Chapter 7
“Sal, you can’t be serious!” Hayley said, staring at the hundred-dollar bill he had just slapped down on her desk.
“It’s been a rough year, Hayley,” Sal said, shrugging. “I have to cut corners where I can, and one way to do that is to scale back on the Christmas party. I’m sure people will be just fine with some spiked fruit punch and a few cans of Planters Mixed Nuts. It’s really about being together to celebrate the holidays, right?”
“But you put me in charge. I already hired a caterer. I was expecting five times this amount.”
“Then I’m afraid you’re way over budget. Just call this chef guy and tell him this is the amount he has to work with,” Sal said, not quite understanding the severity of the situation.
“But I’m sure he’s already at the market buying ingredients!”
“Then why are you still sitting here, talking to me? You should be trying to get him on the phone.”
Sal ambled back to his office as Hayley grabbed the receiver and looked up Garth Rawlings in her list of contacts on her desktop computer.
She punched in the number on the office phone. It rang a few times before Garth answered, distracted and irritated. “What?”
“Garth, it’s Hayley Powell.”
“Hayley, I can’t talk right now. I’m going up and down the spice aisle looking for cayenne pepper, which I need for my sweet and spicy sesame walnuts, and I think they’re out. Why would I expect this store to even carry the basic spices? Do you know how hard it is for a master chef to live in a rural, backwoods hick town?”
“I wouldn’t exactly describe Bar Harbor as ‘backwoods’—”
“They don’t even have cayenne pepper, Hayley!”
“Point taken.”
“Now I’m going to have to improvise and figure out a decent substitution. Can I call you back?”
“Garth, wait. I really need to talk to you. It turns out I don’t have as much money to spend on the party as I originally thought.”
There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.
“So you may have to dial it back a bit,” Hayley said.
“How much are we talking about?” Garth finally said, his tone colder than an Alaskan ice cap.
“A hundred bucks,” Hayley said, swallowing hard.
There was a click.
“Garth? Hello? Garth?”
She called him back.
It rang four times.
She got his voice mail.
She waited a minute and called him again.
This time he picked up.
“What?”
“I know it’s not a lot of money, but how about we spend fifty of it on a nice fruit punch and the rest on one or two of your signature Christmas appetizers?”
“And what about my fee? I don’t cook for kicks! What do I look like? A fat man with a white beard in a red suit? We’re done here, Hayley!”
“Garth, please. We can work something out.”
“Forget it! I am so tired of you cash-poor local yokels taking advantage of my talents!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
There was a loud crash and sudden commotion on the other end of the phone.
“Garth? Is everything all right?”
“No, everything’s not all right! You’ve wasted my morning and now there’s someone here threatening to call the police.”
“Police? Why?”
“It’s your fault! You’re the one who made me so mad I hurled my grocery cart down the aisle and hit the box boy stocking some Malabar Black Peppercorn Grinders on the shelf!”
“Omigod! Is he okay?”
“He got knocked down, but he’s still conscious,” Garth said before screaming, “Stop being a baby! It’s not like you’re bleeding or anything!”
“Garth, you need to make sure he’s okay.”
“Good-bye, Hayley! I never want you to call me again!”
There was another click.
Hayley sighed. She knew it was now her responsibility to prepare everything for the last-minute office Christmas party.
She mentally ticked off the ingredients in her cupboard and spice rack. She knew she had a block of Brie and some onions in her fridge. If she picked up a package of puff pastry shells, she could whip up some onion-and-Brie palmiers. She was also fairly certain she already had what she needed to bake her crispy ham and cheese balls. And if she could thaw some frozen crabmeat in time, maybe she could prepare some jumbo lump crabmeat and Boursin dip.
She checked her watch: 9:30 A.M.
The clock was ticking.
Sal would have to agree to give her the rest of the day off to cook. Otherwise, he would have to weather the blows from his disappointed and hungry staff and accept the fact that this year’s office Christmas party was a major bust.
Hayley called Sal’s line and told him she was running to the store. Then she grabbed her bag from underneath the desk and stuffed the hundred-dollar bill in her pocket when the phone rang.
The caller ID was Dr. Aaron Palmer.
She quickly picked up. “Aaron, I’m so sorry, but I can’t talk right now. I’m having a bit of an emergency—”
“Mom, it’s me.”
Gemma.
Gemma was on a work-study program and spent two and a half days a week helping Aaron out by answering phones at his office. It was the perfect way for the aspiring young vet to get hands-on experience and extra credit, plus make a few extra bucks to go Christmas shopping.
“Is everything okay?”
“No! Guess who came in here today with her grandson’s hamster!”
“Honey, I really don’t have time—”
“Missy Anne Higgins!”
Hayley’s heart sank.
“Apparently, the hamster isn’t eating and her grandson is all upset that he’s going to die, so she rushed in here, begging Dr. Palmer to save him!”
Hayley knew where this was going.
“Let me guess. She barely set the cage down before asking you if Lex and I are back together?”
“Yes! I said no, because you’re not, right?”
“No, we’re not.”
“And that’s when she said she was confused because she saw the two of you kissing in his hospital room. Which is a total lie, right, Mom?”
Hayley sighed.
“Mom?”
“Not exactly.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain everything later.”
“Mom, you can’t break Dr. Palmer’s heart. He might not write me a good college recommendation if he hates you.”
“Well, I’m happy you’re not making this about you, Gemma. Now can I talk to him, please?”
“No. He’s with a Napoleon Longhair cat with an ear infection.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll try him later. I have to go, Gemma. I have a lot to do today.”
Hayley hung up and immediately fished her cell phone out of her bag.
She texted Aaron: Need to talk to you. ASAP.
Hayley then grabbed her coat and headed out the door. She was fairly certain she would not hear back from Aaron until he was good and ready. After hearing Missy Anne Higgins’s breathless recounting of how Hayley and her former beau were lip-locked at the local hospital, Aaron would probably need some time to cool down.