“Nonsense. I learned years ago to trust Eric’s instinct. If he wants you to join us, then you should. The rest of the team is waiting in the conference room,” she said, taking Eric’s arm and leading them down the hall.
When they got to the room with the long narrow table and amazing view, Julie tried to hide in a seat in the corner, but Eric guided her into the chair next to his. Josephine and three others, another woman and two men, sat across from them. Julie could tell by their expressions that they were wondering who she was and what she was doing there. She was wondering the same thing. She had no business sitting in – none beyond the fact that Eric seemed to want her – and no idea what the meeting was about although she imagined it had something to do with the strange objects in the center of the table.
She recognized some of them. There was a green egg shaped thing she was pretty sure was a vegetable peeler and a long thin grater thing, but the rest of the items had her stymied. She’d have to leave the cooking to Eric. She’d have no idea what in the world to do with some of those things. Wishing she had a tablet so she could pretend to be taking notes, she folded her hands on her lap and listened as the man to Josephine’s right started talking about cookbook concepts and product tie ins. After a few minutes listening to the man go on and on about how they’d be able to sell a complete line of accessories along with the cookware, her eyes were starting to glaze and she was feeling the four in the morning start.
She glanced at Eric, but if he was tired he didn’t show it. He looked alert and attentive and while his energy was lower than it had been on camera, he still seemed vibrant and somehow more alive than the other people in the room. With perhaps the exception of Josephine. Within moments of meeting the woman Julie could tell she had some of the same spark that Eric had.
Eric must have sensed her watching him because he turned and smiled at her, focusing all that energy on her. Her body came to life at his attention almost as if she was somehow tethered to him. Even in a room full of people where she felt uncomfortable and out of place, some part of her looked at him and saw home. It scared her a little how quickly her focus could narrow to what he needed from her.
“What do you think, Jules? Would you use them?” he asked.
It took her a moment to realize what he was asking, and she shook her head no before she thought to censor herself. Crap, here she was in a meeting she didn’t belong in and she’d just told these people she wouldn’t use products with Eric’s brand.Very smooth, Julie.
“I would buy them,” she said, trying to fix things but the damage was done.
“You’d buy them, but you wouldn’t use them?” The man across the table who’d been going on and on about product tie ins looked at her like she was something distasteful.
Julie froze, not sure what to say that wouldn’t make things worse.
“Why, cher?” Eric asked, pinning her with his gaze. “Tell me the truth.”
She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts before she spoke because if she ever lied to Eric again, it wouldn’t be over cooking utensils.
“I might buy them if I thought I was supposed to, but I wouldn’t use them because I don’t know how to.”
The man across from her looked at her like she was an idiot, but Josephine shifted forward slightly, listening to what she said.
“Don’t you watch, Eric’s cooking shows?” asked the only other woman at the table.
Her voice held a hint of the worshipful tone the receptionist’s had and Julie fought the urge to roll her eyes. He couldn’t have slept with all of them. Except he could have. Eric could have any woman he wanted and probably had.
“Of course, I watch them and Bobby Flay, Nigella Lawson and Top Chef. I love my food porn as much as anyone. That doesn’t mean I can do more than burn toast.” Beside her, Eric made that French snorting sound that always made her laugh when she was angry, but it was the expression of superiority and disgust on the face of the woman across the table that made her keep talking. “I can’t cook, and despite my love of cooking shows and food, I don’t really want to learn.”
She couldn’t risk looking at Eric. She’d never be able to keep talking if she saw disapproval on his face. The woman with the Eric God complex looked over the top of her glasses at Julie like she’d just made her point. “If that’s the case, why should we care about your opinion?” she asked her superiority oozing across the table.
“Because there are a ton of people like me,” Julie said, realizing that was true. Plenty of people talked about cooking and food shows, but most of the ones she knew didn’t spend much time in the kitchen.
“But if you would still buy these.” Josephine waved a manicured hand at the assortment of tools. “Why shouldn’t we try to sell them to you?”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t. You’d get my money, at least initially. I’m just not sure it’s what’s best for Eric’s brand.” When she thought about it in relation to helping Eric her opinion crystalized into a clear thought.
The people across the table looked at her with expressions ranging from pity at her simplemindedness to smug distaste. Only Josephine wasn’t dismissing her. “What makes you think that?” asked the older woman.
“Those things are just going to sit in my kitchen drawer and make me feel bad about myself, mocking me for what I can’t do. Who wants to spend money to feel like a failure? I might do it once, but I’m not going to go back for seconds. And I’m certainly not going to tell my friends about it.” Julie snuck a glance at Eric and was relieved to see him nodding thoughtfully without the clenched jaw he got when he was mad.
“Okay,” said Josephine, leaning forward. Her team must have sensed that something had shifted in the room because despite their still condescending expressions, Julie could tell they were listening. “How do people like us get people like you to spend your hard earned money on something that makes you feel good and has Chef Auxtres’s name on it.”
Julie thought for a moment. She honestly hadn’t ever considered the idea and she respected the other woman and Eric too much to give a flippant answer.
“Cookbooks are good,” she said, motioning the cover and concept ideas spread out next to the peelers and graters. “They’re essentially food porn in print. I might not care about trying the recipes myself, but I love looking at the pictures and reading about the ingredients and such.” And then she knew exactly what they could sell people like her but she cringed at the idea of saying it in front of Eric.
“What are you thinking?” asked Josephine. “Your expression just changed.”
“I know what I would buy, but I’m not sure Chef Auxtres is going to approve.”
Beside her, Eric gave a harrumph and Julie could practically hear him thinkinglike that’s ever stopped her before.
“Just say it, cher.”
