Chapter 208: Realization
Ryan’s POV
"I want to celebrate us, and how far we have come," Vivian had said those words one evening, and Ryan had readily agreed, but when Ryan had thought about the preparations for the celebration, clearly what his mind had conjured was completely at odds with what Vivian had been thinking.
For Ryan, planning for a celebration meant getting in touch with the best event planners in the business. Giving them a budget of epic proportions, and then waiting for them to come up with something spectacular. But it was now very clear to him that Vivian Rose’s idea of a celebration was completely different to what he was used to.
A dinner, that was what Vivian wanted to do as a celebration.
When she had insisted on doing all of the shopping herself, he had been surprised but he had decided to let her do what she was comfortable with. He had thought that she would at least allow the chef to cook. But that was not the case. Vivian was insisting on doing everything herself.
He had never seen that type of thing in his life, but as shocked as he was, he was curious and that curiosity had led to him offering to help Vivian in the kitchen.
***
That decision was something that he was now regretting a great deal.
Ryan had been in the kitchen lots of times. He had used the stove, the microwave, the blender and the knives, so he had always thought that he had the kitchen mastered. That nothing in there could catch him by surprise. But now he was realizing that he knew absolutely nothing about working in a kitchen.
So far, he had burned a pot’s handle and had nearly burned the tips of his fingers trying to move it from the stove. If Vivian had not intervened and pushed it away from him while turning off the heat, the two of them would have been making a trip to the ER instead of cooking.
But thanks to her stepping in, Ryan was still in the kitchen trying to help.
Unfortunately for him, the situation just was not getting any better. After moving over to the chopping station that she had set up for him, he’d had a good go at the tomatoes. But as soon as he switched vegetables things became difficult.
Onions were truly warrior vegetables, and they went down fighting. Cutting into one, his eyes immediately watered so much that Ryan decided to close them. Before he could even do one slice, he felt Vivian holding the hand that he had the knife in.
"Do that, and you will not have any fingers," Opening his eyes and blinking away the tears, Ryan looked down and realized that she was right. He had nearly sliced off his finger.
After that near disaster, Vivian then assigned him to watching the water boil. It was a simple task, one that Ryan was happy with. He had boiled water before( though in a kettle and not a pot, but he figure it would not be too different). All he’d had to do was keep an eye on it and tell her the moment that it started bubbling, but Ryan soon got impatient. The bubbles were just so tiny, so he removed the lid and tried to stir the water with a spoon to make it boil faster,( he’d read somewhere, that that helped).
The water stirring finally ended his career as Vivian’s fellow chef, though Vivian tried to be nice about it, it still stung. "Babe, I get that you are trying to help. But how about you channel your energy into helping me with something else?" When Ryan went for the cutlery, Vivian quickly snatched the knives and forks out of his hands. The look on her face telling him that she was actually worried that he might stab himself with them.
He really thought that she would banish him to the living room. But thanks to his intense need to help and also her own soft heart, Vivian eventually found the perfect post for Ryan, and he had to say he really enjoyed it.
***
After much trial and error, Ryan was now the official food taster and motivator of Vivian’s kitchen.
Oh, and he occasionally opened jars when asked to.
"It’s okay babe, you’ve got this. Wow! Good knife skills!" He cheered as he washed Vivian make quick work of the onion that had nearly taken his fingers from him. There was not a single tear shed as she did so, and it was an amazing thing to watch.
"How is this?" Vivian asked as she came back from stirring the pots, her tasting spoon held out, she blew lightly on it, and then plopped it into Ryan’s mouth, letting him taste the wonderful spices that she had just added to her broth.
Letting his eyes fall shut, Ryan let all of the flavours settle on his tongue. Then he opened his eyes and gave her his honest opinion.
"It needs just a little bit more salt. Then it will be good," With a nod, Vivian went back to adjust her dish. The next time she came back, she brought a piece of chicken with her. And as he bit into the tender meat, Ryan found himself suddenly failing at being her motivator. All that he could do was moan in pleasure at how good the meat was. In a show of very bad manners, he held the second slice of meat between his teeth and clapped his hands to let her know how good it was. Blushing, Vivian returned to cooking, and Ryan watched her work. Being unbelievably content, as she moved through the kitchen, a realization hit him that left him stunned.
He was not looking at just any random woman cooking. But rather he was looking at his future wife in the kitchen. Suddenly realizing that he would be okay with her being his woman, even in an official sense. Ryan knew that he should have at least been panicking a little bit, but once the thought occurred to him, all that he could feel as a sense of peace.
He was definitely going to ask Vivian Rose to be his wife.