Page 105 of Make Me Swoon

“Love the name. If you become the chef here, maybe I should let you name this place too,” he says as he leans back against the opposite counter.

“I’ve got a few ideas,” I say with a grin as I get my chef knives out and a few of the other supplies that I brought with me.

“What will you be cooking today?”

“I thought I would make my truffle mac and cheese, my Americana burger, and my bacon-wrapped meatloaf.”

“Sounds delicious.”

I get to work laying out my ingredients and it’s easy to get into the zone then and do what I love to do. I talk with Max as I cook and he tells me more about some of his restaurants and how he found his way in the business. I tell him more about my food truck and moving up here.

“Ready for the first course?” I ask him and he nods, pulling up a barstool and taking a seat.

“It smells delicious,” he compliments me and I beam.

“Thanks,” I say, sliding the plated truffle mac and cheese over to him.

I watch him take a bite before I tell him more about what’s in it.

“So, this is my truffle mac and cheese with my special goat cheese cream sauce, truffle oil, some fresh herbs, and finished off with toasted bread crumbs on top. I would have this be an entrée on the menu since it’s so heavy that it would be hard to pair with something else. Another option is that we could offer to add chicken or shrimp or some other protein to it.”

He nods, taking another bite and I take that as a good sign.

I finish up the burger while Max makes a few notes on the first dish. I made my Americana burger with garlic parmesan fries to go with it.

“This is one example of a burger that we could make. It has white cheddar, crispy fried onions, Dijon aioli, tomato jam, and hickory smoked bacon on one of my homemade buns. For the side, I made garlic parmesan fries.”

I watch as Max takes the first bite and he nods before he takes another bite. I smile, turning around to plate the final dish.

Things seem to be going well as I finish plating the mini bacon-wrapped meatloaf.

“Here’s the mini bacon-wrapped meatloaves with mashed potatoes and crispy sauteed green beans and scallions.”

I set the final plate in front of him and wipe my hands off, watching as he takes a bite of each item on the plate.

“I added my own zesty BBQ glaze to the meatloaf but I thought we could add it to the menu with different options. Maybe a honey BBQ glaze and a spicy one.”

Max nods, finishing off the meatloaf.

“The mashed potatoes have cheddar and chives added and then the garlic sauteed green beans with crispy fried scallion on the side.”

“It’s delicious, Coraline,” Max compliments and I grin.

“Thank you.”

I clean up while Max finishes eating and making notes. I’m just packing up my dishes, leftover ingredients, and knives as he sets the barstool back by the kitchen door and comes back over to me.

“Thank you so much for coming in, Coraline. I’m going to go over my notes and then I’ll let you know my decision in the next few days.”

“Thank you. It was an honor to even be considered for this position,” I tell him as I shake his hand and follow him back to the front door.

“Thanks again,” I tell him as I nod and head outside to my car.

I set my bag into the back seat and then climb behind the wheel, pulling out my phone to text Sayler and Harvey about how it went.

It isn’t until after I hit send that I realize that I never even hesitated to tell Harvey my good news. I’ve only known him a few weeks and already he’s become so important to me that he’s one of the first people that I want to talk to.

That thought should make me nervous. I should be worried that I’ll become like my parents and we’ll get so miserable that we’ll destroy each other, but somehow, the panic never comes.

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