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I Can Still Feel You... Chapter 1 | page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | excerpts
“Turn and face the camera, Macy.” Recognizing the director’s voice, Macy Chandler did exactly that. She knew him only by his first name—Danny. She’d met so many people from the TV station in the past week that first names were about all she could manage, and right now, thanks to the lights aimed at her from several directions, she couldn’t see any of them. Danny and the rest of the TV crew were dim shadows, crammed into the space beyond her food prep island. “You aced the first segment,” Alan murmured. “One down and two to go.” Her assistant and very best friend, Alan Garner, stood in the shadows to her immediate right, looking cool and elegant in spite of the heat from the lights. “FYI—I heard one of the crew say that you’re a natural.” Alan had been her own private cheerleader since their junior high days. As Macy checked the ingredients Alan had laid out for the next dish, he began to hum “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Immediately, her nerves began to settle. Everything was coming up roses. Her personal chef business, Some Like It Hot, was steadily gaining a reputation in the Austin area. Then three weeks ago, Kate Sinclair, local editor of the “Sex in the Saddle” column in the Austin Herald had called and asked her to provide the prize for a Valentine’s Day contest. The newspaper’s head corporate office, Deep in the Heart Communications (DITH), was sponsoring the Valentine’s Day promotion in three Texas cities—Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. The goal of the contest was to increase circulation. Each city was running its own contest and the local editor who sold the most papers was going to receive a bonus. When Kate Sinclair had proposed her idea of offering three separate prizes— “Brunch in Bed,” a “Pleasurable Picnic,” and a “Sexy Supper,” Macy had jumped at the idea. To win, contestants had to cut out and submit separate entry forms from three different editions of the Herald, and the corporate offices of DITH had contacted a local TV station and convinced them to join forces in the promotion. The TV station wanted to film her preparations of each recipe, and the paper was publishing them to increase circulation even more. That, in a nutshell, was how a TV crew had ended up in her kitchen on a hot Sunday morning. The televised segments of “A Pleasurable Picnic” airing during the past week on News at Noon had been so popular that the contest entries for the remaining two prizes had flooded the Herald office. Everything had happened so fast that Macy still had an urge to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. But the TV lights were real enough. So was the trickle of sweat running down her back. “Give us that five hundred watt smile, Macy,” the director said. Once again, Macy did what she was told. “Quiet. Ready on a count of five.” “Wait!” A pretty young make up woman stepped into the lighted area, dabbed powder on Macy’s nose, then disappeared into the shadows. “On five,” the director reminded every one. “One, two…” There was nothing to worry about, Macy told herself. Hadn’t she practiced the preparation of each dish over and over again with Alan as her audience. And the asparagus was the simplest course for her “Brunch in Bed.” “Don’t forget to tell them about the French bridegrooms,” Alan whispered. “Three, four, five.” “Why asparagus?” Macy winked into the camera. “And well you might ask. Isn’t that the veggie you used to try to get the dog to eat when you were a kid? But there are several reasons to include asparagus on our “Brunch in Bed” menu. For starters, because it’s finger food, and there’s nothing quite as sexy or seductive as feeding your lover.” She picked up a piece of asparagus. “But the first things you want to eliminate are the tough ends. Just bend the vegetable.” Demonstrating, she snapped the stalk in two. “Now you simply cut all of the other stalks right at the point that this one broke.” While she talked, she spread the asparagus on a foil lined cookie sheet, drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with chopped chili peppers. “Now we come to the second reason for asparagus. It will give you and your lover a chance to play with your food and to learn how that can stimulate all of your senses.” As she demonstrated how to “play” with the asparagus by using her hands to toss it in the oil and spices, Macy continued, “Of course the best reason to include these little green stalks in any seductive brunch is their reputation as the most erotic vegetable. 19th century French bridegrooms were required to eat several courses of them on their wedding nights because of the power of asparagus to arouse.” After popping the cookie sheet into the oven, she turned and once more winked at the camera. “And you thought you had to depend solely on oysters.” There was laughter, and a round of applause from the crew. Then the director called, “Cut.” (continued...) |
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