by Leona Fox
Catered Catastrophe
A Willow Crossing Mystery Series
Book 3
Leona Fox
Copyright © 2015 Leona Fox
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher
Chapter 1
Ru Delgado was excited about catering the alumni event to be held at the high school over the weekend. Since she was a teacher there, it was fun for her to see parents of her students, who were once students themselves, at the same school. After what seemed like the longest Friday in history, Ru finally left work and headed for home.
When she pulled into the driveway, she decided she would check on their catering equipment before going inside. She opened the garage door and looked inside. It always was satisfying to see new equipment. She smiled as she looked at two shiny new carts, a box of new utensils, and a fancy new blender made specifically for making smoothies. Satisfied with what she saw, she went inside for dinner. Esteban was in the kitchen putting his final touches on a beautiful pot roast dinner. Even though they are known for Mexican/Italian cuisine, they both enjoy having home-style, American meals when not catering. They see it as comfort food and, with the weather being so cool, it seemed like the perfect time for a comfortable meal.
“The roast smells great, Papi,” Ru sang as she walked through the door.
“I can smell it all the way outside on the driveway!”
“You’re just in time, Mama, dinner is ready.” Esteban went to his wife and kissed her lightly on the lips while pulling her into his arms.
“You smell better than the dinner,” he whispered as he kissed his wife’s neck.
“Oh, Papi, nothing smells better than your roast. Come on, let’s eat; I’m starving!”
“You seem to be hungry a lot lately, I just don’t know where you put it all,” Esteban said, looking at his wife’s slender figure.
“If I ate as much as you do, I’d be 1,000 pounds by now!”
“I didn’t eat lunch today, so I’m extra hungry. And I have gained weight, so I better be careful!”
“I don’t see it.”
“Well, my pants feel it!” They both laughed and sat down at the kitchen table to eat dinner.
After a few minutes of small talk about Ru’s day at school, she changed the subject, “I can’t wait to use our new equipment. It’s so pretty!”
“I saw you checking on it before coming inside. Is everything ready for tomorrow?”
“It looks like it. Now, if all the kids show up on time to help set up, I will be amazed. I hear there is a party tonight.”
“Who is working the event again?” Esteban asked.
“Naturally Griffin and Julie, but this time Dante and Beck will be doing the heavier lifting.”
“Well, last time there was a party, they still showed up on time. I don’t see why tomorrow will be any different. Besides, they don’t have to be to the school until 11:00. Last time they had to meet us at 7:00. It will be fine, Mama. They will all show up on time and we will put on another great dinner.” Esteban smiled at his wife and they finished their dinner.
~~~
The next morning, after a fitful night of sleep, Ru woke up feeling nauseated. After a breakfast of herbal tea and a few slices of toast, she was feeling a little better and dressed for the day’s events. Once Ru was ready, she dressed Opal in a simple pink dress and brought her to the car. Esteban was already outside loading the van with everything they would need for the dinner they were catering.
“I’ll meet you at the school, Papi,” Ru said, kissing Esteban lightly on the cheek.
“Are you okay, Mama? You don’t look so good.”
“My stomach is a little queasy, but I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, well make sure the kids do most of the work.”
“I always do,” Ru said with a sly smile.
“Yeah, but then you go behind them and re-do it.”
“This time I won’t. I’m sure I’m fine.”
“I’ll be there soon. I only have a few more things to load.”
“You need my help?” Ru asked, secretly hoping he would say no.
“No, I’ve got this. You go ahead and get to the school. I’ll be right behind you.”
They kissed briefly and then Ru got in her car and headed toward the school. She hoped she wasn’t getting sick; it had been years since she last had the flu, and she really wanted to keep the good health train moving forward. Figuring it was just something she ate, she turned her mind to the event they were catering. She already knew many of the guests, since they are the parents of her students, so she wasn’t nervous about the dinner. Almost everyone who would be present had enjoyed an event the Delgados had catered in the past. She smiled, knowing this would be one of the easiest events, and knowing it would go smoothly. Just in case, she crossed her fingers and then laughed to herself.
When she pulled into the school parking lot, Ru was happy to see Griffin, Julie, Beck and Dante standing outside the doors that led to the cafeteria.
She pulled up to the curb and rolled down her window, “Griff, can you please take Opal inside? Here are the keys to the cafeteria.”
Ru handed Griffin the keys and he gladly opened the door to get Opal. He and the dog had grown quite fond of one another, so Opal was excited to see him.
“We’ll be inside,” Julie chimed and Ru pulled away to park her car.
By the time Ru made it from her parking spot, Esteban was pulling into the lot. He parked the van at the curb and walked into the cafeteria with his wife.
“Good morning, Mr. Delgado,” Julie sang.
“Good morning, Julie. Hey guys.”
“What’s up, Mr. D?” Griffin said with a smile.
“We’d better get started; we have a lot to do. Griffin, you and Julie are going to be with Mrs. Delgado setting up the tables and buffet. Beck and Dante, you’re with me. We need to get the van unloaded.”
“Sure thing,” Dante said, Beck nodding his head in agreement.
Beck and Dante hurried back to the van with Esteban and began unloading the carts and other catering equipment. In the meantime, Ru stood in the center of the cafeteria and said, “Griffin, Mr. Delgado will be helping you and Julie set up the tables and chairs.”
Ru paused and looked at Julie, “Once the tables are in place, it would be great if you put all of the tablecloths on and began folding the napkins.”
“Okay,” Julie softly said.
“Griff, I will need you to start putting out all of the place settings and silverware.”
“No problem, Mrs. Delgado.” He looked at Ru with concern and said, “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine. Just a little tired. Let’s get to work now.”
Within minutes, Esteban and Dante were in the cafeteria helping to set up, while Beck continued unloading the remaining equipment and some food items they had brought in the van. Being the new guy, he was aware he would get the work nobody else wanted, and he didn’t mind at all. He liked being alone. Once everything had been unloaded, Beck joined the rest of the crew and together they transformed the high school cafeteria into an unexpectedly beautiful dinner hall. It took all day, but it was worth it when they got to watch the alumni walk in to their old cafeteria. All of the guests were amazed at how great everything looked, and soon people were raving about how great the food smelled.
Naturally, Rosa Garcia Gomez was one of the first guests to arrive. Ru spotted her from across the room and they exchanged tense smiles. Rosa was Esteban’s ex-fiancé. They had grow
n up together, and her family and Esteban’s family attended church together. Because their parents were so close, Rosa and Esteban had been promised to each other. The only problem was Esteban wasn’t in love with Rosa. In fact, he couldn’t stand her. He didn’t like the fact she would say things and not care who it affected. He also didn’t like the fact she was known as being very promiscuous. He tried seeing past her brashness, and even tried pretending her flirtatious past didn’t bother him. However, it finally came to a point where he couldn’t even be in the same room as her, so he broke off the engagement.
Ru could tell by the look on Rosa’s face she still hadn’t forgiven Esteban for ending their engagement, and it was obvious she still resented Ru. As she continued filling water glasses for those guests who were arriving, Ru watched as Rosa scanned the room. Ru knew she was looking for Esteban. As soon as Rosa found him, she glared at him as if she were shooting daggers from her eyes and then disappeared. Ru hoped she was leaving the event, but had a feeling she was just going to use the bathroom.
Excited about catering an event that was both beautiful and still casual, Ru couldn’t wait to use their new smoothie maker. Once it was set up, she added raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, a dollop of vanilla yogurt and a handful of ice to the pitcher and placed the lid on top. Having read the instructions the night before, she felt like a pro as she smiled and pressed the button to make her very first smoothie of the night. Instantly, sparks were flying, and when Ru let go, startled and shaken, the top burst off allowing the fruit to fly everywhere. Even though it was traumatic and shocking for Ru, the guests who already had arrived stood there laughing, including Rosa.
Embarrassed, Ru began cleaning up the mess, cursing silently that Rosa had made it back from the bathroom in time to see the fiasco.
“What happened, Mama?” Esteban asked as he helped Ru wipe up the floor.
“I don’t know. I did everything exactly as the directions said.”
“It worked last night when you tested it. Did you do anything differently?”
“No. I don’t know what happened. I pressed the button and the thing just started sparking everywhere. Then the lid popped off and the fruit went flying.”
Esteban could tell his wife was near tears, but he couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “It’s okay, Mama, don’t worry about it. We’ll get it cleaned up and everything will be fine.”
“But she saw it happen. She laughed at me. She thinks I’m a joke.”
“Who thinks that, Mama?”
With a pout, Ru replied, “Rosa.”
“I don’t know why you stress about her. She’s nobody.”
“Well, she sure thinks she’s somebody.”
“Well, she’s not. Come on, let’s go get some air.”
Esteban instructed Griffin to finish cleaning the mess, “And when you’re done, please get that thing out of here. Go ahead and put it in the van.”
“Will do, Mr. Delgado.”
Ru then said, “It’s time to turn on the burners, Julie can take care of that. The rest of you go ahead and bring the carts out. Ask people what they’d like to drink and offer hors d’oeuvres.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Is everything alright?”
“Mrs. Delgado just needs a little air. Everything is fine.”
“This is silly, I don’t need to go outside for air. I just need to work,” Ru paused and then finished, “And stop stressing out over Rosa.”
After convincing Esteban that she was just fine, Ru went back to work preparing for the next stage of the evening. Figuring nothing else would go wrong, her attitude shifted and she began to smile; she really did love catering, almost as much as teaching. Julie and Ru prepared the dinner buffet while Griffin, Beck and Dante wheeled the drink carts around. They were excited about the new carts because, while they carried drinks down below, the tops were covered with a variety of hors d’oeuvres. It made their jobs easier and allowed for a bigger selection for the guests.
As Griffin made his way around the room, he realized that for the first time in his life, he really felt he belonged. He loved Willow Crossing, he loved working for Del Mejor Catering, and he loved feeling like part of the Delgado clan. He put a little pep in his step as he moved from one end of the room to the other. About half way across the large cafeteria, Griffin saw Mr. Delgado waving him over. Griffin quickened his pace, being careful not to run the cart into any of the guests. All of a sudden, one of the wheels completely fell off and the cart tilted, causing one of the full trays to slide forward. Griffin tried to catch it, but the tray got away from him and sent food spilling down the front of one of the guests.
“Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry!” Griffin said, face red with embarrassment. Realizing he had just spilled food all over Mr. Willis, the counselor of the school.
“You should be more careful. Look at my pants!” Mr. Willis said, tamale sauce dripping down both legs of his khakis.
“I really am sorry. I don’t know how that happened.”
Realizing it was just an accident, Mr. Willis then said, “Don’t worry about it. But I would check the other carts. It looks like the wheel fell off. Maybe it’s time to get new carts.”
“This is a new cart,” Griffin said, then bent down to pick up the hors d’oeuvres and check the cart.
He saw that the wheel had sheered clean off the cart. The metal looked to have been cut with something. He looked at the other three wheels and noticed the other front wheel also had been tampered with, but it hadn’t been cut through far enough to cause the wheel to break.
Griffin looked at Mr. Willis and said, “Again, I’m very sorry. I will pay for the dry-cleaning.”
“Nonsense. It was an accident, and these aren’t expensive pants. Don’t worry about it.”
Griffin went to Esteban and Ru and said, “I think someone messed with the cart.” He then showed Esteban the legs of the cart just above the wheels.
“Who would do such a thing?” Esteban asked.
“I don’t know, but we probably should check the other carts.”
Esteban and Griffin checked the other carts while Ru and Julie finished preparing the main courses. Ru was worried and wondered what else would go wrong that night. She didn’t like working worried. To ensure the guests were happy, Ru made it a point to walk around the room multiple times during the event, and was relieved to hear the guests were very happy.
“Ru, you and Esteban have outdone yourselves! The tamales are incredible!” said Mr. Willis.
Ru was thankful to hear that even though he had tamale sauce all over his pants, he still enjoyed eating them. She smiled and said, “Thank you so much. I’m so sorry about what happened earlier. Please let me know if you need anything.”
“Everything is great and please don’t worry about the pants. I don’t really like them anyway.” He winked at Ru and turned back to his table to enjoy the rest of the evening.
As Ru was walking back toward the buffet table, Griffin motioned for her to look behind her. She turned and saw Mr. Carlin, Griffin’s father.
“Hank, I’m so happy you came!”
“I didn’t want to, but Griffin insisted.”
“Well, it’s great to see you! I hope you enjoy your evening.”
“Oh, I’m not much for reminiscing, but I must say, you and your husband put on one terrific meal! It’s no wonder Griffin loves working for you! It’s also no wonder he’s finally putting on some much needed weight! Your ravioli is amazing.”
“I’d love to take credit for the ravioli, Hank, but the credit is all for your boss.”
“Wait a second, are you telling me Esteban makes Italian food?”
Ru laughed and said, “It’s his specialty.”
Looking at Ru’s beautifully Italian face, Hank responded, “Let me guess, your specialty is Mexican food?”
“You got it.”
“Well, the tamales are great, too.”
“Thank you, Hank. I don’t mean to be rude, but I really need to
get back to the buffet. Please, have a great evening, and stop by the buffet before you go. I’ll send some food home with you. I think we made way too much!”
“I just may take you up on that offer, Mrs. Delgado.”
“Please, Hank, call me Ru.”
“Okay, Ru, I’ll see you later.”
Luckily, bad things didn’t happen in threes that night and they were able to finish out the event on a high note; the food was a hit and the guests went home full and happy. Hank stopped by the buffet before leaving and Ru had four containers of food waiting for him to take home. All in all, Ru was pleased with how the night ended.