Recipe for Satisfacton(55)

“Language,” Jack interrupted.

Sterling smiled at his concern.

“Some jerks pushed Jesse around last week and took his coat.” Megan straightened. She was one tough little girl. “I showed up but it was too late to save the jacket.”

“Is that why you have scratches on your face?” he asked.

The girl looked at the floor.

“Fighting is not the answer.”

Megan said, “They called him Chef Fatty.”

“Megan,” Jesse yelled.

“Jesse, you can always get another coat. You don’t need to be embarrassed. And you shouldn’t be ashamed of what we do here.” Jack looked around the room, at all of the kids. “People pick on others because of their own insecurities, and maybe even jealousy. If it happens again, invite them to the program. I’ll make room.”

“But Jack—”

“No buts. Just try it.” He laid his arm around the kid’s shoulder and guided him to the back. “Come on, Jesse, let’s get you another coat.”

Sterling was…impressed. More than impressed. He would make a great father if he ever settled down and decided that’s what he wanted to do. But was that what he wanted? The media portrayed him as a commitment-phobe party animal, but that was a far cry from the man she had gotten to know.

The volume in the room grew louder as the group began their recipes. She watched in awe at the motivation and interest the group showed. Who would have thought a bunch of teenagers wanted to make a béchamel sauce?

“Sterling?” Jack whispered over her shoulder. “You don’t want a bunch of kids to beat you, do you?”

Like hell. She got right to work.

She read over the recipe and placed her utensils on the counter in a line. Although she had no idea what she was doing, at least she could organize the damn things. After turning on the stove, she placed the pot on the burner.

The chatter of the room buzzed in the background while she concentrated on her task. She measured out the ingredients as the recipe called for and cursed when the salt spilled all over the counter. Shouldn’t there be a smaller spout for measuring tiny amounts like the necessary one-third of a teaspoon? She looked up at the children. Damn! They had poured the salt into their palms and sprinkled it into the mixture. But how did they know the right amount?

When the ingredients were mixed she poured the milk into the pan. The recipe said to consistently stir the sauce. How was she supposed to do that and watch over a pot of boiling water?

Big hands slid around her waist and a chin rested on her shoulder. She gasped, and immediately recognized Jack’s sexy scent.

“You’re trying to distract me.”

“How are we doing here?” he asked, scrutinizing her progress.

She sighed. The mixture didn’t look like the picture. “It’s a mess.”

“Looks perfect to me.”

She glanced at the workstations and caught the glare of the young girl whose eyes narrowed and one side of her lips curved up in a sneer. She was getting the stink-eye from a teenage girl. She didn’t even get evil looks from girls when she was in high school. “Does everyone have their béchamel sauce ready?” he asked as he walked away.

Five heads nodded in unison. They were beating her.

“Good. By now your water should be boiling.” He walked around the stations and peeked into each pot. “Let’s get the macaroni started.”

They all poured the bag of macaroni into the pots.

“Don’t forget to salt your water.”

Some of the kids scrambled to add the salt, and others were already on the ball. Sterling was lagging behind. Wrestling with the spout on the box, it came loose and once again, salt spilled all over her workstation. Son of a…

“We’re looking for al dente pasta,” Jack instructed. “Remember this has to go in the oven, so if you cook the pasta too much it will come out mushy and that makes for some gross mac and cheese.”

Al dente. She knew that term, yet she never managed to achieve it. Her pasta was always too hard or too soft.

“We’re using dried pasta so it should take about ten minutes. While the water is boiling, grab your ramekin. We don’t want the food to stick, so we’re going to coat the glass with some butter.”

Sterling did as instructed. She had to admit it was much easier to cook when you had your own personal chef telling you what to do, but she was still sucking. When the pasta was drained she slowly poured it into a bowl and added the béchamel.

“At this point, you want to make sure all of the pasta is coated with the sauce. Now, if you wanted to get creative, you could start adding things to the mixture. Maybe, bacon?”