Page 34 of A Fine Line
They give quick hugs and Winnie tells everyone bye before we walked back to the car.
“Well, I think that went just great, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer.
Iwasn’t sure what exactly to expect when coming to Crew’s house for our first mutual cooking sessions. It certainly wasn’t thousand dollar knife sets, stainless steel pots and pans everywhere, and an oven preheated to 350 degrees just for me.
The kitchen in my apartment was gorgeous. Granite countertops, high quality oak wood cabinets with golden handles, an enormous ‘farmhouse’ sink with a matching gold faucet that poured out like the water came straight from water boy instead of Philadelphia’s street. But, with all my fancy aesthetic kitchen comes dollar store utensils that require replacing every two months. My bowls were my last roommates and my knives were so dull that I struggled to even cut into flattened pastry dough.
Crew’s kitchen in itself wasn’t anything spectacular. Your standard middle class space with white cabinets and coffee ring stained butcher block counter tops. His floors were a cheap linoleum tile design that I would assume were once white. None of it was exactly standing out as the best kitchen ever, but then he pulled out his supplies and it just kept coming.
Japanese knives I’d only seen on TV, stainless steel pans that I knew were over a hundred dollar a piece, a dark green and gold kitchen aid mixer with fifteen different attachments laid out beside it.
Heaven. This was a bakers heaven.
Crew and I spent all morning yesterday arguing in his truck about whose house would be the house in our training sessions before finally settling that we’d split the time fifty/fifty. His house was first.
“Holy shit, you have Caraway?”
I was rifling through his drawers and pulling things out like a meddlesome kid in a no-touch museum but I just couldn’t help it. Crew Wells was fancy.
“Yeah, got it a year ago. Would you get out of there and start working?”
He had already chopped two onions and was getting ready to roast a garlic head while my not-so-sneaky hands were digging in the cabinet to the left of his fridge. Built in Lazy Susans and perfectly organized storage. For such chaotic man he was so…
“You’re luxurious. I mean, I knew you had money, didn’t know it was this kind of money though. You can’t even be pissed at me for taking your business when you own stuff like this.”
He set down his CUTCO knife on the wooden cutting board with a scowl. “I’m not rich I just don’t spend all my money on beakers or science experiments or witches cauldrons or whatever stuff you do when you’re not in your truck.”
I frowned. “My cauldron was half off for prime day though.”
“Would you please just start working? We don’t have time to mess around.”
I set the fancy can opener on the counter and turned to face him. “We have almost an entire month, would you relax?”
Crews hands gripped the counter with white knuckles and clenched teeth. “Winnifred Meadows you are in my kitchen and you are going to do what I say.”
My cheeks burned hot and my stomach twisted in a little knot. Oh my gosh, did I just find him a little sexy? Since when was Crew all demanding and forceful and…was he taller in here?
My eyes squinted at him and he scowled back at me whilst picking up his knife and dicing an onion into perfect squares without even glancing down. Hot.
“Quit looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” I countered, still looking at him.
“Like you did that first day.”
My lips quirked up a bit. I wondered if that day haunted him like it did me.
“Maybe don’t be so bossy then.”
“You have a messed up sense of humor.”
And attraction apparently. Being in this space, his space, watching him maneuver around the prep area with such authority and confidence. I think it was working on me. No, I knew it was for a fact.
Crew rolled up his sleeve one more time and adjusted his hands to the perfect position to dice and my mouth drooped down a little. The veins in his arms popped out to wave hello. Meanwhile, I was close to drooling on his floor. This man has never had a girlfriend. How had he never had a girlfriend?
“Are you going to get started or watch?”