Authors: AJ Harmon,Christopher Harmon
First Class Menu
First eBook Edition, June
2013
Copyright 2013 by
ABCs Legacy, LLC
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without
written permission from the author.
Lindsey Dardin is at the height of her career; Executive
Chef at two of Manhattan’s finest dining establishments at the young age of
thirty-five. Though her professional life is on fire, love has eluded her since
a short-lived marriage in her early twenties.
David Lathem loves his job as curator for the Atherton
Gallery, and with his live-in girl, Freckles the cat, he seems content. But,
when he meets Lindsey, he finally realizes his life is sorely lacking.
Lindsey offers David cooking lessons and they spend weeks in
the kitchen getting to know each other. She is falling head over heels in love
with him, but he is too blind to see what’s right in front of him. Can he
figure out what he wants in time?
First Class Menu is the sixth book in the ‘First Class’
contemporary romance series.
More Top Rated Romance Novels by AJ Harmon:
First Class to New York (Book 1)
First Class to Portland (Book 2)
First Class Justice (Book 3)
First Class Voyage (Book 4)
First Class Hero (Book 5)
First Class Rescue (Book 7) Coming in Summer 2013
What readers are saying about the ‘First Class’ novels:
“I think the First Class Novels would make fantastic films.”
Victoria, Facebook Fan Page
“I’m loving this journey with the Lathem family. I like the
fact that whilst you get a glimpse at all of the family members and are given a
bit of the background for each character, A J Harmon has not forgotten the two
main characters who started the series, Matt (who I fell in love with-move over
Christian Grey!!) and Janie and we see more of how there lives have changed as
well!!” cj on Amazon UK
“Absolutely love this series, can't wait for the next one.”
SaraLou on Amazon UK
“Have read all 4 of the books and will defiantly read all 8
cannot wait for the next one, have really enjoyed following the lives of the
Latham clan.” C Crook on Amazon UK
“I so enjoyed this author and this series. I highly
recommend buying all four as you will be looking for the next one so after finishing
the previous one I can't wait for the next series!” Kerry on Amazon
For me, food has featured prominently in many happy
memories. When I was a young girl, my father and I would cook together; one
week he would be the chef and I was his assistant, and the following week we
would switch and I got to be the chef and he was my assistant. They are
memories I treasure.
I’m pretty sure that my love of cooking started in my
childhood home with my dad and I see my son following the same path. So to my
dad I say thank you. I love you forever.
Contents
Chapter:
David Lathem sat with his brothers, Tim and Ben, and raised
his glass in a toast to his younger brother Paul and his new bride Nic. The
wedding reception was in full swing. The toasts were now coming to a close and
it was finally time to eat!
The buffet spread was impressive. David’s mother, Maureen,
had selected the menu and the guests could not complain. There was something
for everyone; meats of every kind, roasted vegetables, silky mashed potatoes,
salads, cheeses, fruit and seafood. And that was all on the
first
table.
David was starving so he grabbed a plate and was one of the first to sample the
smorgasbord of mouth-watering, stick-to-your-ribs food.
“This reminds me of the cruise last year,” David said to his
baby brother, Tim. “I miss eating like this.”
Tim chuckled. “How can you not even make toast?”
David shrugged. “I’m useless!” He’d cleaned his plate and
was off for seconds. This time he headed to the second table. He loaded up on
shrimp cocktail and little boiled potatoes topped with caviar and crème
fraiche. He hit the bread basket too, taking both a croissant and a wheat roll
and two small pats of butter.
As Maureen walked by her son, she tapped him on the
shoulder.
“Leave some for the other guests, please?” she shook her
head.
“This is the only cooked meal I’ve had this week,” he
whined.
“Whose fault is that?” Maureen replied. “You know you can
come for dinner any time you want.”
“I know mom, but it just seems a bit pathetic.”
“And this isn’t pathetic?” Maureen chuckled. “David you
can’t gorge yourself tonight to tie you over ‘til the next hot meal you stumble
upon.”
Maureen returned to her husband, Peter, and David sat back
in his chair, partaking of the soft buttery bread roll. He would have to wait
to have a piece of the wedding cake. He figured it would probably be rude to go
and get a slice when Paul and Nic hadn’t cut it yet, although the thought made
him chuckle.
Paul would kill me
, he thought to himself. And he could
too. Paul had been a Navy Seal for eleven years before changing careers just a
few months ago. But he could still snap David like a twig. And gouging out a
chunk of the wedding cake might just give him cause.
A member of the wait staff came by and removed his plate, so
David headed back to find something sweet to cap off the meal he’d devoured. As
he stood at one of the two dessert tables, he picked up something that looked
like a miniature cream pie. He took a bite and tilted his head to the side as
he tried to decide what was in the sweet concoction.
“It’s a mini pumpkin cheesecake.”
David turned in the direction of the voice and saw a woman
dressed in a white chef’s jacket smiling at him.
“Ah,” he nodded. “I do taste the pumpkin now that you’ve
said it.”
The chef inspected the serving table in front of her, moving
a platter to the left just a few inches and moving the serving tongs from the
platter to a small plate off to the side.
“Did you make all of this?” David asked.
“I supervised the staff that made all of this,” she smiled.
“
Almost
the same thing.”
“I just need to marry a woman that can cook like this,” he
sighed as he took another mini cheesecake from the platter.
“Why?” the chef asked him. “Just make it yourself.”
“My skills are limited to pouring cereal into a bowl and
adding milk. And sometimes I even do that wrong.”
She laughed. “You can’t possibly screw up cereal.”
“Oh but I can! I’m skilled.”
The chef shook her head and continued her inspection of the
table.
“I’m David. Lathem.”
“Related to the groom?”
“Big brother.”
“That’s nice. They are a lovely couple,” she said nodding in
the bride and groom’s direction. “I’m Lindsey.”
“Nice to meet you Lindsey,” David said as he took a
chocolate éclair from the table.
“Why don’t I get you a plate?” she grinned.
*****
Paul and his bride stood in front of the wedding cake with a
huge knife in their hands as the photographer snapped away.
“How many pictures do they need?” exclaimed Ben.
“Seriously!”
David turned to his brother and grinned. “You know one day
you’ll be standing there doing the same thing.”
“Unlikely. Since I broke up with Jill last year I can count
on one hand the number of actual dates I’ve been on. I don’t see matrimony in
the near future.”
David grinned. “There’ll be someone out there who will
snatch you up.”
Ben laughed. “Who
are
you?”
“I dunno. It’s kind of nice to think that Paul has found
someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Don’t you ever think about
it?”
Ben shook his head. “Nope!”
David frowned. Maybe it was just the wedding. Maybe it was
seeing how happy his little brother Paul was. Maybe he realized that the
longest relationship he’d had with a female was with his cat, Freckles, and
even then he hadn’t sought her out; she adopted him, refusing to leave the fire
escape outside his bedroom window. They’d been together for three years now and
were very happy.
The wedding guests cheered as Nic and Paul sliced the bottom
tier of the cake and sweetly fed each other a small piece. Then they kissed
each other and David saw, once again, how madly in love they were.
Lindsey stood behind one of her chefs and supervised the
cutting and delivering of the cake to all the guests. David made his way over
to the cake and stood behind her.
“So do you do any of the cooking or just the supervising?”
David asked.
She turned to look at him with a very suspicious expression
on her face.
“That wasn’t meant to be rude or anything,” David explained.
“I assumed you were a chef, but…”
Lindsey’s expression relaxed. “Yes,” she nodded. “I am the
executive chef for two of Aaron’s restaurants.”
Aaron was one of Mark’s best friends in high school. Mark,
David’s older brother, and Aaron had remained friends and he had catered all
four of the Lathem brothers’ weddings. Now he owned several restaurants in
Manhattan and Brooklyn, had won a James Beard award, and had even gone up
against an Iron Chef on Food Network and won.
“That’s impressive,” David smiled.
“I think so,” Lindsey grinned.
“So you
could
make all of this,” David waved his arm
around the buffet tables, “but you let others do it.”
“Well, I actually don’t do wedding cakes,” she whispered.
“But don’t tell anyone ‘cuz I’d hate it to get out that I’m not perfect,” she
chuckled.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“If you were serious about wanting to learn how to cook
though, there are classes at the community college. They have great instructors
that come in and do eight or twelve week courses. And they are worth the
money.”
“I can’t even boil water,” David shook his head.
“Well there are different levels. You could start with ‘An
Introduction to Cooking’ and work your way up. You don’t have to start with
chateaubriand,” she said.
“What’s that?”
Lindsey laughed. “Check into it.”
*****
Paul and Nic Lathem hugged and kissed their family goodbye
as they left the hotel. They were headed to the airport and then off to Grand
Bahama Island and Matt and Janie’s vacation home. Matt had purchased it just
last summer and had offered the newlyweds as much time as they wanted for their
honeymoon, and Paul and Nic were thrilled to be headed to white sand, turquoise
water and luxury for two weeks as they were waited on hand and foot by the
caretakers that lived on the property year round.
David and his brother Ben clapped as they left the hotel in
the black limousine and slowly the guests began to leave too. David wandered
back to the buffet table as the food was being cleared by the waiters and
waitresses. Katy, David’s sister-in-law, had made arrangements for all the
leftover food to be delivered to the women’s shelter she volunteered at for a
few hours a week. Everything was being wrapped up and loaded into boxes in the
kitchen.
As the last of the food was taken from the salon, Lindsey
appeared with a large brown paper bag.
“Here,” she grinned as she handed the bag to David.
“What’s this?”
“Dinner for the next couple of nights.”
David chuckled. “Thanks!”
“And here, take this too.”
He took the card Lindsey offered him. It was her business
card, with all her work contact information listed in elegant font on the linen
cardstock. On the backside was the name of a community college in Brooklyn and
“Tuesday – 6pm” hand-written on it.
“It’s when I teach my cooking class. Sign up.” She turned
and headed back to the kitchen.
David smiled.
I think I might just do that.