” he said sincerely.

“Thank you, Dr. Smith,” Rori
didn’t trust herself to say more. She would miss this school and these people
very much.

Facing Marcus was her last
obstacle
. She was hoping to pass right by
him, since technically the class had been an elective, only showing up as a
footnote on her transcript. Maybe he wouldn’t notice her.
No
such luck.
His hand shot out and stopped her in mid-stride.

“Miss Sinclair?”
His eyebrow arched in question. “Did you forget me so
quickly?”

“No, Chef
MacRae,” Rori’s stomach flipped. He would laugh to
know, or maybe be mad instead, that she had skipped breakfast.

“Congratulations, Princess,”
he said quietly as he placed a chaste kiss on her cheek and passed her onto to
Jake
. In the stands, Professor Sinclair
was watching intensely.

“Way to go, son,” he said
quietly.

Jake saw the interchange and
the shocked look on Rori’s face. He gave her a big hug, hoping to steady her.

“Congrats, brat,” he added
to snap her back to reality. “We’ll see you tomorrow, won’t we?
” The church had planned a Memorial Day picnic and she
had tentative plans to attend, if her packing
was mostly done
by then. Her parents were leaving early in the morning.

“Hope so,” she answered
noncommittally as she moved
out onto the
front lawn to wait for her parents.

A
s the families and faculty exited the arena, there was
no sign of Marcus. Her parents and Jess’s family took everyone out to a fancy
dinner at the local country club. They all attributed Rori’s quietness to the
fatigue of the last few days.

The rest of the day was
spent packing up Rori’s things
in the
small rental trailer she had rented to accommodate all her art supplies. They
said their goodbyes early Monday morning with her dad giving her an enigmatic
statement of encouragement.

“Don’t be afraid of the
future, Princess
. And don’t forget that
our God is an awesomely powerful God who often works in mysterious ways,” he
said seriously. “Don’t be afraid to follow your heart.”

-------------------------

Rori checked her email
quickly before returning to the little bit of packing she had left. A message
from her sister reminded her again of the missed opportunity of her Europe trip.
Gwen was preparing for her own graduation and making plans for her new job. The
school was an unusual hybrid of a charter school and parochial system, and
there were some mandatory training sessions for all new teachers.

Then she saw the famil
iar name. Still confused over his graduation kiss she
wondered
what on earth
he could possibly want.

Dear
Miss Sinclair: Could you please stop by my office
sometime this morning. I have some handouts from the last class to give you and
some papers I need you to sign. Any time before 11 am, so I can make it to the
church picnic. Thank you. ~Chef MacRae.

She looked at the clock. It
was
a little after nine o’clock. His
email
had been sent
two hours ago. Would he still be
there or would he have given up on hearing back from her? And what had happened
to the
Marcus
and
Princess
Aurora?
Why were we back to
Miss Sinclair
and
Chef MacRae?

I’ll show him, she thought.

Dear Chef Charming: 
Your wish is my command. I’m on my way. ~Princess Aurora.

Knowing she would never see
him again gave her the courage to be petty. Way to go, Rori
. Rise to the occasion and show your true colors. She
felt guilty for her childish display, but it was too late. The email was on its
way.

Instead of making him mad,
the
message made Marcus laugh and gave
him great hope at the same time.

He had stepped out when she
arrived
. She plopped herself down in one
of the worn leather chairs. She was in her faithful painting overalls, planning
to spend the morning cleaning out the rest of her art supplies and packing up
her car. Knowing now that ‘Charming’ would be at the picnic, she was
considering skipping it.

Coming through the food lab
to his office had brought back so many memories
. And she could even smell his aftershave in the air. She needed to
find out what brand it was so she made sure any future boyfriends stayed away
from it. She slumped further into the chair, arms
folded,
wanting to get whatever torture he had planned over quickly.

Marcus had been standing in
the doorway for close to a minute before she realized he was there
. Even an untrained eye such as his could read her
body language. She was frustrated and wanted to be anywhere but here. And she
would have to be wearing those stupid overalls, he thought. She looks about
sixteen years old. I feel like a cradle robber. Add that to her hair being down
and it’s going to take every ounce of self-control to get through this.

“Hello,
Aurora,” he said quietly, not wanting to startle her too badly
.
He needed her to trust him, quickly and
completely.

“Chef,” Rori jumped. “So
, I’m here as summoned.” Her tone was definitely
defensive. His job would be a tough one.

“I’m sorry I startled you,”
he continued, ignoring her jibe
. “You
appeared to be deep in thought.”

He moved to sit on the edge
of his desk, one long leg swinging perilously close to her knee
. What is
this
game he’s
playing? Rori wondered.

“You said you had s
ome papers for me?” She sat up straighter in the chair
trying to put distance between them.

“I have your final
handouts and some things I’d like your signature on.”
Marcus sat where he was, just watching the emotions play across her face. For
the first time since he met her, just two weeks ago, he was completely at ease.
Normally he felt like a tongue-tied schoolboy with his first crush.

Finally k
nowing his heart, and having his dreams so close to
being fulfilled
, gave him unbelievable confidence. Even more
importantly, he knew Jake, Carla, and Jess were praying for him and Aurora.

“Well?” Rori
was beginning to feel trapped. She did not want to be
here but at the same time did not want to leave.

“I know this
was just an elective and you were just taking it for
fun, but you did do very well.” Marcus reached back across his desk and picked
up her critique sheet. “Thank you for enduring my lack of manners and bad
moods.”

“No problem,” Rori mumbled,
folding the papers and stuffing them into her bag
. Her hand brushed against her sketchbook and the humiliation of his
sketch came back in a wave. Before she changed her mind she blurted out, “I’m
sorry about the sketch of you in my sketchbook. It
was
started
out of frustration and I should have never kept it. I wish you
hadn’t had to see it.”

“No problem,” Marcus smiled
and mimicked her words and tone, almost identically
. How does he do that? She thought. “But actually, I’m
glad I saw it. Not only did you capture my natural manliness, your commentary
on scripture was spot-on.
Perfect description of a stubborn
oaf.”

“Oh, please,” Ro
ri buried her head in her hands. “Don’t remind me of
my rudeness that night. I was just mad that you were too proud to get into my
dumpy little car.”

“Aurora
Grace,” Marcus used the name her father had let slip
at the gallery show. “Do you know why I really called you in today?”

“Retribution
?
Secret torture chamber in
the basement?
To do an oil portrait for your medieval
Scottish mansion?”
Rori was grasping at straws emotionally and as
normal, her strange and bizarre sense of humor took over.

“Very funny,” Marcus
moved his large frame to sit directly in front of her
chair. Now just resting against the side of the desk, he continued. “I have of
couple of things I need to clear up. Did you know that I only read the first
two sentences of your sketchbook entry? My reaction was to the picture and your
apparent dread of the class, nothing else. Do you understand?”

“You didn’t read the whole
thin
g?” Rori was starting to panic.

“Not then,” he said.

“Not then?” she echoed his
words.

“No,” Marcus smiled as she
started to understand. “But I have practically memorized it since then.”

“Jake.” Rori groaned then
muttered.
“The traitor.”

Marcus ignored her and
continued, still completely relaxed.

“Secondly, did you know that
I spoke at length to your father last night, and again this morning?”

“Is he writing me out of the
will?” Rori now felt
totally at his
mercy. Even if she wanted to escape, she would have to climb over his long legs
to get away, or bolt over the back of the chair. Either choice was not very
appealing. And for some reason her heart decided to misbehave as it normally
did in the presence of Chef Marcus MacRae.

“No,” Marcus indulged her
verbal horseplay,
deciding to turn it
against her. “But he’s thinking about adding me to it.” He watched as Aurora
tried to wrap her mind around his meaning.

“He’s taking your side over
mine
?” She had made the only conclusion
she would allow her heart to make at this time. “That seems a little unfair
after all I’ve had to put up with the last two weeks.”

“Do you really not
understand what I’m trying to say to you?” Marcus leaned forward, slightly
. Instead of pulling away as he expected, for some
reason she appeared to lean towards him also.

“No, I don’t,” Rori
whispered. “You have me totally baffled.”

He leaned back abruptly.
“Let me put it another way,” he folded his arms and leveled his next salvo
. “What would you say to some company on your European
trip?” The much-loved blush spread across her cheekbones.

“You kno
w someone who can go with me?” She purposely let him
think she misunderstood. Surely he doesn’t mean he and I go together? That
would be disastrous. Her thoughts were flying.
Or heavenly.

“Now you are being
purposefully obtuse,
young lady,” Marcus
scolded her. “You know exactly what I mean.” He unfolded his arms, and in one
fluid motion took her hands and pulled her up to face him.