Chapter 422

The test kitchen was set up like a high school home economics lab. It was actually six individual kitchens with their own sinks, ovens, mixers, and refrigerators. Each kitchen was a ‘U’ shape and three of the six were currently in use. Everyone stopped and stared as Jake pulled her into the room and headed for one of the unused areas. “Right,” he said, as he looked around, getting his bearings. “Um, Jake?” she said, looking at the other people staring at them. “Shh, let me think for a minute.” Emma rolled her lips together and turned away from the curious eyes. Jake moved around the kitchen with a familiarity that belied the suit he was wearing. By the time she had worked out that he was going to make something, he already had a wok-shaped pan on the stove and was putting some wood chips in the bottom of it. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Recreating the truffle,” he said as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. “And I’m here because…?” He pushed the piece of paper acros