title: Finger Lickin' Good
author: Bailey, Shawn
description: Twenty-four year old Cajun-Frenchman Mikael lands a job at a popular French restaurant in New Orleans. The owner of the restaurant, Auguste Carrier is a big Frenchman with a bad temper and most of his employees are afraid of him.
  
  Though Mikael is small in stature he wins the admiration of all the senior chefs at Chez Auguste when he prepares a pot of gumbo. The other employees are not stupid, even though they like Mikael they’ve also noticed how calm Auguste asks when Mikael is around. So they plot to get the two of them together. Mikael doesn’t want to be known as the boss’ boy-toy so he plans to win the man’s respect with his cooking.
  
  Although he has noticed the confident young chef on the day he was hired, Auguste feels that maybe Mikael might be too young fill the shoes of a professional Sous Chef. The last one left him in a lurch and he doesn’t want that to happen again. But once he samples one bowl of Mikael’s delicious gumbo he realizes that he should not judge a book by its cover.
  
  Mikael bears a striking resembles to Auguste’s dead lover Basil and Auguste wonders if he’s only attracted to him for just that reason. Should his stomach tell his mind what to do, or should he follow his heart?