Chapter 4

 

 

When I gave Ricky his check, I was relieved to be getting rid of him. If he didn’t tip well, then I was going to hunt him down and set his car on fire.

The restaurant suddenly burst into applause and cheers. I looked up from the table I was clearing to see what all the commotion was about.

A man was on one knee, placing an engagement ring on his new fiancée’s finger. She was crying and holding her right hand over her heart like she couldn’t believe what was happening.

The guy jumped up and embraced her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. How romantic.

God, I really was bitter.

Antonio emerged from the kitchen, holding up a bottle of wine. “A gift for the happy couple, compliments of the house. Congratulations. May your lives be long and happy together.”

He shook hands with the groom-to-be before placing a kiss on both of the bride-to-be’s cheeks. They accepted the wine happily and resumed their dessert. The woman couldn’t keep her eyes off the big diamond. I could see that thing sparkle from across the room.

Maybe she was with him for the money.

That had to be it.

Antonio gave me a wink before he disappeared back into the kitchen. He had been exceptionally happy all night, giddy with the thought of so much love in the air. Sucker.

I got back to work and cleared Ricky’s table – he’d left me a twenty percent tip. At least he was good for something.

We closed the restaurant at eleven o’clock. Any later and we would have been breaking council trading codes for the district. We started going through the closing procedures which occupied my mind for a little longer.

I was folding napkins for the next day when I noticed Antonio leaning against the kitchen doorframe. His arms were crossed over his chest as he frowned at me.

“What?” I asked, checking to make sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“I’m worried about my sauce,” he replied.

I laughed. Trust him to still be fretting about his sauce hours after my comment. “Your sauce was delicious and you know it. Get over it.”

“I’m thinking of changing the menu.”

“Because of bad sauce?”

He grinned and shook his head. “No. I’ve been experimenting with new dishes. Come, come, I want you to try something for me.”

The last of the waitresses left and we were alone. I guess I could afford to get home late. Only one more hour and the dreaded day would be over. I could survive for that long.

“Fine,” I sighed and trailed after him.

Antonio wasn’t joking when he said he was thinking about changing the menu. He had clearly been working on the new meals for a while.

When I entered the kitchen he had a full three-course meal spread out. Tantalizing aromas wafted from the steaming dishes. All we needed were candles and the setting would be complete.

He pulled out a handful of candles from the cupboard and disbursed them along the bench. Of course he’d have candles, nothing he ever did was less than perfect. “We can’t have a tasting without mood lighting. We need to put ourselves in the customers’ place.”

I slid onto the stool and tried not to drool over the food. “This all looks good. I don’t really think you need a taste testing before you change the menu.”

“I’d still like your opinion.”

He served up the entree – spaghetti alla puttanesca. “Eat slowly and give me your honest opinion.”

I took a small mouthful and tried to keep some semblance of my game face. Unfortunately the taste sensation in my mouth gave me away. “This is fantastic. What’s the spice?”

“It’s Thyme. But don’t tell anyone, it’s my secret.”

“It’s good. Like, really good.”

Antonio seemed to take delight with my reaction. Satisfied I was happy, he ate his own entree. He continued to study me, searching for any sign of my displeasure.

He wouldn’t find any. “So… that story you told me earlier about your grandparents, was it really true?”

“It was. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“It’s sweet. They were only fifteen. Your grandmother saved your grandfather’s life. That’s pretty incredible.”

Antonio switched my plate with the main meal – cacciucco. It looked even better than the entree. Thank goodness I hadn’t had a chance to eat all night. I wanted to enjoy every mouthful of the food.

“In their village,” he began, “they believe that people are cast from the one soul and then split into two. When you find the other half of your soul, your heart knows. Destiny will then go to great lengths to make sure the two parts of a soul are reunited.”

“So destiny brought them together?”

Antonio nodded. “If it wasn’t the storm, then they would have been brought together by something else.”

“But your grandmother wasn’t having any of it,” I pointed out. Three years of taking her flowers was a long time to keep getting turned down.

“Some souls take a bit more time,” Antonio laughed. “But everything happens exactly as it must.”

I picked at the food, pushing it around the plate while I let the story settle. It was nice thinking of soul mates and love that was easy, but life wasn’t like that. Sometimes people were just dogs.

A change of topic was desperately needed. “I think this dish is definitely a winner. It should go on the menu.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah. Is this an old family recipe?”

He chuckled. “I got it off the internet. Another secret. Don’t tell anyone.”

I felt all the stress of the night dissolve from me as I laughed. “Your secret’s safe with me,” I promised.

With my next forkful of food, I somehow managed to slop it on my shirt. Instantly, Antonio was dabbing at it with a cloth. He was so close I could feel the heat of his body and the grazing of his breath.

I’d never noticed how dark and deep his eyes were before. They were like a chocolate fountain, obscenely beautiful.

He must have realized he was inadvertently caressing my perky little breasts as he suddenly stopped and pulled back. His cheeks held a subtle rosy hue. “I think it’s all off. It shouldn’t stain, I don’t think.”

“It’s fine.” I waved him away. “Thank you.”

Antonio made himself busy while avoiding my eye contact. He didn’t need to be embarrassed, it was actually really sweet that he was. It was good to know there were still some gentlemen left in the world.

“So why the change in the menu?” I asked to break the silence before it lingered.

“I felt like we needed something to shake it up a bit,” Antonio explained, grateful for the new topic. “I don’t want the chefs to get bored or the customers to tire of the same food.”

“They say variety is the spice of life.”

“Indeed, they do. This restaurant is my dream, I can’t get complacent because our reservations book is full for the next three weeks.”

“I think people come here for more than the food,” I said. Antonio was half the reason he had such a loyal group of customers. I knew for certain they would continue to patron the restaurant as long as Antonio was at the helm. He was a people person, it was difficult not to like him.

Antonio simply smiled and took the last bite of his dish. I was getting full, my belly sated and happy. I forced the last few bites into my mouth and swallowed them down. My pants were starting to strain.

“I hope you’ve got room for dessert,” he said as he jumped up and started to clear the plates. I quickly scrambled to help, not wanting him to clean up after he had gone to so much trouble for the meal. “Don’t worry about this, it can all wait.”

“I don’t mind.”

Antonio took the plates from my hands and placed them in the sink. “Dessert cannot wait. Dishes can. Grab your things, we’re going.”

“Going where?”

“Ah, to enjoy dessert on Valentine’s Day, one must experience Valentine’s Day.”

And that was all he would tell me about the matter.