Songbird Caged

by Lisa Edward

  “I want to go eat at the restaurants that all the applicants are working in. We need to sample their food and view their presentation without them knowing.”

  She beamed at me. “Eating I can do.”

  Since her morning sickness was beginning to wane, her appetite was ravenous twenty-four, seven.

  “So, I need to take as many people as possible out for dinner with me. We need to order three courses each, and sample as much as possible. Then hopefully we’ll be able to reduce the list to the top three, and make a decision.”

  We made arrangements with everyone who was available to go out to eat every other night for the next few weeks. I would need to fit in extra gym sessions to compensate, but it would be well worth it.

  Marcus, Nicole, Jason, Kelli, Cole and I arrived at the first restaurant, and took our seats. It felt like a secret mission we were on as we perused the menu, before ordering dishes that we thought would best suit the new menu at Reds.

  The waitress came over to take our order, and I casually asked her if Christian, the head chef, would be the one preparing our meals tonight.

  She laughed. “Christian’s not the head chef, he’s the sous chef. Michael is head chef.”

  “Okay, that’s weird,” I said, trying to understand what was happening. “A friend of mine met Christian, and he told her he was head chef.”

  “Probably just trying to get into her pants. He’s the biggest sleaze on the face of the planet.”

  She took our orders, and then went to fetch the drinks.

  “Well, scratch him off the list straight away,” Cole said. “You don’t want someone like that working at the restaurant.”

  Kelli laughed. “That’s a bit rich, coming from you. If he’s the biggest sleaze, then you’re the second biggest.”

  Cole rolled his eyes at her before turning to me. “This is business, babe, you can’t have someone like that working at the restaurant. Not only did he lie on his application, but you’ll have a high waitress turnover, and burnt meals while he’s busy shagging in the cold room.”

  I agreed with him, and when I turned to Marcus, he was nodding, too.

  “Okay, so we’ll just enjoy our meal tonight, and cross candidate number one off the list.”

  The conversation turned to Riley and Cooper, and if we had heard from them recently. Kelli had received her third letter the day before, and had already written back. I had received my second letter a week ago, but I still didn’t know how to reply to it, or to the new knowledge that he had asked Jay to spy on me.

  “Oh, how can you be angry with the guy? He’s gorgeous,” Jason gushed.

  He then proceeded to tell us all about the time that he had cut Riley’s hair in the bathroom, after we had returned from Fiji, and that his towel had slipped open at one stage.

  Jason flopped his forearm onto the table. “It was like an elephant’s trunk,” he informed everyone.

  Cole looked down at his lap. “It’s okay, little fella, no pressure.”

  We all laughed, and I patted Cole on the knee. I was certain there was no need for him to feel inferior. The girls he had slept with all seemed to come back wanting more.

  “I’d like to meet this guy one day,” Nicole said with a grin. “He sounds like quite a catch.”

  Yes, he was quite a catch. “His elephant trunk’s not the first thing you notice,” I said, laughing. “He has amazing sapphire-blue eyes, and thick, long, black eyelashes.”

  Everyone agreed he had amazing eyes, and that he was an awesome guy.

  Cole was sitting back, listening quietly. I turned to him, and he gave me a half smile.

  “Sounds like that’s another elephant you’ve collected.”

  The next two weeks followed the same routine. Basically, I was up at the crack of dawn, and didn’t stop until I fell in a heap at night.

  I wanted to be hands-on with the renovations, so I spent every day at Reds. I chose everything from the floor coverings, to the paint colour, to the furniture.

  The idea was that the restaurant would feel warm and inviting, and somehow old-worldly, like a smoky jazz club you might have found in the 1920s, but without the smoke.

  I decided the floor should be polished boards in a dark-stained wood. For the walls, I chose a decadent, very-dark red, with a featured wallpaper of the same base colour, and a gold pattern.

  The lighting would be subdued; the tables round with comfortable high backed chairs.

  I didn’t want any modern white on white with bright lighting. This was to be a place that felt a bit naughty, with dark corners that people could meet in and escape their everyday lives.

  Cole was a great help, and had a lot of really interesting ideas. He also had contacts in the most unusual places. Every time I mentioned I needed a tradesman or a particular piece of furniture, he knew someone, and had them at the restaurant that same day.

  He seemed to be getting as much enjoyment from this project as I was, and we spent many nights after working our butts off all day at his place or mine, going over what else needed to be done. His excitement fed mine and vice versa.

  I wished I had Riley there to share all this with, then maybe he would understand that I wasn’t just throwing my money around. This was a business venture that would benefit the both of us in the future. I really wanted him on board, and feared what would happen if he wasn’t.

  Nicole, too, was at the restaurant a lot, although she did spend quite a bit of time “just ducking down to the bar to get something.” I had to laugh; I knew Marcus had always spent a great deal of his time at Songbirds, but he never quite bothered to dress up the way he had been in recent times.

  Cole had noticed it too, and finally the temptation to say something got the better of him.

  “Such a shame about that no-boning rule you put in place, mate,” Cole said jokingly one afternoon as we sat around eating lunch.

  “What rule is that?” Nicole asked, frowning.

  “Oh, just the rule that staff members are not allowed to fraternise, otherwise they get the sack,” Cole told her with a cheeky grin.

  Nicole looked to me for clarification, and I nodded. Regretfully, it was true. Technically, Nicole wasn’t an employee yet, but she would be soon.

  “I don’t think we need to worry about that anymore, Cole,” Marcus said, trying to sound casual. “It was only for your benefit, to keep you away from Tara.” He looked up at me. “And look how well that’s gone. You live in each other’s pockets.”

  “But we don’t sleep together,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

  “Only because of Riley. If he wasn’t in the picture, you two would never get out of bed.”

  It was the final dinner out to assess our applicants, and so far no one had thrilled us. Everyone seemed to have a dish or two that they did really well, but equally there were always a couple of dishes that were dreadful.

  The six of us entered the small restaurant, and took our seats. As was our procedure, we ordered a variety of dishes, and then took note of what we’d ordered on our makeshift scorecards.

  The entrées came out, and we were pleasantly surprised. So far, so good. All six were presented well, and the flavours were blended perfectly. We all gave our dishes a high score out of ten, then waited excitedly to see what the main meals would be like.

  Twenty minutes later, we had six superbly-presented main meals laid out before us. We had ordered such a variety that I was sure at least one of them would be a fail on the scorecard, but everything from the chicken breast stuffed with feta and prosciutto, to the wild mushroom and leak risotto, to the herb crusted rack of lamb was brilliant.

  By the time dessert was served, we were really excited, sure that we had found our new chef. I asked the waitress if we could meet Thomas, the chef, only to be informed that it was his night off, and that the sous chef, Lincoln Young, had prepared all our meals.

  My heart sank, and when I looked around the table, I could see everyone else felt the same. I smiled at the wait
ress, and told her we would like to meet Lincoln anyway, and compliment him on a fantastic dinner.

  A young guy of about thirty joined us a few minutes later. He was about the same height as Jay, so shorter than all the other guys. He had spiky blond hair, blue eyes, and a piercing in his right eyebrow.

  I introduced myself, and explained that I was looking for a chef for a new restaurant that was opening. I then asked him how long he had been working at the restaurant, and if he enjoyed it there.

  Apparently, he didn’t. That was good news for us.

  I introduced him to the others at the table. “This is Marcus, my partner at Songbirds and the restaurant, beside him is Nicole, his girlfriend and head waitress. Then Jason, he’s in charge of designing the uniforms and special touches around the restaurant. Kelli is an accountant, so she keeps an eye on the books.”

  I looked at Cole.

  “Yeah, I don’t have a job. I just hang around and get in the way a lot.”

  Everyone had a little chuckle at that, but I didn’t think it was funny, and I hoped it wasn’t how he really felt.

  “This is Cole. He’s my advisor, sounding-board and motivator. He provides my sanity. I couldn’t do any of this without him.”

  I gave Cole a little smile, and he gave me a wink and squeezed my hand. So that was his job; he was my rock.

  I asked Lincoln why he hadn’t applied for the position at Reds, and he said he had wanted to, but Thomas had wanted the job, and threatened that he would fire Lincoln if he showed any interest. He told us that he needed to keep working. He was a single father to a four-year-old boy, so didn’t want to risk losing his job.

  “Well, we’re all very close at Songbirds and Reds. We’re like family, and we look out for each other. If you were to come to work for us, we would take your circumstances into consideration. As for Thomas, you don’t need to tell him you’ve been offered the job until you’re ready to resign. We certainly won’t tell him.”

  He beamed. “Awesome! When can I start?”

  “I’D LIKE to take you out.”

  I looked at Cole, slightly amused. “We go out all the time.”

  “No, we go to your place, we come here. We go to the gym, for a run on the beach, or we go to Songbirds. We don’t go out.”

  We were sitting on Cole’s couch in his apartment, looking at light fittings for Reds on the Internet.

  He was wringing his hands. “Would you like to go out with me?” he asked.

  I frowned. “What, like on a date?”

  “If that’s what you want to call it. I don’t know, I’ve never been on a date. But if going out to dinner and then a club together is a date, then sure, let’s call it a date.”

  I looked at him warily. “You do know I’m engaged, right? You haven’t forgotten?”

  He shrugged. “In theory. But there’s no harm in letting me take you out. I mean, officially take you out—on a date.”

  I had to think about this for a minute. Was it asking for trouble to let him believe we could actually date when I had made a commitment to Riley?

  “You know, even if you pay for dinner, I’m not going to sleep with you,” I said with a smile.

  “So what’s the point of paying for dinner, then?” he asked cheekily. He took hold of my hands in his. “I wouldn’t expect you to sleep with anyone on a first date. You’re not that kind of girl.”

  I exhaled slowly, weighing up how to respond. “Okay, we can go out on three conditions.”

  He nodded.

  “Firstly, we need to have other people there, so maybe Marcus and Nicole can come with us.”

  “Like a double date,” he said, teasingly.

  I chuckled, and shook my head. “Secondly, you have to stop calling it a date.”

  He grinned at me cheekily.

  “Thirdly, you have to wear your Calvin Klein jeans, the ones that fit your butt really well.”

  He laughed out loud. “Which ones are they?” He looked down at the old faded jeans he was wearing. “What’s wrong with these? They’re my favourites, they’re so comfortable.”

  I could tell they were his favourite pair. He wore them whenever we were just hanging out at home. They sat low on his hips, showing off his tight abs, and the top of his boxers, which was sexy, but they didn’t do anything for the tight ass I knew he had hidden underneath.

  I took his hand and led him up the hallway to his bedroom, and the walk-in wardrobe. It was the first time I’d actually been inside his wardrobe, and I stopped for a moment in the doorway to take in what I was seeing.

  Cole’s clothes were all neatly hanging and folded on the right side only. The left side was almost empty, except for five or six items that looked very familiar. I took a few steps in, and looked at the clothes more closely. There were a couple of my jackets, a jumper of mine, and some gym gear. These were all clothes that I had left there at some stage over the course of our friendship, that were now hanging in Cole’s wardrobe.

  There was another item, however, that I didn’t recognise. It was a black Versace dress, with exquisite detail around the neckline.

  I turned to Cole. “Where did this come from?” I asked, pointing to the dress.

  He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, pulling his jeans further down around his hips. “I bought it for you, just in case you ever needed to get ready for work from here. Do you like it?”

  I took a few steps towards Cole, and threw my arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

  I always wore a black dress when I played at Songbirds on a Monday and Tuesday night, and there had been a few occasions when I had lost track of the time and had to rush home to get ready for work. But not anymore. My extremely thoughtful best friend had bought me a dress so I could get ready at his place if I needed to.

  “But what shoes would I wear with it? I’ll have to bring some over and leave them here.”

  He reached up, over the dress to the shelf above, and pulled down a Christian Louboutin shoebox.

  “I thought these would go okay with the dress.”

  I opened the box like it was Christmas, and let out a gasp. If the dress was exquisite, the shoes were to die for. He had chosen the sexiest, sky-high, strappy, red sandals I’d ever seen.

  I hugged him again, jumping up and down like a little kid.

  “So I take it you like the shoes, then?” he asked, laughing.

  “Can I try the dress and shoes on?” I asked excitedly.

  He ushered me into the dressing area with a huge grin on his face.

  The dress fit perfectly. It was snug in all the right places, and had a wide neckline with gorgeous detail around it. The shoes, I decided, I was never taking off.

  I came out of the dressing area into the bedroom, and gave a catwalk twirl. “What do you think?” I asked, beaming at him.

  He ran his eyes down the length of my body, then slowly back up, before sighing. “Fuck you’re beautiful.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment, and exhaled deeply.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Just locking that image in for later tonight.” He opened his eyes, and gave me a seductive smile.

  I blushed and looked away. He could always make me feel like a silly schoolgirl with just one look. I tried to think of something to say. “Okay, so where are your jeans?” I asked, entering the wardrobe again and going to the shelf that held about ten pairs. I sorted through, and pulled out the ones I’d been referring to earlier. “These are the ones. They’re my favourite pair, they fit really well.”

  He unbuttoned the jeans he was wearing and dropped them to the floor, then held out his hands for the pair I was holding. He pulled them on and turned for me so I could check out his butt.

  “Better?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “Yes, much better. You need to buy ten pairs of those, and wear them every day.”

  “So now we know what I’m wearing on our ‘not a date’, can I ask you to wear that red
top you wore last Christmas? The one that crosses at the front.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t, it’s a Riley top. I only wear it when I’m with Riley.”

  Cole looked disappointed, but nodded his head in understanding. “So that blue halter-neck top you were wearing the first time we officially met? Can that be a Cole top?”

  I smiled, and gave him a hug. “Yes, that can be a Cole top.”

  We met Marcus and Nicole at my favourite seafood restaurant. It was the same restaurant that Marcus had taken me to on Valentine’s Day for dinner, before we had the huge misunderstanding that almost cost us our friendship.

  Cole was wearing his butt-hugging Calvin Klein jeans, boots, and a fitted black shirt. He’d spiked his hair a little more than usual, and put on cologne. As we entered the restaurant, all heads turned to watch him walk past.

  I’d decided on my hipster black pants with the ankle zips, blue halter-neck top, Cole’s top, and I’d teamed them with the gorgeous shoes Cole had bought me. I was determined to wear them as much as possible, I was even tempted to try to sleep in them I loved them so much.

  Marcus and I gave each other knowing looks as they sat at the table, and he squeezed my hand. “I’m so glad we worked everything out after Valentine’s Day,” he said quietly.

  So was I. Marcus was one of my best friends, and I had been heartbroken when we’d had the falling out.

  “What happened on Valentine’s Day?” Nicole asked, obviously not knowing the story.

  I looked nervously at Marcus. I didn’t want to say anything just in case it upset her, and caused trouble between them.

  “Well, from what I know.” Cole had decided to tell her. “They came here for dinner, went to a concert, and then for drinks. Kind of like a date.” He looked at me out the corner of his eye, still teasing me about the whole ‘not a date’ thing. “Then they went back to Tara’s, and Marcus tried to sleep with her.”

  I buried my face in my hands for a moment before punching Cole playfully in the leg.

  “So what happened—exactly?” Nicole asked, leaning forward, towards me. She seemed curious, but not upset, which I was relieved to see.