Love was a process, and one you dedicated yourself to, meaning you could not fail. Something shifted around her heart.
“I knew you would,” Nanine said, cupping her cheek with the kind of devotion she was talking about, the complete tenderness making Madison’s heart glow with warmth. “However, I’ll also confess a secret. When I first started cooking goose, I would call my father up since he was a master at preparing and cooking birds. Hence why Paul Bocuse loved his deliveries at his restaurant. Madison, there are always people around you whom you can count on if you have a moment of doubt. Feel free to call upon me anytime.”
“Thank you, Nanine,” she said, giving in to the urge to hug her.
Only Nanine didn’t let her go. She patted Madison’s back, smelling of Chanel No. 5 like she always did outside the kitchen. Madison hadn’t known a female chef could wear perfume until she’d met Nanine.
Then again, Nanine had taught her plenty about what it meant to be a chef and a woman, and she knew she still had more to learn. Thea’s recipe for Operation Madison came to mind. After today, she had a few new additions.
Recipe for: Madison’sDelicious PartnershipSpicy New Reality
Date: January 1
Prep time:When you’re readyEvery Day
Ingredients: Trust, Belief, Friendship, Experimentation,Humor,Dating,Joy,Work-home boundaries, Michelin star, The Romance Shrine, Laughter, Heart-pounding sex, Ice Cream, Breakfast, 12:01 a.m.
Hard-to-find ingredients: see Belief above, Faith inthe man you loveKyle and yourself, Bravery (buying shirts and holding hands in public)
Notes: You can do it! You already love Kyle, and that’s the biggest part. Let your friends help you. Let love enhance your creativity and help you cook better. Let it make you believe even bigger things are possible, in life and food. Put yourself out there more. Let the walls down.Maybe ask Brooke for a podcast.
Instructions: Cook like a rock star. Buildin redundancies. Have a backup plan. Say the whole I love you thing. Sleep in Kyle’s bed. Love someone like you’re cooking a goose.
That last part was pure gold in the advice department. Kyle. Goose. Got it.
No wonder things were going so well for Operation Madison, as her friends liked to call it. Instructions mattered in cooking—as did timing, precision, ingredients, and skill. Those were the hallmark of success.
Now all she had to do was keep doing it every day.
Only she couldn’t stop thinking about Operation Kyle.
Good thing she was his best friend.
