Menu for Romance (18 page)

His heart pounded, and he really needed a bottle of water from the case he’d seen in the pantry. “What’s wrong?”

“First, you need to remember to breathe. You’re talking way too fast.”

“Right. Breathe. What else?” He took a couple of gulps of air to prove he could do what she said.

“Don’t say
all right
at the beginning of each sentence and end each sentence with
okay,
okay?” She nodded her head.

“Right. No
all rights
or
okays.
”

“Ready to go again?”

He gave her a thumbs-up. “Ready.” He launched into his explanation of defrosting meat again, trying to slow down the words tumbling out of his mouth and stumbling each time he was about to say the no-no words.

“Let me stop you again, Chef.” Pricilla sounded a little more frustrated this time. Major knew just how she felt.

“Still too fast?”

“A little bit. But the problem is that you don’t sound like you’re talking to a person. You sound like you’re talking to a camera. Forget that it’s a piece of equipment. Pretend that there’s someone you know really well, who doesn’t know how to cook, sitting right here across from you. Talk to that
person.
In your head, carry on a conversation with them. Imagine their reactions to what you’re saying. Can you do that?”

“Imagine a person, right.” A person. A person who didn’t know how to cook. Slowly, a grin split his lips. Meredith. Of course. The one person he’d love to spend time with in the kitchen more than anyone else. Imagine Meredith sitting here, taking cooking lessons from him. Imagine this was his kitchen and Meredith was here with him, lending her moral support and gazing on him affectionately with those wonderfully expressive brown eyes.

“Let’s try it again.” Pricilla made another notation on her clipboard and moved back behind the camera.

For the next six hours, Major talked to Meredith—through the camera—and created dishes he knew she would be able to recreate if she put her mind to it. Finally, at four o’clock after Nelson got closeup shots of the plated dishes, Pricilla called it a wrap.

Having cleaned as he went—as he’d been taught to do by Aunt Maggie—Major didn’t have much cleanup to finish, so he immediately set to it, eager to run up to the office to find out how everything had gone today.

“Now, when you come in Thursday to do the voice-over—”

He whipped around at Pricilla’s words. “What? Where am I supposed to go Thursday?”

“Didn’t I tell you we’d need you to come in and do some voiceovers for where we’ve edited the segment down?” The corner of her mouth pulled down in a sheepish expression.

“No. I wasn’t told I’d have to do more than just filming on Tuesdays. How much time do you think it’ll take?” He couldn’t afford any more time away from work. And if he started the restaurant, he’d need every hour he could get.

“An hour, maybe ninety minutes. You’ll get to watch the edited segment through and write out what to say to bridge where we’ve condensed. Remember, this is fitting into a fifteen-minute segment. It’s just too bad that everyone at the studio won’t get a chance to taste it, because just what you fixed us for lunch was fabulous.”

“Thanks.” Yeah, having to cater lunch for all of Alaine’s coworkers would be the cherry on top of this hot-stress sundae. He rummaged around in her cabinets for storage containers. He separated all the food out into single serving sizes and labeled everything with the masking tape and marker he found in one of the drawers. Too bad he hadn’t thought to bring a disposable takeaway box so that he’d have something to take back to Meredith.

He hummed as he worked, enjoying the sense of accomplishment that washing the last few dishes gave him. By the time Alaine’s kitchen was as spotless as it had been when he’d walked in, Pricilla and Nelson had finished loading their equipment in the van.

Pricilla came back in and closed the garage door then ushered Major out the front, locking the door behind them. She gave Major a funny look as they walked down the steps.

“What?”

“You’re going to want to wash that makeup off as soon as you get home. Most people complain that their faces break out pretty bad if they wear it for more than a couple of hours.”

His face suddenly started itching again. “Thanks. I’ll do that.” He had to go right past his complex on his way to the office, so he might as well stop and do it there.

“See you Thursday,” Pricilla called, swinging up into the passenger seat of the van.

He waved and climbed into Kirby. As he drove home, he reviewed the day. Thank goodness Pricilla had the idea to tell him to imagine talking to someone. He’d be forever indebted to Meredith for helping him make it through his first day of filming. Maybe one day he’d really have the chance to spend that much time with her one-on-one.

He just hoped it wasn’t so she could cook for Ward Breaux or any other man.

As the weeks dwindled down to days and then hours before the Hearts to HEARTS banquet, Meredith began to realize just how hard her New Year’s resolution was going to be to fulfill. Though she had been asked out twice since Antoine’s invitation, and had even gone out with one of the guys, she just couldn’t seem to find anyone she wanted to spend a whole evening with, let alone the rest of her life. And while she enjoyed Ward’s company, she couldn’t force herself to fall in love with him.

She stared out over the city from the glass-front elevator. Truth of the matter was, no matter how hard she tried to get over Major, each man she met seemed to reinforce just how deep her feelings for him ran.

Fat lotta good being in love with him would do for her, though. That he was falling for Alaine Delacroix couldn’t be any more apparent—from the tanning to the teeth whitening to going to the gym and losing weight, he seemed to be doing everything he could to make himself fit the image of a man someone like Alaine would deign to be seen with.

Shame tingled on her skin. Alaine had never been anything but friendly with Meredith, and she couldn’t allow her own jealousy to shine an unflattering and untrue light on the reporter.

The elevator doors slid open on the twenty-third floor. Speaking of Alaine ...

The facilities staff swarmed the enormous floor space of Vue de Ceil, with a cameraman and his spotter hustling around in the chaos getting shots of the setup. Meredith jinked and dodged through the mayhem to get to the service corridor on the other side. She wished she could stop and enjoy the way the red and orange sunset made the banquet facility glow, but she did at least spare it a moment’s glance, hoping tomorrow’s sunset would be just as spectacular.

The pandemonium in the kitchen wasn’t at quite the fevered pitch of the banquet hall, though the presence of another cameraman and spotter, along with Alaine and her producer, did make it feel much more crowded than usual.

“Hey, Meredith.” Alaine waved in greeting.

Meredith slipped through the busy cooks and porters to join her. “How long have y’all been here?”

“Since nine this morning. Well, not me, because I had to do my show. But Pricilla and Nelson were here at nine to start filming prep. I brought everyone else with me after the show wrapped. Good thing this was Major’s regular day for filming and that the banquet is our feature for his segment this week.”

Meredith moved out of the way as a prep cook came out of the walk-in refrigerator behind them with a crate of pears. “My mother said something to me about Major and me meeting you at the studio Friday?”

“Yes—didn’t my intern call you?” Alaine shook her head, her plump curls bouncing around her shoulders. “I’ll have to have a word with him. You and Major are my featured guests on the show Friday.”

“On the show—
on
the
show?
” Meredith’s legs wanted to give out on her.

“Yes. It’s going to be clips of the event—and all of the stuff we’ve filmed up until now—interspersed with live chat with the two of you about it. Don’t worry; you’ll be fine. You did great in our interview.”

“Yeah, well, that was just the two of us in my office. I’m sure you’ve got a bunch of people in the studio watching when you do your show.” She stuffed her hands into her pants pockets to keep from wiping the sweat on the ivory fabric.

Alaine patted her shoulder. “It’ll be okay; I promise.” She glanced over at the prep cook who was in the process of peeling and coring the pears. “What are those for?”

“Poached pears with ginger crumble. One of the three dessert choices the diners were given.” She was particularly glad Mrs. Warner and the board had stayed away from the two desserts containing tropical fruit. Though she trusted Major’s staff to be cautious about cross-contamination of foods such as raw meats, most prep cooks didn’t worry about cleaning and sanitizing a work surface between cutting up different types of fruit. And if someone who’d been working on the tropical fruit touched something else that then touched something Meredith might eat that night...

She shuddered. The memory of the last time she’d eaten something that had been cut on the same surface as kiwi wasn’t pleasant. Her throat had been sore from the breathing tube for nearly a week afterward. But at least it’d kept her from suffocating when the swelling from the allergic reaction nearly closed her windpipe.

“How did that whole thing work? I know you and Mrs. Warner narrowed down the choices from what was presented to the board a few weeks ago.” Alaine pulled her pen from behind her ear, ready to write on the steno pad in her left hand.

“Once we narrowed that down, I had menus made up giving each banquet attendee a choice of starter salad, protein—from red meat, poultry, seafood, or vegetarian—and dessert. The menus will be at each place, and the wait staff will take the guests’ orders as they serve beverages.” Meredith glanced around for Major but didn’t see him. She didn’t really need to talk to him, but coming up to ask Alaine about Friday had been all the excuse she’d needed for an opportunity to bump into Major.

“But all of the meals are served at the same time?” Alaine scribbled on her notepad.

“Yes. Dinner service is at seven o’clock sharp.”

“How do you know how many of each dish to prepare?”

“Based on the percentages of how many chose similar dishes last year,” Major said, and Meredith turned, heart thrumming. “Hey, there.”

“Hi.” She wanted to think that the warmth of his smile, the soft expression in his eyes were for her—but who was she kidding? No man in his right mind would look at her like that when she was standing next to someone like Alaine. Just as she’d only seen that kind of expression in men’s faces whenever she was with Jenn.

“What brings you up to the kitchen? Everything okay?” Though he looked at Meredith, his attention was most definitely divided between her and what was going on in his domain.

“I needed to ask Alaine a question about Friday.”

“Yeah.” He crossed his arms as his gaze wandered over his staff. “That sort of took me by surprise, too. But it’ll be easier to do it together.”

“Chef!”

“Gotta go.” He squeezed Meredith’s shoulder and disappeared into the intricate ballet dance of a frenzied kitchen.

“I guess I’d better head back downstairs and get back to work myself.” Meredith sighed.

“What are you working on today?” Alaine looked as if she wanted to follow Meredith back to her office, which was the last thing she needed.

“All of the last-minute details—confirming all vendors and deliveries for items not arriving until late tonight or tomorrow, coordinating with all departments involved to make sure the work is getting done”—her cell phone started ringing—“and fielding lots of phone calls.”

Alaine grimaced. “I won’t keep you, then. See you around.”

“See you.” Meredith answered the phone as soon as she stepped out into the nominally quieter hallway. “This is Meredith.”

“Mere, it’s Corie. You’d better get down here. I’ve got the florist on the phone—he says it’s urgent.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Instead of risking the stop-and-go pace of the main elevators, Meredith opted for the freight elevator across from her, which let her off just across the hall from the executive kitchen on the fifth floor. She swiped her security card and dashed through the dim kitchen and dining room to her office.

“Which line?” Three of them flashed, signaling they were on hold. “Two.”

Meredith took a deep breath. “This is Meredith Guidry.”

What had sounded like an emergency turned out only to be a glitch with the schedule for delivery of the centerpieces. She dealt with it and moved on to the uniform supplier on line one and the symphony director on line three, who wanted to inform her she was getting four violins and two violas instead of three and three as originally planned.

In a brief respite between phone calls, Meredith finally took the aspirin she’d been thinking about taking for her headache all afternoon.

Corie knocked on her open door and stepped inside the office. “I just got off the phone with Giovanni’s. The pizza is on its way.”

“Great. Thanks for handling that.” Meredith picked up the phone and dialed the extension for the Vue de Ceil kitchen.

“Catering division, Steven LeBlanc speaking.”

“Steven, it’s Meredith. Is Major easily accessible?”

“Sure. Hold on just a second.” The freight-train sound of the busy kitchen was replaced by soft classical music for a moment until Major picked up.

“Hey, Mere. What’s up?”

“The pizza’s on the way here. How do you want to handle sending folks down to eat?”

“Let’s send the facilities staff down first. It’ll be easier for them just to stop what they’re doing and take a dinner break. Once they’re fed, I’ll have my crew come down as they get to stopping points. I’ll send a couple of porters down with the ice chests of sodas, but other than that, the executive dining room should be set up for buffet service.”

“Mind if I keep your porters and have them help sort pizzas and get everything organized?”

“I figured you would. They’ll be down in a minute.”

Meredith rubbed the back of her neck. “Remind me why we decided against canceling lunch service today?”

“We?” He chuckled. “I thought that command came down from on high.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“See you in a bit.”

“Bye.” Her hand lingered on the receiver for a few seconds after she hung up. How would she do this without him? She almost snorted at the irony. Maybe if he did decide to start the restaurant, she should take Ward up on his offer to work as his interior designer so she didn’t have to find out how horrible this kind of event would be without Major at her right hand.

She leaned back in her chair and let her eyes wander over the features of her office—wrecked though it was currently. Seeing Corie, Pam, and Lori bustling around in the outer office warmed the cockles of her heart. And though right now it seemed crazy, she was actually excited about the banquet tomorrow night. She couldn’t wait to see the looks on the board members’ faces when they walked in and saw how the thousands of candles sparkled off the glass walls and ceiling.

She thought about Easter in the Park and the library fundraiser in May. She couldn’t think of anyone her parents might hire to replace her who would put heart and soul into those events the way she would. She pressed her thumbs and forefingers to the corners of her eyes.

Truth of the matter was—she liked her job. Despite the fact her parents had little respect for her position, doing her job gave her pleasure. And even with as much as she enjoyed working on her house for the past couple of months, she knew she wouldn’t get as much pleasure from remodeling and redecorating houses as she got from planning events. God had given her the heart, mind, and soul to be doing exactly what she was doing.

And there was always the slight possibility that Major might not take her parents’ offer.

Around seven o’clock, Major went to each station in the kitchen and told his people to go down to eat as soon as they got to a point where they could stop.

Steven returned from his quick dinner break, allowing Major the opportunity to go grab a bite. Out in the main room, the facilities staff were just getting back to work, and Alaine stood over to one side, talking to her people as they packed up equipment.

He detoured over to them. “Calling it a night?”

“They are. I’m going to stick around awhile longer if that’s okay with you.” Alaine pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

“That’s fine. Why don’t y’all come down and grab some pizza before you go.” He nodded toward the freight elevator. “This one takes us practically right to where the food is set up.”

Only one of the camera assistants didn’t want to stay. Major led the rest of them down to the fifth floor. Most of his kitchen staff sat around the carved mahogany tables in the executive dining room—a place none of them had probably ever dreamed of eating a meal, even though the pizza was served on paper plates.

The two event planners, Pam and Lori, along with Meredith’s assistant, sat with pastry chefs Sandra and Jeff, having what looked like a very entertaining discussion. Major glanced around the room again. He hadn’t been mistaken—no Meredith.

Corie got up and came over to him. “She’s still in her office. Maybe you might have better luck convincing her to take a break and come get something to eat.”

“I’ll give it a shot.” He went across the hall to Meredith’s office. Her door was half shut. He knocked lightly and pushed it open.

Meredith and Mairee looked up from the large piece of paper they were leaning over, spread on Meredith’s table.

“Everything okay?” Meredith asked, her eyes begging him to say yes.

“I was just getting ready to ask you the same question.” He nodded toward the table-layout schematic.

Meredith rubbed the back of her neck. “Just a few last-minute RSVP changes, so we’re having to rearrange some of the seating assignments.”

“Additions?” He joined them at the table.

“Yes.” Meredith pointed to an eight-top table she’d penciled in. “But it works here. Remember how you and Orly kept saying that side of the room looked unbalanced? Well, now it’s balanced.”

He nodded. “I reviewed the original with Jana this afternoon for server assignments, so I’ll be sure to inform her of the change tomorrow before the staff arrive so she can adjust coverage if she needs to.”

“Well, I’m going to leave this in your more-than-capable hands.” Mairee put her hand to the small of Meredith’s back. “Meredith and Major, you’ve done a wonderful job on the preparation, and I know tomorrow night is going to be spectacular.” With a smile trailing behind her, she turned toward her own office, her gait a bit stiff.

Meredith left the floor plan on the table and went around to collapse in her desk chair.

Major followed and grabbed her hands. “Nope, come on. You need something to eat.”

“I’m too exhausted to eat.” She resisted his gentle tugging for a few seconds, then, with a sigh, got back out of her chair. “All right. I’m coming.”