TURN BACK THE TIME, BABE. BOOK 7. THE WILL TO CARRY ON

YOUR DARKEST FEAR

AMANDINE POV

- Voilá. Escalope de saumon à l'oseille.

- Really? I didn't think you would dare to make the Troisgros's recipe.

- Won't you taste it and give me your opinion as my French guest?

- Of course I will.

I was always teasing him about his culinary art. Joe had an inborn talent to cooking and he was chameleonic. One minute he cooked some French toasts that melted slowly into your mouth, the next one some coronation chicken or some mediterranean vegetables and lentils soup. His thanksgiving turkey was his signature dish but he was capable to cook skillfully mostly every dish of each international cuisine. He even made a superb Spanish tortilla that Wish loved so much.

He dared to make almost everything, but he never had tried with any dish of our French cuisine. He was a kamikaze, he ventured to do the Pierre Troisgros's creation.

Actually it smelled divinely and the presentation was faultless. It felt almost like you were sitting at one of the Frères Troisgros restaurant's tables in Roanne.

I cut a piece of the fine salmon cutlet and dipped it in the sweet-scented sorrel sauce. I brought it to my mouth and closed my eyes as I chewed slowly.

- Won't you say anything? -Joe asked impatient with his elbows on the worktop.

- Can I be honest?

- You usually are.

- You've cooked the salmon a little bit too much. Just a little bit.

- It's impossible. I was very careful with that. I only cooked it just a few seconds.

- Too many seconds. Don't get upset. The sauce tastes just delicious.

- Why are you the French so complicated with your damn recipes? Can you explain me that?

- We are not complicated. We are only striving for excellence.

- Oh, well...

- It's so hard trying to emulate the great master of the moderne couisine. Next time you'll do it better.

Suddenly as I was finishing the great dish, even when he wasn't successful, Joe's dishes must leave squeaky clean, I saw a guy stepping into the kitchen. Out of the blue.

- Guten Apetit -he said politely.

I turned over in my stool to see him but I got barely time to do it because Joe came up to him quickly to kiss him good-morning. Seemingly he had brought German company to his bed last night.

After he introduced him politely to me, the guy called Klaus, he asked him gently to take off his tshirt and he took off his. How cute, they wore the other's clothes.

Then my self-absorbed glance flew just to Joe's naked back and my heart missed a beat. Just behind his left shoulder, my eyes couldn't take off that tiny reddish mark. Very small but to my eyes so big. I didn't want to think that was Kaposi sarcoma. It couldn't be.