Personal chef Beau St. Clair, recently divorced from his cheating husband, returns to the small Ohio River town where he grew up to lick his wounds. Jack Rogers lives with his mother, Maisie, in that same small town, angry at and frightened by the world. Jack has a gap in his memory that hides something he dares not face, and he’s probably suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Maisie, seeking relief from her housebound and often surly son, hires Beau to cook for Jack, hoping the change might help bring Jack, once a handsome and vibrant attorney, back to his former self. But can a new face and comfort food compensate for the terror lurking in Jack’s past? Slowly the two men begin a dance of revelation and healing. Food and compassion build a bridge between Beau and Jack, a bridge that might lead to love. But will Jack’s demons allow it? His history could just as easily tear them apart as bring them together.

Dinner at Jack's

I felt confused and inexplicably sad as I began getting the stuff out I’d need to make dinner, like a mixing bowl, cutting board, and so on. To cheer myself up, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, brought up Pandora, and put it on the Oscar Peterson station. That man and his jazz piano always made me smile.


I busied myself for the next twenty minutes or so, chopping, adding oil to a skillet, beating an egg…I called out to Maisie to have a good night when I heard her at the front door. She left quickly, but not before wishing me the same.


I was just getting ready to bread the fish in some panko bread crumbs when Jack came into the room. He stood in the kitchen archway again, watching, his blue eyes intense. I smiled at him. “You like fish? I hope so. This is tilapia. It’s really mild, kind of sweet.”


“I’ve had it before.” Jack came and stood behind me, watching over my shoulder as I dipped the fish filets first in flour, then a beaten egg, and finally in the bread crumbs.


Chapter 64