chapter 4

Jack looked a little flustered as he fussed with his shirt and belt buckle that was digging into the underside of his sated stomach.

“Thank you for a wonderful meal Marie” he announced as he stood up “how much do I owe ya?”

“You can thank me for a wonderful meal once you’ve finished” laughed Marie

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve not had dessert yet, how can you thank me for your meal if you’ve not had dessert?!”

Jack once again looked down at his gut and noted how it pressed against his shirt buttons. “I... I really shouldn’t?”

“Why shouldn’t you?” asked Marie “Do you not like dessert or something?”

“It’s not that it’s just that I've eaten so much already and the missus...”

Marie shushed Jack and put her finger to his mouth “I don’t see the missus here Jack, do you?”

Jack shook his head in the negative.

“Tell me Jack, do you like pie?”

Jack silently nodded his reply. Marie made sure to never break eye contact with him.

“I make the sweetest cherry pie that you’ll ever taste, you won’t believe your taste buds it’s so good”

Jack licked his lips as his belly groaned almost in anticipation.

“Would you like to sample my pie Jack?” Marie asked knowingly.

“Yes... I really would”

Marie circled Jack before easing him back into his chair by his shoulders.

“I’ll be right back with a serving just for you.” she whispered into his ear.



Jack took out a handkerchief and dabbed away the sweat that had formed at his brow as Marie once again watched on from the kitchen. She took the pie out from under the heat lamp and cut a slice that was close to being a quarter of the entire dish. She placed it on a plate and deposited a generous helping of whipped cream on the side, snagging a clean fork she made her way back to Jack’s table, making sure to put an extra sway in her step, there was no question where Jack’s attention was as she approached.

“There you go big boy, one generous helping of Marie’s world-famous cherry pie. Enjoy!”

Marie re-took her seat opposite Jack, placing her head on her hands and gazed on with sparkling eyes as she watched the big man take the fork in his hand, he rolled it around in his fingers, as if he was weighing up whether he should eat this pie or not. Marie broke into a big, if not slightly devious smile as he finally took his first bite.

“Mmmm my god that’s good pie!” exclaimed Jack, his mouth still full of flaky pastry and cherry filling.

“I wasn’t lying” smiled Marie.

Jack tore into the pie with gusto, almost as if he hadn’t just eaten two full meals, only pausing occasionally to adjust his shirt and pants. Marie was in heaven watching this mountain of a man give in to his appetite before her, when Jack scooped up the last of the whipped cream, he thought he was finally done with his feast but Marie had other ideas.