Dish Best Served Cold (Corporate Chaos Series Book 5)

by Leighann Dobbs

  “This is the one for tonight.”

  It was a beautiful periwinkle-blue off-the-shoulder gown that was fitted to the knees and then flared out a bit. There was an orange design that ran down the side of it, not too big, not gaudy, but very different.

  “The orange is because that’s the color for the National Kidney Foundation,” Edward said matter-of-factly, placing the gown back on the rack and then removing the other gown. “And this one is the opposite in color, orange with the blue stripe. It’s also more fitted at the bottom. I emphasized the orange for the second night, since that’s when Gertie is hoping to really bring the money in.”

  “Oh, Edward, those are gorgeous!” Myrtle exclaimed as she stepped out from behind her desk. “They are so different. What are these, Swarovski?” She pointed at the row of small crystal jewels that lined the top of each gown.

  “Of course! You know Gertie doesn’t like to wear jewelry. So I thought, why not just add it to the darn gown if she won’t wear it!”

  “What a great idea! And I love that you incorporated the color orange into them, Eddie. That’s just so thoughtful. It’s the same color in Kidney’s tux. They’ll match!”

  “Thank you.” Edward did a bow jokingly.

  Was he blushing?

  Raffe stepped back as he watched Myrtle and Edward interact, sensing a bit of chemistry instead of the usual arguing.

  He walked away down the hallway toward the stairs. The kitchen was one floor down, the offices one floor up. Was Sarah in the kitchen or her office? Probably the kitchen. He pushed open the door that opened into the stairwell and almost knocked someone on the other side over.

  “Watch it!” Sarah yelled as she jumped out of the way to avoid being hit from the door.

  “Sorry, are you okay?” he asked. This wasn’t exactly how he had planned on seeing her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked him, a noticeable tone of annoyance in her voice. Raffe immediately regretted coming to see her. “Why are you snooping around the stairway?”

  “What? I wasn’t snooping. I was on my way down to the kitchen to see you. I just wanted to wish you good luck for the tasting tonight. I…”

  “Raffe, I’m super busy. I have one hundred fifty people coming here in a few hours and a million things to do!”

  Raffe knew that the best thing for him to do was to just leave.

  “Sorry, I’ll go. I just…”

  He didn’t bother to finish his sentence, as Sarah was already on her way up the stairs.

  Sarah stormed into her office. What was Raffe thinking, coming to see her today again? And right when she had to be getting all the food ready, which he, of all people, knew was when she did not want any disruptions! Wasn’t the purse enough excitement for him for the day? Had he forgotten how to use his phone? Couldn’t he just text her?

  She grabbed the paper with the meat vendor’s phone number on it and punched it into her phone.

  “This is Sarah from O’Rourke’s. Can you tell me why your driver dropped the food off at the wrong loading dock today?”

  She waited impatiently for an answer while she paced around her office. Even though the tasting was at seven and she really didn’t even have time to call about this, the situation was bugging her, and she wanted to know why on earth they had put the delivery where they had. She tapped her foot impatiently while the receptionist placed her on hold.

  “Ma’am? The driver said that one of your chefs instructed him to drop it there.”

  “What? Who? Did they get a name? What did they look like?”

  She was placed on hold again, and Sarah immediately began to make a list in her head of who could have done it. Maybe it had been one of the newer sous-chefs, Amber. She was the only one who was fairly new, having only worked half a dozen events so far.

  “Ma’am, he said he thinks it was a man with… some kind of big bag. Like a purse.”

  “What? He thinks it was a man? How can he not know whether it was a man or a woman?” Sarah questioned.

  “Well, he said that the person had a very gruff voice and that they were wearing a black chef’s coat and sounded mannish but also looked a little feminine. These days I guess that doesn’t mean much. I’m sorry about the mishap.”

  Sarah’s mouth hung open as she mumbled a thank-you and hung up. Raffe had been wearing a light black jacket that could have been mistaken for a chef’s coat. And Raffe had had that stupid purse with him, and what other man around this place had a purse? Raffe wasn’t really feminine, though, but she supposed anyone carrying a pink purse might seem feminine to the driver of the food truck. But why would he want to screw up her food delivery? Was this some kind of deranged plan to mess up her job at O’Rourke’s so that she had no choice but to beg him for her job at EightyEight back?

  She stood up and then sat back down, her mouth open. This couldn’t be Raffe, the guy who had intentionally thrown the cooking contest that he had been so desperate to win so that someone who had less than him could win it. Raffe was a good guy. Wasn’t he?

  She didn’t have time for this! She sent Raffe a quick text and hurried back to the kitchen. She would need to figure out who the mystery man or woman that had changed the delivery location was later on. Right now, she had one hundred and fifty meals to prepare!

  “There’s two? I thought there was only one. Oh, for crying out loud. I have one already for tomorrow’s event, and I told Edward that ten times. Over there, see?”

  Marly looked over at the gown that was hung up on a rack in the corner and shrugged at Gertie as Gertie reached out to touch one of the gowns that Edward had designed for her. She had no doubt that Gertie had told Edward that she already had a gown for the ball and that Edward had ignored her. He was a stubborn man and didn’t change his mind often.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, other than you know how Edward is. Anyway, they did come out really beautiful, don’t you think?”

  She knew that Gertie hadn’t even asked Edward to make the gowns in the first place and hoped that she wouldn’t put up too much of a fuss over them. Even though Edward was a bit too much when it came to Gertie, Marly knew that he meant well. Plus, if Gertie didn’t wear the gowns, then she knew she would have to listen to him whine about it for months, and she had enough on her plate to deal with.

  “Yes, dear. I do like the color, the orange. It was thoughtful of him to do that. Except see here, the bottom of the blue one? That’s a little too much fabric for me. It can get caught in my wheels. He forgets about that sometimes, that I’m in a wheelchair.”

  “None of us think of you as being in a wheelchair, Gertie. You run circles around us all! And we can hem that in easily. In fact, I can do it here, no big deal.”

  “Oh no, no. Just leave it as is, dear. I really do appreciate that he did this. But I will be wearing the one I purchased for the ball and this one tonight.” She reached out for the blue one with the orange stripe. “I’m surprised that he didn’t insist on bringing them up himself.”

  Marly laughed. “Oh, I’m sure he probably did. But when I came into the lobby, he and Myrtle were having an intense discussion, and I just grabbed the rack and said I would take them up to you, and he didn’t object.”

  “An intense conversation?” Gertie asked, looking up from the piles on her desk that she had started to look at.

  “Uh, yes. At least it sounded that way. Something about Italy? Volcanoes?” Marly hoped she hadn’t said something that she shouldn’t have. It had actually looked like Edward was having an engaging conversation with Myrtle. His hand gestures were animated, and Myrtle was laughing. They hadn’t even noticed her, which was odd for both of them, now that she thought of it.

  “Italy! Well, good. Maybe Myrtle will take Eddie’s focus off of me for a change.”

  Marly smiled. Maybe, and if so, that would be great. For everyone!

  10

  “Is this too much?” Brenda asked the salesgirl at the wig store, turning to her with the wig on. She had
tried on a dozen wigs so far, and this one seemed to be exactly what she needed.

  “Well, if you don’t want to be recognized, it’s a great option,” the woman said. “Here, let me show you some that are less of a disguise type and more natural. We have—”

  “No, that’s okay,” she interrupted the woman. “This is fine. I’ll take it.”

  She paid for the wig in cash and left the store, humming to herself as she strolled down the sidewalk. This was perfect!

  She noticed some people huddled in front of a window outside a store across the street and crossed over to see what they were looking at. It was a pet store, and she was looking down at the dozen or so kittens that were playing in a large pen. Maybe this was a sign, a sign for her to get a cat. She had thought about it a few times since being around Kidney, and why not? Cats were probably really easy to take care of, and she would love the company. Living alone was horrible, and if she did wind up back together with Dick, he would be okay with a cat.

  She walked into the pet store and down to where more of the kittens were. She strolled slowly along the cages as the kittens played with one another, some of them reaching out of the cages and batting at her with their tiny little paws.

  She peeked in at one kitten, and in return, it hissed at her, arching its back. She put her finger in to rub another one, and it batted its paws at her, trying to swat her away. None of them were as nice as Kidney, that was for sure. Were they all this nasty? Cats did have a reputation for being jerks. Maybe Kidney was one of a kind.

  She heard a young boy around the corner begging his mother to buy a pet, telling her that they were on sale. On sale? Hmm. She walked over to the next aisle and saw a giant acrylic cage full of mice. Dozens, if not hundreds, of them, running all over the cage. She made a face. She wasn’t a huge fan of mice.

  “Billy, we aren’t getting a pet mouse! They are gross and carry diseases!” the little boy’s mother said as she dragged him away.

  Brenda stared at the mice and smiled. She had an idea. A really, really great one.

  “We need more of those maple figs!”

  “Got it. They’ll be ready in five minutes!” Sarah said as she nodded to the server and scrambled to get more trays of the figs into the oven. They clearly were a big hit at the VIP tasting that was happening. She had messed around with the recipe, perfecting it only a mere hour before the event. Raffe would have had a heart attack. Maple caramelized figs topped with smoky bacon, the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

  “Dear, we need more of the scallops! They’re moving fast!”

  Gertie’s voice boomed throughout the busy kitchen, making Sarah wince. She knew Gertie made her staff nervous, and she didn’t want them to be. Nervous chefs made mistakes.

  “I’m on it, Gertie. A few more minutes in the oven, and they will be out. And the maple figs. Anything else needed? How’s it going out there?”

  “Very good so far. Everyone loves the food, so keep it coming. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for the ball. And the entertainment has been wonderful. The only hiccup is that one of the servers had to leave for a family emergency, but Veronica has that under control as always. Overall, it’s been an excellent evening so far. Keep up the good work, dear!”

  Gertie had hired a swing band for the tasting, and from what the servers had been saying, the crowd loved the music. Sarah was relieved. The original plan had been for a comedian, but that had been canceled last minute, and she knew Gertie had scrambled to find a replacement. Everyone just wanted the VIP tasting and the ball to go as smoothly as possible. If Gertie was happy, then her employees were happy.

  “Great, I’m thrilled that everyone loves the food. Go back out and have some fun. I’ve got things covered in here, but if you need anything, you know where to find me.”

  “Thank you, dear. I know you’ve got things covered. You know I like to keep everyone on their toes.”

  Gertie winked at Sarah and then wheeled away, the staff moving aside for her to pass through like the Red Sea being parted by Moses.

  “Can you start tomorrow? We have a very important event we are staffing for O’Rourke’s charity ball. It will just be serving food, helping to clear plates after, the usual function job. I have a girl there tonight that just had a family emergency and had to leave unexpectedly, so I’m really under the gun to get her replaced pronto. I promise we don’t usually do this last minute, but we really need you.”

  Brenda smirked as the woman from the temp agency explained what she needed. Of course, Brenda had already known that they would be short-staffed. She had done her research and knew that this was the temp agency Gertie always used for her waitstaff. So, she had written up a resume, emphasizing her work at several banquet halls in another state, all of which were fake, of course. It didn’t matter, because they wouldn’t have time to call to check her references anyway. And when the woman she was meeting with had left for a moment to get some forms for Brenda to fill out, she had been able to pull a few of the resumes that were in the O’Rourke file for the temps that they used, basically ensuring that she would get a call for the next event. All it had taken was for her to call one of the girls that came from another state and tell her that there had been an accident back home and that her mother needed her right away. Brenda had started to feel bad lying about a family emergency, but it really wasn’t hurting anyone.

  “Oh, tomorrow is fine. It’s perfect, actually,” Brenda said. Perfect because she had one last errand to run, and now she could do it tomorrow morning, since she didn’t need to be at O’Rourke’s until late afternoon.

  “Okay, great. The uniform will be at O’Rourke’s, and if you have any questions, the other staff can help you.”

  Brenda hung up the phone and did a little dance. Things were going perfectly!

  Raffe walked into the tavern and headed toward Edward, who was seated at the end of the bar, engrossed in a crossword puzzle. He sat down on the stool next to him and ordered a drink.

  “I didn’t know you liked crossword puzzles.”

  “Oh, hi. Thanks for coming,” Edward said. “Yes, I love crosswords. They keep the brain on its toes! I try to do at least one a day, if not more.”

  “I was surprised when you called me. I assumed you were attending the VIP tasting tonight,” Raffe said.

  “I wasn’t invited. It’s okay, though. It’s only for kidney donors and people who have received transplants. I’m going to the ball, of course. So, how are things with you? Did you surprise Sarah?” Edward asked him, still looking down at his crossword.

  “Yes. And it was a huge flop. I guess I should have realized that she doesn’t even carry a purse. So, that made me look like I didn’t pay attention to things, of course. And then when I went by a while ago to apologize, I picked the worst time ever, and she practically kicked me out. So, needless to say, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with me there. I blew it. Again.”

  Edward shook his head in disbelief.

  “Maybe you should just tell her how you feel? All these presents aren’t doing much good. They seem to be making things worse, if anything.”

  “What?” Raffe asked.

  Edward put his pencil down and looked at Raffe.

  “Maybe we are overthinking this. Just tell her straight out how you feel. Maybe we both have been putting too much thought into physical things for these women and not enough thought into actually talking to them.”

  Raffe thought about it for a few minutes. It was pretty simple. Maybe Edward was right. Maybe he should just blurt it all out to Sarah. His phone went off, a text from Sarah asking to talk to him tomorrow morning at O’Rourke’s. Was this a sign?

  “Well, she just texted me asking to meet at O’Rourke’s tomorrow, so I guess I’ll find out how telling her straight-out works.”

  “Oh, tomorrow? Well, I will probably see you there. I drop by most mornings.”

  “You do? Why?” Raffe asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Oh, just to see
if Gertie wants to go to lunch later on, or to leave muffins for Gertie. But Myrtle usually shoos me away.”

  “Edward, do you think maybe Myrtle is shooing you away because Gertie’s told her to?”

  “Hmm, no, I don’t think so,” Edward replied, looking confused.

  “Well, like you just said, maybe you should tell Gertie exactly how you feel. Instead of showing up every day.”

  Raffe sighed. Edward was oblivious to the fact that Gertie wasn’t interested in seeing him.

  “Do you and Myrtle ever chat about crossword puzzles?” Raffe tried to turn the conversation around to Myrtle. She was single and a bit sassy, which was the type Edward seemed to like, given his attraction to Gertie.

  “What? No. Why would I?” Edward asked.

  “Well, I’ve seen that she likes crossword puzzles like you do. And I’m assuming that when you’re waiting for Gertie, Myrtle is the one who’s keeping you busy, so I just wasn’t sure if you two talked a lot. I’m pretty sure she loves to travel, and I know you do too. It just seems you have a lot in common.”

  “Well, we did have a good conversation earlier. When you were there, actually. But I don’t think she’s been told by Gertie not to let me go up to her office. That would be childish.”

  “What were you talking about? With Myrtle, I mean.”

  “Italy, of all things. She has quite the bucket list of places to travel to. And some wonderful stories from places that she’s already been to.”

  “It sounds like maybe you two do have a few things in common. She’s an attractive woman, Edward.”

  “What? Well, I guess so. Yes. But I’m too old to be flitting back and forth with women. I don’t think Gertie would appreciate it if I asked Myrtle out!”

  Raffe shook his head and signaled to the bartender for another round of drinks for the two of them.

  “Ten-letter word for annoyed and aggravated?” Edward asked out loud.