Back to Dickens for my final addition to the series. A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS. This story was difficult for me to write because the underlying theme was death of a spouse from Covid. But I felt the story needed to be told no matter how upsetting it was to me to write it. I was able to inject some humor into the tale so that helped. And of course the ending didn’t hurt!!!
Successful Chef Anton Saparosa had the perfect life. Great marriage; beautiful and adoring wife; trendy, SoCal restaurant frequented by celebrities – many of them his friends.
Then Covid hit.
Anton’s perfect life dissolved before his eyes. With nothing left to keep him in California he starts an itinerant cross-country journey searching for something to give his life meaning again.
Happenstance lands him in the tiny town of Dickens just as Dorrit’s Diner is thrown into chaos.
Literary Agent Portia Avon needs a rest. A messy divorce has her craving quiet and the company of her friend and client A.B. Cards, nee Abra Bree. She comes from the western heat of California to the eastern cold of Dickens and plans to do nothing but rest, relax, and read during her holiday stay.
When Portia spots a familiar face in Dorrit’s, she’s confused. Why is Anton Saparosa, one of the most recognizable chefs in California, working as a fry cook in Abra’s mom’s diner, and going by the name Tony Smith?
A question Portia wants an answer to, but one Tony isn’t willing to share, especially with a woman he can’t stop thinking about.
Here ya go, you trope peeps:
small town, christmas vibe, celebrity chef, cooking, surviving loss, loss of a spouse, Post-Covid, mental illness, depression, finding oneself after tragedy,
Peggy Jaeger, Author 