If only I didn't need this job so badly.
After talkingto Magda and finding out Eric had an account at Canton's store in town, I had his driver take me there so I could buy ingredients I needed to make some meals to practice before Thursday. A few hours later, I’d gotten enough groceries for what I had planned and was ready to start cooking.
But who would be my guinea pigs?
As I shuffled around the kitchen whipping up Calabrian Pork, I saw Magda and Chloe, another member of the household staff, pass by the doorway. They would be perfect!
“Excuse me,” I called out as I finished deglazing the pan with some white wine. “Could you help me with something? Both of you, if you don’t mind.”
The two women stopped and exchanged a shared look of what I imagined was confusion before nodding hesitantly. Magda and Chloe could best be described as polar opposites. Compared to Magda’s dark and exotic looks, Chloe’s pale blond hair cut short into a pixie style and fair skin seemed almost Nordic. For all I knew, she may have been that.
“What do you need from us?” Magda asked as they stepped into the kitchen.
I added the sliced potatoes and red peppers to the oil in the skillet and set the heat to medium. Wiping my hands on my apron, I smiled and hoped the two of them would be willing to be part of my experiment.
“I’m making a few meals before Mr. Pierce has his first meal on Thursday, and it would be so helpful if you’d try them out. Today I’m cooking Calabrian Pork. Would you two eat some for lunch and let me know what you think?”
Neither one seemed thrilled by my offer. Magda’s expression still showed her confusion about this whole thing, and I had a feeling Chloe would at any moment just turn on her heels and walk out.
Before they could say no, I moved to my next plan. Begging.
“Please. I really need this job, and I don’t want to disappoint Mr. Pierce. I know you don’t know me from a can of paint, so if you don’t want to do this to help me, do it to help him. Pretty please.”
That seemed to melt their resistance to my offer, and they nodded in unison. “Okay. My mother used to make that exact dish when I was a kid, so it’ll be nice to have it again,” Chloe said with a tiny smile.
“Excellent! Thank you so much. I really appreciate this,” I gushed as I backed up toward the stove where my potatoes and peppers cooked. “I just have to finish, so give me about twenty minutes and lunch will be served.”
The two women smiled and left as I began to complete the final steps in the recipe. This would be good. They seemed to be nice people, but I had the sense that neither one of them cared much about hurting my feelings, so they’d be honest about how the dish tasted.
I just didn’t want to mess this up.
A half hour later, the three of us sat around the kitchen table with my Calabrian Pork meal waiting to be enjoyed. I watched, holding my breath, as they both lifted their forks to their mouths and tasted the dish for the first time.
It felt like forever before one of them spoke, but finally Chloe said, “This is the tenderest pork I’ve ever had in my life. This puts my mother’s to shame. This is really good, Maddie.”
Magda agreed, and after taking another forkful of pork and potato, she sighed. “I love the spices you used. Oregano and basil? And garlic, of course. But it’s not too strong. Just right. If all your meals are like this, Mr. Pierce is going to love you.”
I felt my cheeks heat at the mention of Eric feeling anything for me, but I knew she meant my cooking and the food, not me, necessarily. Nervous, I hurriedly replied, “That’s what I’m hoping for. That he loves the food I make, I mean.”
My stomach dropped as Chloe stopped chewing and gave me a look like she saw exactly how attracted I was to our boss. “What I don’t understand is why he hired you to cook. I don’t mean to be rude, but Mr. Pierce rarely eats any of his meals here.”
“I know. He told me that, and I’m not sure I know the answer. Maybe he’s tired of restaurant food?” I answered, still confused about why a man who clearly could find his own top-rate chef would use DeVille Staffing to find someone like me.
“Maybe. It still seems odd to me,” Chloe mumbled before taking another bite of pork. Then a second later, she turned to look at Magda. “You don’t think he’s selling his share of the restaurant, do you?”
Magna simply shook her head until she finished her food and then said, “Even if he was, it still doesn’t mean he’d suddenly start eating at home enough to warrant hiring a cook.”
I was beginning to feel out of place, so I turned to my lunch and started eating, hating how unnecessary I truly was here. At least the Calabrian Pork had turned out right. Just enough garlic and I didn’t dry out the pork.
As they talked between themselves, Chloe dropped her fork onto her plate and exclaimed, “Oh my God! He’s hired Maddie here because he’s worried someone’s not doing their job. That’s it! He’s going to be around much more to see who’s slacking off, and then that person is going to be fired. I know it.”
Magda tried to talk her out of spiraling out of control, but I saw in her expression she worried about that exact thing too. When I finished my mouthful of food, I said, “Not to put a damper on this wild speculation, but he didn’t have to hire a cook to stay home more and eat. I’m sure he could just have someone from his own restaurant deliver food every day, or he could get any other restaurant within a ten mile radius to bring him food.”
The both of them stopped their fretting and looked across the table at me with relief. “That’s true,” Magda said, smiling. “It makes sense he could just get food from anywhere.”
Chloe’s eyes lit up. “That’s true. I mean, it’s not like we’re out in the wilderness where he can’t find food anywhere he wants. I guess that does make sense. Maybe he just wants home cooked meals. If that’s the case, I bet he’s going to love this pork and potatoes meal. Assuming he likes pork, of course.”
“Oh, he does,” I said proudly, happy to hear she thought he’d love my cooking. “He made a point of telling me he loves pork. That and Italian food, so I’m going to make him lasagna for Thursday’s dinner.”
Magda and Chloe cooed at the mention of lasagna. “Oooooh, any chance you’ll make enough for there to be leftovers and then we can sneak some?” Chloe asked.
“I’ll make sure to make enough, I promise.”