Steamed

something to drink.
    “Hey, this is a great place,” Josh said, looking around. “I love the colors in here.”
    “Thanks, I just repainted. I have a bit of a painting disorder, actually. I keep repainting everything and then a few months later change my mind and redo it. It’s a decorating illness, and I expect you to refrain from making fun of me.”
    I heard Josh laugh in the other room while I rummaged in the fridge for something to drink. “Josh, I have water or milk. I’m sorry, I don’t seem to have anything else.”
    “Any chance you have any coffee? I’m sort of beat from today.”
    “Um, possibly. I’ll give it a try,” I muttered. I set the cof-feemaker up and went back to sit next to Josh. I was all tingly again, seated in my place beside this chef. His chef’s coat was full of cooking smells, and although most people would have said that he stank to high heaven, I thought he smelled delicious.
    Josh must have caught me sniffing. Suddenly, he looked embarrassed. “Sorry, I’m sure I reek from being in the kitchen all day. I’m going to go grab a change of clothes from the car and just freshen up.”
    “No, no! I’m sorry. You do smell. I mean, not in a bad way. I like it, really.” Wonderful, now I’ve told him he smells.
    “You’re funny and very nice, but I’m still going to change.”
    Josh left to get a change of clothes, returned, and disappeared into the bathroom. As I was pouring us some coffee, I heard Josh talking. “Hello, how are you?” he said. “You’re cute. You and I are going to be friends.”
    He thinks I’m cute? And we’re going to be friends? Hmm...
    “Are you talking to me?” I called out.
    “No, I’m talking to this cat sleeping in your sink.”
    “Oh, that’s Gato,” I said, relieved that Josh wasn’t defining our relationship as destined to be purely platonic. “He sleeps in the sink all the time. Just push him out of the way.” I heard a meow, a long apology from Josh, and then the water running.
    Josh talked from behind the closed bathroom door. “So you and Eric ate at Essence when you went out, huh? What did you think? Aside from the murder, obviously. But what did you think of the food?” He emerged, hair and face slightly wet, wearing worn jeans and a red T-shirt, and looking more scrumptious by the minute.
    “Well,” I said as I walked back to the couch with two mugs, “the menu looked phenomenal, but some of the food wasn’t all that great. I feel bad saying that because Timothy seems like such a nice person, but a couple of the dishes we had were pretty awful.”
    “Really?” he said. “What did you guys order?”
    “Some stuff off the menu, but also food Garrett did as specials for us. So we had some soggy oysters, mealy foie gras ravioli, and a terrible tuna with mustard greens. But the lobster and venison we had were wonderful.”
    “Yeah. Garrett is an all right chef. Great sous chef material, but probably not cut out for an executive chef job yet. Or maybe ever, if you ask me. My own sous chef, Brian, he’s eventually going to be a great executive chef. Right now he isn’t near being ready to handle his own place. I mean, he’s only twenty-one. But he’s hardworking and definitely ambitious. He just needs more experience.” Josh settled himself on the couch and turned his body to face mine.
    “Do you know Garrett well?” I asked.
    “Yeah, actually Garrett and I went to culinary school together, and I wouldn’t exactly say we’re the best of friends. I don’t mind him, but he doesn’t like me much. Not to sound cocky, but we’re both pretty competitive, and I was always a better chef than he was. He’s good, don’t get me wrong, but he pretty much hated me because he knew I could outcook him anytime. There are plenty of other chefs just as good as Garrett, and he knew it. But he knew I was in a different league, and he resented it. And still does.”
    “He did look pretty harried the night I was at Essence, and the food was certainly not spectacular.”
    “He was a strong sous chef, but I don’t think he’s good enough to make Essence anything special. See, my guy, Brian, is different. He can cook. And I show him exactly how to make all the dishes, which is helping him a lot. But he’s still trying to learn all the other parts of being a chef and managing a kitchen. Brian fell to pieces when I was off last Sunday, but I can still tell that he learned from what went wrong and that eventually he’ll