by Joyce Jordan
An expensive car zipped along and stopped right in front of them. The valet guy was grinning from ear to ear, excited about driving the car. Someone steeped from behind them and took the keys. Conrad! That was Conrad’s car? Wow. Moira and Serenity gaped. Then Moira felt Sam pulling her along and opening the back door for her. She looked around and saw Serenity being guided to the front seat by Conrad.
“Sam what’s going on?” she finally asked.
“Something has come up. I need to meet with Lucas, and Conrad offered to drive you home,” he replied as he put his phone in his pocket.
“We could take a cab. We wouldn’t want to impose,” she answered him.
“I know, but he insisted,” he replied.
“Yes, I insist. After all I had come to see Lucas and now that he is busy, I’m leaving too,” he said all too innocently for Moira’s peace of mind.
Since Serenity was already in the car, all buckled up and hands all over the front seat, Moira decided not to make a scene. If Sam found out that Conrad had propositioned her, there would be a Miami war. So she got into the car and buckled up too.
Fortunately it was a relatively short ride, with Serenity doing most of the talking. And thankfully this time about Orlando in between giving him directions.
“Nice ride,” Serenity said when he stopped in front of their apartment.
Yes, nice ride, Moira thought too. Although she wasn’t sure what car it was. With so many rich Miami boys, it was hard to keep up with their little toys. She tried to open the door as soon as she had unbuckled herself, but found the door already open. Conrad had already helped Serenity out and he had his hand extended to help her out. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she took it because it would have been hard trying to extricate herself from the low seat. She had become so used to her Rav4 which was a little higher than a regular sedan, and this little toy had even way lower seating than a sedan.
Moira tried to let go of his hand when she was out of the car, but found Conrad holding onto her hand a little tighter than was required. “Thanks for the ride. You don’t have to see us inside.”
“I promised Sam that I would see you safe and sound indoors,” he responded and winked at Serenity.
Just then they heard Jeff calling from across the parking lot. Moira felt his grip going tighter on her wrist before he released it only to interlock their fingers. Jeff came to an abrupt stop when he got close and realized who they were with. To say he was surprised would have been an understatement. Then he moved forward and hugged Serenity then Moira. Moira used one hand to hug Jeff back because Conrad wouldn’t release her other hand. The greetings between the two men were more like grunts than words. It became awkard as Jeff and Conrad stared at each other. Even Serenity was as quiet as a church mouse. Finally Jeff said he would wait for them on their doorstep. Maybe it was a form of victory to say I am not leaving, Moira thought to herself. Conrad smiled as if to say you don’t know who you are messing with.
“What’s going on?” Serenity finally found her voice and asked.
“Nothing. It was nice meeting you Serenity. I hope we get to meet again soon,” Conrad said to her then stepped closer and kissed her on the cheek.
Meet gain soon? Whatever for? While Moira was pondering those words and finally coming to the conclusion that it was just a polite way of saying goodbye, Serenity had responded and was moving to join Jeff. Then she felt Conrad’s gaze on her.
Moira tugged her hand and tried to pull away, but Conrad held steady and pulled her even closer with his other hand at her waist. “Conrad…” she managed to say before he took her lips with his. The kiss was hot, hot, hot. And fast. Hot and fast. All thought left Moira’s head and she opened her mouth when he demanded entrance to her mouth. He bit her bottom lip, then soothed it with his tounge before he slowed the kiss down and reluctantly let her lips go.
“What was that?” Moira whispered breathlessly.
“We will talk tomorrow. Now go and be with your friends,” he told her and stepped away then got into his car.
Dazed Moira looked at him as he drove away. She took a deep breath then turned to face Serenity and Jeff who were at the door. One with a huge grin on her face and the other with a huge scowl on his face. He walked up to them and pulled the keys from her purse, opened the door and walked through to her bedroom. She threw the dress into the laundry bin and walked into the shower stall. This was one of the reasons she had agreed to move to this apartment complex. It has shower stalls rather than shower heads in the tub. Moira washed all the filth from the dancing last night then shampooed her hair and left the bathroom when she realized she couldn’t stay cooped up in there all day long. Besides Serenity needed to use the bathroom too.
“Well, well, well. If that wasn’t a show of someone marking his territory I’m an alien,” Serenity said with a smile.
Moira should have known Serenity would pounce on her the minute she got the chance. “Oh God! I was hoping that was just a dream, and it didn’t happen in broad daylight.”
“If you have any doubts, just look at Jeff’s scowl. What’s up with those two, by the way? Earlier I got the feeling that they were like bulls ready to fight,” Serenity said.
“Conrad doesn’t like Jeff because he thinks he is trying to ask me out and since Jeff is a player I shouldn’t go out with him. Then Jeff doesn’t like Conrad for basically the same reasons. Neither believes I am not interested in the other,” Moira replied.
“Well, yeah, you have never been interested in Jeff. But Conrad is another matter. You say you are not, but your body and eyes gravitate to him. Stop fighting what your body wants and just feel.”
“Jeff came to see you, so you better take that shower,” Moira said and escaped to the bedroom. She heard Serenity chuckle and knew her friend was aware that she was trying to evade talking about Conrad.
Moira pulled a pair of sweats and a t-shirt then walked barefoot back to the sitting room. She found Jeff flipping channels and with a beer in his hand.
“I thought you said you weren’t seeing Conrad King,” he accused her.
“That’s right. I’m not.”
“Well what was that kiss in the parking lot. In another minute you would have been having sex on the hood of his car,” he said.
Moira couldn’t help laughing. Simply because she had thought the same thing too.
“What’s funny?” Serenity said as she joined them.
“Moira thinks it’s funny that I mentioned there was a possibility of her having sex with Conrad King outside.”
“Well, that would have been hot,” Serenity said with a grin.
Jeff looked at her perplexed and asked, “You too are a fan?”
“Well, he looks like a nice guy. He is interested in Moira and I say go for it. What’s your problem with that Jeff?”
“He is one of the top playboys in Miami. And Moira could get hurt,” he said on a huff.
“Isn’t that like the kettle calling the pot black, Jeff? Didn’t you ask me out while you were busy banging some other chicks? Sylvia and Jane? You think I didn’t know? How are you so different from Conrad?”
Moira saw the surprise on Jeff’s face, before he masked it and said, “Okay, okay. I get it. I’ll stay out of it, but let me just say one last thing, ‘be careful’.”
Moira smiled and thanked him, then they moved on to other things. Jeff heard that Moira was going to visit Orlando soon and said he wanted to come too. He hadn’t been to Orlando in a while and it would be nice to see some old friends he had who also lived in that area. Soon they were making plans to drive there before the end of the month. Moira hoped that Sam wouldn’t blow a gasket about the drive since Jeff would be going with her this time.
A little after two, Serenity said she needed to hit the road so she could get to Orlando while it was still light. Moira went to help her with her bag and shopping bags she had collected from their retail therapy yesterday afternoon. Jeff came to help out with the larger bag she had brought fr
om Orlando and carried it to her car. The two girls carried the shopping bags and placed them in the trunk of her little Honda Civic.
“Drive safe,” Moira said to her as they hugged.
Sam arrived back as Moira was getting back in after she had said goodbye to Jeff too.
“Bad day?” Moira asked as he slumped into the sofa. She brought him a beer and they shared the nuts she put on the coffee table.
“Had to fire an employee who was stealing bottles of fine wine and some very expensive brandy bottles,” he replied.
“Ouch! Sorry about that. I can’t imagine having to fire someone.”
A few minutes later, Tony from the club and another guy, Charles came over. He brushed off Moira’s apology with a smile and was gracious enough not to give a by-play of the events to Sam and Charles. Before long a few other friends came over again, some were carrying six packs, others pizza. Knowing this was going to get rowdy soon, Moira left them to their sports.
She took a long nap and missed a couple of calls from Serenity. She called her back as soon as she was awake. She caught her just arriving in Orlando and they chatted for a short while before Moira had to let her go so she could concentrate on the heavy traffic into town. Before they hung up, she told him she had to apologize to Tony who apparently had been invited by Sam to come and watch football.
Moira walked into the kitchen and was about to start cooking when Sam came in and told her they had ordered some burgers, fries and wings which one of the guys had gone to pick up. Greatful she didn’t have to cook for so many men, she decided to while away time by making a cake. By the time dinner was brought in, Moira’s cake was almost done. There was some confusion on who ordered what burger but finally that got settled and everybody was eating and watching the game. Though Moira thout it was more like less of eating and more of shouting at the flatscreen. She iced her cake and left it in the center of the island in the kitchen and wasn’t surprised to find it gone the next morning.
Chapter Twelve
By 5:30am the next morning, Moira already had a few cakes baking in the ovens. Next she tackled sconnes and muffins. For whatever reason, Mondays were the busiest breakfast days. By the time Vinny arrived at 6:15am, a few were already seating on the cooling racks. Moira continued baking and Vinny took over the icing of the cakes for the lunch dessert. Chocolate cake was a must, it was a popular hit. Moira alternated between double and triple layered chocolate cakes each day, and on Wednesdays she placed a white layer in the middle which had become a favourite of some employees that liked the option of both vanilla and chocolate.
She worked until noon and then left her team to the rest, which wasn’t much now that they had started serving lunch. She arrived at Ford Kitchens head office and went to meet with an old employee that was interested in pastries and Stu needed Moira to train so she could make pastries for one of their smaller clients.
Moira had set aside a different items to be tackled everyday. Today they were starting with muffins, cinnamon rolls and scones. They got to working and Moira was impressed that Sofia was a quick learner.
Tuesday, Moira followed the same itenerary and when she met with Sofia they tackled pies. The pumpkin pie didn’t come out right, so Sofia had to re-do it and she was quite proud of herself when Stu commented on it.
Wednesday, Moira wasn’t feeling too good, but she plowed on. Thirty minutes before she was supposed to leave, she was surprised to see Lucas in the cafeteria. His grin made her smile and she laughed as she walked over to him. Everyone in the cafeteria was now ogling them and wondering how they knew each other. It didn’t help when Moira came close and Lucas closed the gap, kissed then hugged her as if they were old friends.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him.
“A little bird told me about your amazing desserts. So I have come to do a little tasting,” he replied with a laugh.
“You have, have you? You should have told me and I could have made you something,” she said to him.
“No, then you would have been too perfect. Now I get to sample the raw talent. Why don’t you come and join me?” he said as he took hold of her hand.
“Lucas, I can’t. I’m about to leave and I cannot be late,” she replied back.
“You know I was here yesterday and when I heard that you had already left, I was heartbroken. So today you must give me a few minutes. Five minutes, I promise,” he said as they reached the booth.
Moira wasn’t surprised to see Conrad. He stood as they neared the booth and when he greeted her he tried to push Moira to sit, but Moira remembered how she had been stuck in the booth with no way out. This time she was wiser and refused to sit inside. She maneuvered her postion and sat beside Lucas.
“You have been ignoring my calls, why?”
Moira looked from Conrad to Lucas and back again. “Is that why I am here?” she asked them.
Lucas quickly jumped in and said, “No. I brought you here under no false pretenses. So, I have already had the chocolate cake. I think you give my pastry chef a run for his money. And this bread pudding, I have never tasted anything like it. What’s in it?” he asked.
“Sure, but as a swop. I give you my bread pudding recipe and you get your chef or whoever made that horrible green stuff, give me the recipe,” she said. “The one that looked like it had algae,” she added to clarify.
All eyes in the cafeteria shifted to their little booth when both men laughed. “What did I say?” she asked.
“Nothing, except that recipe is actually a Lucas original. He invented it in college after he got tired of getting a hangover everyday,” Conrad told her.
“That’s a surprise. So, will you share your recipe?” she asked him.
“I will, but I will hold off on the bread pudding recipe. Maybe I will find some other recipe that I would prefer,” he said.
“Okay, then. I need to go,” she said as she moved to the end of the bench seat. She stood but before she could leave, Conrad took her wrist. “Let go,” she told him.
“I’ll call you tonight. Answer your phone,” he said as he let her go.
“Lucas, are you sure you are friends with him?” she said as a parting shot, and left to Lucas’ laughter.
Moira was surviving on DayQuil. It seemed to be working and as soon as she arrived at Ford Kitchens, she took more and felt even better. Today they were making cakes. They discussed the difference between moist cakes and dry cakes, types of icing and cake fillings. Moira always found something therapeutic about icing a cake. Most people were surprised when she told them this was her favourite part of being a pastry chef. Someone had once asked her why she didn’t just do cakes all the time then, but she told them she would miss making all the other pastries she loved making so much.
When she got home, she didn’t have an appetite. She made something for Sam and for herself to eat later. Sam came home and said maybe she shouldn’t go in to work tomorrow, but Moira told him she was feeling better and she intended on taking NyQuil a little later. She ate about a quarter of her food then went to bed. She took some NyQuil and was soon out. The next morning, she felt so much better and was at work as usual. By midmorning she was feeling bad again and she simply took more DayQuil.
When Janet saw her later that morning, she urged her to go home telling her she looked horrible.
“I’ll be okay,” she told Janet. “I’ll just pass by the drug store and get that stuff you can add to hot water and drink.
When she got to Ford Kitchens, she made some tea and added lemon. It helped sooth her throat and she was able to get through the afternoon. She passed by Walmart and got a few more cold and sinus congestion medications and some lemons. She made her way to the cashier and decided to indulge in some chocolate. She was sick after all, she told herself.
She made it home, made some soup and had that with more tea with lemon. Luckily Sam had told her he would be home late, so he would eat out. He was trying to tie up some lose ends before his trip to New York tomorrow. Moira was
glad that she would have the place to herself that weekend. At least that way Sam wouldn’t make a big deal out of a simple cold. The last time she had been sick, was when she had a headache and he had rushed her over to the ER telling the doctor to do a CAT scan. Serenity had still been in Miami at that time and they had had some good laughs over it for weeks.
He came as she was about to turn in. Moira put on a bright smile and promised Sam she was feeling so much better. Satisfied he let her go to bed. She made herelf another cup of lemon tea which she took to her bedroom. Her phone rang as she was halfway through hre tea. Moira looked at the caller ID and declined the call. A few minutes later he called back. She picked up when she realized he would just keep calling. She already had three missed calls from last night.
“Do you have a reason why you are ignoring my calls?”
“Good evening to you too?” she said with a high sweet voice.
“Sorry for my lack of manners, but this is driving me crazy. I call, you don’t pick up. I know you don’t want me to come to the kitchen, so I am trying to honor your wishes there, but I am hanging by a very thin thread. And it’s about to snap,” he ended softly.
Moira sighed. She didn’t know what to do. A part of her said go for it, the other part said she would be a fool to go anywhere within ten feet of the likes on Conrad King. She tried to speak but nothing came out. She cleared her throat but her voice was rough.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” she heard him say.
“I’m fine. Just a little cold that I caught a few days ago. But I’m all better now,” she assured him.
“Okay, sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
“Okay.”