Forever's Embrace (Forever In Luck Series Book 2) by J. Darling Page A

and headed onto the ice to the
cheers and whistles of the crowd. It was time to kick some ass.

 
    *****

 
    Standing
at the kitchen counter, Jules poured thick, rich cream into the food processor.
One of the benefits of being on a dairy farm, she thought. As much fresh whole
milk you wanted, or needed, to create wonderful and delicious things. Turning
the food processor on high, she stepped to the fridge and pulled out the
sausages and eggs. Looking around inside, she found an onion and an apple.
Setting it all on the counter, she washed and quickly sliced several potatoes
super thin, along with the onion, and the apple.
    Stopping
the food processor, she pulled out what was now a ball of unsalted butter.
Perfect, she thought. Putting some of it into a large sauté pan, she clarified
it, then poured it off and washed the pan so she could use it to assembled a
beautiful potato galette, complete with some thyme and rosemary for flavor, and
a generous drizzling of clarified butter along the sides and over the top for a
crispy crunchy crust.
    Placing
it on the burner, she began humming as she went about cracking eggs. She loved
to cook, always had, and if it would’ve offered the type of financial security
that being a pharmacist had, it would’ve been her chosen profession. After all,
culinary arts could be considered part of the fine arts, which was her most
favorite area of study. Not to mention, cooking was just another form of
chemistry, and all pharmacists were good in chemistry. So, in other words,
cooking was doubly perfect in her book.
    She
was so happy. There was no other way to describe what she was feeling. Last
night had been wonderful. After the hockey game, they stopped at Flying Pie
Pizza in Luck, and the Bottle shop on Main, then on to the farm for pizza and
beer by a fire as they watched TV and snuggled on the couch. Later, Jake
crawled into bed with her, and they cuddled for much of the night, before he
left in the early morning hours.
    Quickly
turning the sausages, she checked the galette, before stirring the egg mixture
and adding it to a saucepan she’d now coated with fresh butter. The guys would
be in from milking soon, and she hoped they liked what she was making for
breakfast. Linnie and Nate had left early to attend meetings at the VA and
wouldn’t be returning until later that night, so Jules had happily offered to
be the cook for the day. She planned to do it big. Humming, she stirred the
eggs, then began to set the table, and as she did, she started having doubts.
What if they don’t like what I’ve cooked? Her heart began to pound, and she
started to panic. It’s too late to cook something different. What am I going to
do?
    The
front door opened and the guys started filing in, heading straight to the wash
room to clean up. She quickly dished up the food and was setting a platter
covered with warmed lussekatter buns on the table when Jake walked in. Smiling
wide when he saw her, he walked over and gave her a quick hug, as they all came
in and sat at the table.
    No
one moved, they just sat there staring at the food she’d prepared, and she
wanted to die. Why hadn’t she just made plain old American cuisine? What had
she been thinking? Had she lost her mind? She hoped this wasn’t a trend. She’d
acted irrationally the last time she was here too.
    Trying
to swallow the lump in her throat, she said weakly, “The, ah, little dish by
Kris has sweet cream butter in it, if you, ah, prefer it to the salted stick
butter.”
    Their
heads lifted, and they all leaned as they peered across the table at the dish.
    “You
made…butter?” Kris said incredulously, while blinking at the dish in front of
him.
    She
nodded. “Yes, I, ah, needed clarified butter for the potato galette.”
    Nik
snapped his head towards her, dropping his eyebrows down low. “You made sweet
butter, and clarified butter…for breakfast?”
    Oh
Lord, what had she done? It was just butter for heaven’s sake. “Umm, yes,”