by Stacy Eaton
I laughed. “What type am I?”
“You’re tough and controlling, and you expect people to do things your way.”
“I do not!” I said.
She threw her head back. “Oh, my god! You most certainly do, Harvey Michael Melton!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Holly Rose Melton.” I chuckled. I knew she was right. I was tough and controlling—not in a bad way though—and yes, I did expect people to do things my way, because that was the right way. However, I would compromise if someone could express valid enough reasons to do so—sometimes.
“Yeah, right! Okay, you need to get out of here; the next guy will be here soon.”
“I’m going,” I told her. “What time do I show up for dress rehearsal?”
“I’ll call you tomorrow with the official time; our female had a little issue at work, and we had to cut her practice short today. I have to nail her down to what time she will be available tomorrow.”
“Alright, well, I won’t make any plans.” I kissed her cheek. “And maybe I’ll use the time to figure out what you are going to do for me since I did you this favor.”
“No.” She laughed. “You said that you were glad you were doing this now. It’s no longer a favor.”
“Oh, no, this is still a favor. Do you know how many dance memes the guys have sent me because of this?”
She started to walk backward. “Yeah, not my problem that you forgot to remove the eye makeup before you went to work.”
“It totally is your problem! You could have reminded me that I had it on.”
She smirked. “And where is the fun in that?”
“Yep, see, I always knew you had an evil streak.” She laughed. “You up for dinner tonight?”
“No, sorry, things are going to be crazy until Friday night. Maybe this weekend, if you don’t have any plans.”
“Yeah, I’m sure I can work something out.”
I waved goodbye to her and then headed out to the street. I paused a few feet from the door and pulled out my cellphone to send a quick message. As I stood there, another man about my age entered the dance academy door. He was about my height, maybe a bit taller and just as trim, but with short dark-brown hair. I did not doubt that he was one of the other contenders.
It was hard to tell what kind of competition he would be to me, since I couldn’t watch him dance, but then again, this wasn’t a dance competition. This was about making a connection with the woman. It was about chemistry, and you either had it, or you didn’t. None of us would know until we were standing in front of her and looking her in the eye.
It would suck if I felt chemistry with her and then learned that she had felt none for me or had felt more with someone else. It wasn’t that I was a sore loser—it was that I didn’t like to lose—ever.
I guess in the game of love, you never knew if you were going to be a winner or not. I shook my head as I meandered down the street; so far in life, I hadn’t been much of a winner when it came to love. What chance did I have here? Probably not much.
I tried to put the thoughts out of my mind, but they kept creeping back in. By the end of the day, I was literally stressing out about it. It was like I had suddenly become obsessed with this and being the man that she would pick. It didn’t make any sense, because there was a fifty-fifty chance that I wouldn’t be interested in her.
That brought me up short as I stood in my kitchen and washed dishes. This whole time I’d been worrying about if she would be interested in me. What if I wasn’t interested in her and she picked me? Would I be willing to try things out? Would they expect me to do that for the show? I had a feeling that they would expect me to at least meet her if I were the one that she had chosen.
But to be chosen for a real date, I’d have to get selected after Friday’s date, and then I’d have to learn a second dance and do it again with her next week.
Would Jake give me the time off? What if he didn’t? Luckily, I didn’t have anywhere that I needed to travel to, but I did have training classes that I was teaching with Alex and Trevor. Maybe Greg would step in for me and cover. I knew Mike was tied up with all this new website stuff and technology crap that he played with, but Greg had been in hiding for a while, and I bet he would love to get his hands back into training. I’d give him a call tomorrow and ask.
That night as I lay down, my mind ran through all the steps to the dance, and I tried to picture someone else in my arms—other than my current dance partner—but I couldn’t. Maybe my mind just wouldn’t pull a stranger up and put her in place. For just a brief minute, the face of the woman from the corner popped into my mind as I mentally danced. Then I winced and shifted away from that thought.
Let’s just hope that when it was time to dance with someone else, my body responded as well as it did to my current partner.
Chapter Eight
Ali
I yawned as I got out of my car on the outskirts of the park. It had been an incredibly long night, and I hadn’t slept well. The restaurant had been crazy busy for a Wednesday night, and after we’d gotten a late start on everything, we never seemed to be able to catch up entirely until the end of the night. I know that I wasn’t the only one that was exhausted, and I’d made sure to thank everyone several times before they left for the night.
It was only nine in the morning when I locked my car door and carried my small bag toward Holly, Cal, and Victor off to the side. There were no live cameras here today, but the film crew was here to oversee and discuss vantage points.
“Morning,” I called as I approached the group and then had to stifle a yawn again.
Holly chuckled as she turned to me. “Did you go out partying after work last night? You look like you’re dragging.”
“Hardly! I am dragging, and I’m sorry for leaving early yesterday, but I had a major problem at the restaurant, and it was a hectic night.”
“Everything get straightened out?”
“Yes and no,” I replied. “The health inspectors searched our kitchen but couldn’t find anything. The guy who got sick swears it was from our place because he’s been eating at home for the last two weeks and has eaten the same things as his wife, and she’s not sick. They tested her too.”
“Oh, no! That’s horrible, Ali. What happens now?”
“While they did quick checks for the bacteria, they took a bunch of swabs to have tested at the lab just to confirm. We are waiting for those to come back. If they come back positive, we could be fined or closed. I can’t imagine it was from our kitchen, and we are waiting to see if anyone else gets sick. It would be really rare for one person at a restaurant to get sick and no one else.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
“No, not really.”
“I hope they get it cleared quickly. Are you going to be able to focus on this?”
“Absolutely,” I said with more enthusiasm than I felt. “We are so close; I can’t give up now. Especially when I am finally starting to gather my courage to do this.”
“You’re ready to dance with strangers?”
“Ugh, when you put it that way, no!” We all laughed.
Cal threw his arm over my shoulders. “You are going to do fantastic, and I do not doubt that you are going to find love in this. You know, all three of us have bets on who you are going to pick.”
“You do?”
“Yep, we sure do, and what’s really funny is we all picked someone different, so one of us will be a winner!”
“I guess so.”
“Alright, so let’s go check out where you’ll be dancing, and you and Victor can run through it a few times.”
I thought they were going to head toward the park, but they didn’t. We ended up crossing the street, which luckily wasn’t busy, and Cal walked me through the dance, step by step.
While we would start the dance on this side of the street, we would cross over shortly after it began and move to the gazebo on the other side. A few moments i
n that area, and then we danced down the stairs to the small fountain, where we’d do the majority of the routine.
The first part of the dance was mostly flirting, coming close, moving away, chasing one another, and coming back together again. Then we’d meet in front of the fountain and dance together as a couple.
It was a beautiful area, and I was excited to try it out officially. When Victor and I took our spots, my stomach began to get all jittery. Tomorrow, I would be doing this three times, with three different men. If I was this nervous now, what was I going to be like tomorrow?
Victor and I started the dance while Tarin held a small music player that was louder than I had expected. They explained that tomorrow, there would be speakers around the area so that the music would travel with us. When it was time to cross the street, we didn’t dance, because the road was open now. Instead, we rushed to the other side and went through the moves there before moving on.
The choreography was so perfect that we only had to make one adjustment to the entire routine to make sure that it moved well between the different areas. Tarin and Holly were very pleased, as were the few others that had joined us.
When we got ready to start it again, Cal stood in front of me. “Remember, that you are about to possibly meet the man of your dreams. Let your soul shine as you finally meet his gaze.”
“I will!” They started the music again, and we ran through it two more full times before my cellphone wouldn’t stop ringing. One of the production assistants brought it to me.
“I’m sorry, but it keeps ringing, and the screen says Ricardo. After he called the fourth time, I thought maybe it was important enough to bother you with.”
“Yes!” I grabbed the phone out of her hands. “Ricardo, what’s wrong?”
“Ali, someone else got sick.”
“What? No!”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Is the health department back?”
“Yes, a different team of inspectors, doing a more in-depth inspection. They have already found one issue.”
“What issue?”
“You know that tile in front of the freezer that jiggles, they jiggled it enough to make it loose, and it broke. They are hitting us with an unsafe floor.”
“But that has absolutely nothing to do with someone getting E. coli!”
“That’s what I told them, but they told me to get out of the kitchen while they inspected.”
“They kicked you out?” I practically screamed.
“Yes.”
“Oh, no, they don’t. You march right back in there and watch everything they do. They cannot kick you out! I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” I hung up without another word, and everyone was staring at me with wide eyes.
“You can’t go now; we still need to go over a few things.”
“Holly, I’m sorry, but the health department is back in my kitchen, and they are turning everything upside down.” I rushed back to the other side of the street to get my stuff, Holly and Tarin in tow. “I’m sorry. I know this messes things up, but I have to be there.”
Holly grabbed my arm. “Ali, I know you have to go, I get that, but tell me this: are you going to be able to do this tomorrow? You won’t be able to jet out of here if you get another call from work. Ali, I have to remind you that you did sign a contract saying you would do this.”
“I know I did, Holly! I promise you that I will be all in tomorrow. I have the night off.”
“Just because you have the night off, doesn’t mean they can’t call you and say help!”
I was torn. My job was everything to me, but I had signed a contract saying I would do this. If I didn’t have the contract dangling over my head, I might have told her to forget it. That’s how frustrated and stressed I felt at the moment.
I inhaled deeply and released it to try and calm down. “Holly, I know that I signed a contract, and I know that a lot of people are counting on me, but right now, more people are counting on me in my kitchen. Their jobs are at stake, their livelihoods, and our reputation. This isn’t just a silly date; it’s about my career and other people's lives. I’m sorry, Holly, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
“Alright,” she said uneasily.
I dashed off and back to my car. I was there in twelve minutes and pulled my car down the alley toward the restaurant. The whole way there, I tried not to dwell over the way I’d taken off. I felt terrible for what I’d said to Holly. I knew that I’d hurt her when I’d called the whole thing silly, but in comparison to what was going on, it was. I understood that this was her job, and she was trying to do it to the best of her ability. This was my job, and I owed it to my employees and the owner of the restaurant to do everything I could.
There were two parking spots in the alley behind the restaurant, one for me and one for Randolph, or the manager, Anton, when Randolph was not around. Ricardo and Anton were leaning against Anton’s car.
“They kicked you out again?”
“Yeah, they didn’t want anyone in there.”
“Yeah, well, they can’t kick me out. It’s my kitchen!” I growled toward them as I made a beeline toward the back door. I yanked the door open and stepped into the back. There were two inspectors in the kitchen, both wearing face masks and gloves, and they turned to me when I stepped through the kitchen archway.
“You can’t be in here,” one man said.
“I most certainly can. I’m Ali Davidson, the Head Chef of this kitchen, and I oversee everything when Randolph is not around.”
“Where is the owner?”
“Randolph is currently in France.”
“Is he aware that your kitchen is precariously close to being permanently closed?”
“I don’t know how you can say that. There was one person who was reported to be sick with E. coli, and that was less than fourteen hours after he ate here. I’m sure you are aware of the incubation period, so I seriously question that this person might have contracted that from this kitchen.”
“It’s not unheard of for a person to get sick in less than twenty-four hours,” the gruff man said. He had yet to identify himself to me either.
“You need to go back outside and wait until we are done.”
“I most certainly will not!” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “This is my kitchen, and I will remain in it. I will stay out of your way, but I have every right to be here and oversee what you are doing. You cannot bully my staff or me, and you can start by identifying yourself to me and supplying me with a copy of the second complaint.”
I could only see part of the man’s face, but I could tell he was livid at my refusal and at my demand to have information. As he stormed off to the side, I glanced at the other man, and he winked at me. I frowned as I turned away. Was he flirting—or telling me that he approved of my outburst?
It didn’t matter one way or the other. The angry man came back and thrust a paper at me along with a business card. He glared at me, then spun around and strode off to get back to work.
I read the report. A female who had been in our restaurant the same night as the man had reported feeling sick and had gone to the hospital after intense stomach and bowel issues. She was confirmed to have E. coli in her system. I closed my eyes briefly and breathed slowly.
I moved down further on the report and saw that she had skipped the salad, eaten the fish, and had crème brûlée for dessert. Nothing that the other man had eaten, and from different stations altogether! This made no sense.
Fish was stored differently than our other meat, the vegetables prepared and cooked separately, and the dessert finished in a different area than the crepes. How were these people getting sick? Was it possible that we did have a more significant issue in our kitchen?
The paper dropped to my side as I scanned the room; where were the bacteria, and how many other people had we gotten sick?
For two hours, Henry Marks and his assistant, Carl, worked the room, searching and testing every surface, wall, fl
oor, counter, and stove. They even got on a ladder and took samples of the ceiling and air vents. I was glancing at my watch, noting that the rest of the employees would start arriving soon.
“If you’re worried about the time, Ms. Davidson, don’t be. Your restaurant will be closed until we get these samples tested.”
“What? But you haven’t even had any positive tests in the swabs you have done!”
“Yes, that’s true, but with two people having such a severe reaction, and the fact that we can’t pinpoint where or how, until we get the swabs back, your doors will be closed.”
“You can’t do that!” I spouted angrily, and he turned, pulling his mask down and smiling at me.
“Actually, I can. I have every right to do that, and as soon as I sign my report, it will be official. So call all your employees and tell them not to report to work. No one other than you, the manager, and the sous chef are allowed in here until we get this figured out.”
“You’re kidding me? I can’t even have the staff come in for a special cleansing?”
“Nope, not until we figure out where it is coming from. Nothing can be added or removed until then.”
“Not even dry pantry goods? We have a major delivery tomorrow.”
He inhaled deeply, and then released it in a huff. “Normally, I’d say no, but your pantry storage is very separate and well contained. I can’t imagine that is where the bacteria is coming from. I’ll let you take the delivery tomorrow, but again, only the three of you may accept the inventory and put it in storage. No one should be in the kitchen working with any tools or food, and no other deliveries.”
“How long do you think we’ll be closed?”
“Well, it’s Thursday, so the samples won’t be there until tomorrow. I’m going to say probably at least until Saturday, but it could be Monday.”
“Monday?” I squeaked.