by Alexa Land
“Not if we say something first.” We followed him into the airy restaurant, and my mouth immediately began to water. The smells coming from the open kitchen were out of this world. While I tried not to drool, Dmitri breezed up to the host and announced, “Ballantine, we have a seven o’clock reservation. Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, the rest of our party is unable to join us. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
He was so quietly confident that the dignified man behind the podium didn’t even question it. He just said, “Welcome, Mr. Ballantine, and think nothing of it. We were set up for your party upstairs, but if you prefer, I can see about moving you into the main dining room.”
“Upstairs will be just fine,” Dmitri assured him.
We were soon seated on an open-air balcony brimming with potted plants, overlooking a beautiful garden with a small fountain. I murmured, “This is spectacular,” and my companions readily agreed.
Cole said, “I’m glad you guys could join us. Who’s on Lily duty tonight?”
“Her gaggle of aunts. My sisters dote on her shamelessly. They’ve taken Darwin into the fold as well, poor kid. He’s going to be mothered to death by the time we return.” I grinned at that, and Dmitri added, “By the way, dinner’s on us. Thanks for letting us tag along, and for coming up with the brilliant idea of borrowing Ballantine senior’s reservation.”
I said, “You don’t have to do that.”
But Dmitri insisted, and said, “Think of it as a bonus. Cole’s been working for us for years, so he’s certainly earned it.”
“You already give your employees generous bonuses,” Cole said.
“Still.” Jamie took a sip of water, then told him, “You really have earned it. You know, you’ve been there longer than anyone. Longer than us, even, since you were already working there when we took over the restaurant about four years ago and changed the name to Nolan’s. How long’s it been?”
A little frown creased Cole’s brow, but then he pulled up a neutral expression and said, “The previous owner hired me a little over seven years ago, just a few months after Hunter and I moved to San Francisco. But that’s not continuous, obviously, since I left for a while and went to work with River. You know though, none of that means you have to buy me dinner.”
Jamie grinned and told him, “You know how stubborn my husband can be. If he says he’s picking up the check, there’s no point in arguing.”
Dmitri ordered a bottle of wine, and said as we all raised our glasses in a toast, “To Conrad and Cat. I hope they’re together right now, having a long talk and working it all out.” We all echoed his sentiment.
I took a long drink, savoring the local vintage, and then I put my glass down and picked up the menu. When I folded back the leather cover, I exclaimed, “Holy shit! Okay, I can’t let you pay for dinner, that’s just way too much.”
“It’s already been decided.” Dmitri didn’t even flinch when he picked up his menu and scanned the list of ambitiously priced delicacies. “This all looks delicious,” he said.
“These prices really don’t make you queasy?” When Dmitri shook his head, I said, “Alright. Well, I totally owe y’all.”
Cole turned to Dmitri and said, “I never realized you were so at home in this world.”
Dmitri considered that before saying, “Before Jamie and I got together and started running Nolan’s, I owned a nightclub with an upscale VIP room. I rubbed elbows with a lot of celebrities and some of the richest people in San Francisco, and I guess I learned how to act like I belonged.”
“What a huge change, going from mingling with the glitterati to running a bar and grill,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d take Nolan’s any day over the glitz and glam. But talk about two different worlds.”
“The change was absolutely for the better. I wouldn’t trade my life now for all the world.” Dmitri smiled at his husband and picked up his hand, and the two men shared a moment.
Jamie grinned at him and kissed his husband, and then he said, “What hasn’t changed is Dmitri’s brilliance when it comes to running a business. In fact, we’re in the process of shopping for another property.”
“You’re not going to turn the bar and grill into a franchise, are you?” Cole asked.
“Oh no, never,” Jamie said. “There’s only one Nolan’s, and that place is home to us, so turning it into a chain wouldn’t feel right. But we’re ready for another challenge, so we want to open a second restaurant. Nolan’s reflects my Irish heritage, so we thought, how about a place that draws from Dmitri’s Russian roots? Someplace sleek and modern though, a contemporary twist on classic Russian comfort food. There’s nothing like that in the city right now.”
“Wow, that sounds amazing,” I murmured.
There must have been something wistful in my voice, because Dmitri turned to me and said, “Do you ever think about opening your own restaurant, River? You’re a sensational chef.”
“That’s been my dream since I was a kid, but financially, it’s never going to happen,” I said. “I’m barely making ends meet as it is, and no bank would ever be crazy enough to loan me the kind of money I’d need to open my own place.”
“I thought the catering business was your dream job,” Cole said. “You never told me you wanted to open a restaurant.”
“I don’t talk about it much, because there’s no point. And I love catering. I really do. I know I’m damn lucky that I get to be my own boss and make a living by cooking. That’s enough for me.” Some sort of strong emotion flickered in Cole’s dark eyes, but he let the subject drop.
*****
Hours later, I was still raving about dinner. “I’d never thought to use fresh thyme the way they did in that appetizer. And my God, that salmon bisque was a revelation! I wrote down the recipe. I won’t just steal it, of course, because that’s not cool, but I am going to learn from it.”
Cole grinned at me. We were back in his room at the inn, face-to-face in the semi-darkness, sharing the same pillow, and he said, “I’ve always thought it’s amazing that you can pick out all the individual ingredients in a complex dish. It’s your superpower.”
“Sadly, yes. As far as superpowers go, that’s all I’ve got. Souperman with an ‘ou’, able to dissect complex recipes in a single bound!” He chuckled at that, and I added, “I know I’m being a total dork by going on and on about that meal like this, and you must be bored senseless listening to me rattle on, but I’ve never gotten to experience food like that before. It was astonishing! It made me want to try harder with my own dishes, and take chances, and keep trying new things and learning more about all that’s out there.”
“It’s not boring at all. I love how passionate you are.”
“Really?”
He smiled at me and nodded. After a moment, he grew serious and said, “We need to figure out how to get you a restaurant, River. I can’t believe I never knew you have that dream. I thought the catering business was it.”
“But it’s crazy. Maybe not for Jamie and Dmitri, but it is for someone like me. Hell, I couldn’t even scrape together the money for more than two semesters of culinary school, and I was on a partial scholarship! Forget about opening a restaurant in a city as expensive as San Francisco.”
“You’re the most amazing cook I’ve ever met, River, and there has to be some way to make it happen.”
I touched his cheek and asked, “Why is this so important to you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because you never ask for anything, and whenever you do get some money together, you usually use it to bail your dad out of his latest financial crisis. I mean, I love the fact that you’re so generous, and that you’re always grateful for what you have, but you deserve so much more!”
I brushed his beautiful spiral curls back from his eyes and said, “You know, you’ve never told me your dream job, either. I saw the look in your eyes when you were talking about how long you’ve been waiting tables, and I know that’s not where you want to be.”
/> “I don’t have one,” he said, breaking eye contact. “Maybe that’s why I feel like…like I need you to chase your dream for both of us.” I knew he was holding something back from me, but if he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it, I wasn’t going to push. Maybe someday, he’d trust me with that part of him.
Chapter Eight
The same group of workers who’d been there on Saturday setting everything up came back on Sunday to take it all away again. They folded up the huge, white tent and packed it in a truck, along with the four hundred wooden folding chairs and the trellis arch, and as they drove away, I muttered, “Well, shit. That’s not a good sign.”
“There’s still hope,” Cole said. “Cat texted Dmitri and asked us all to wait here for her. She’s coming back. And Conrad never returned last night, so maybe he found her and they worked it out. His parents were the ones paying for those rentals, so they might have called and cancelled the order, even though the wedding’s still on.” I thought it was touching that he was trying so hard to remain optimistic.
“It’s like How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Darwin said. “I expected them to go around and gather up the trees, fold them like umbrellas, and throw them in the truck, too.” He was sitting beside us on the patio, pinned down by Lily, who was sound asleep on his lap. Apparently the little girl had bonded with him in a big way while we’d been in town.
I said, “If the wedding’s called off, and I’m not saying it is, I figured out what to do with all that food. Trevor volunteers at a nonprofit that delivers free, hot lunches to people too sick or frail to cook for themselves. I texted him to see if they could use it, and he said they’d definitely put it to good use. He’s feeling a lot better, by the way, and the kids are, too.”
“They’re still spotty, though,” Darwin said. “I video chatted with Josh this morning. He was wearing a pair of sock puppets on his hands to try to keep himself from scratching the itchy bumps.” He grinned a little and added, “I tried not to laugh, but the sock puppets were hilarious.”
The three of us were still sitting on the patio about twenty minutes later, when Conrad stepped out the back door of the inn and said, “Hi guys.” His blond hair was wet from a shower, and he was dressed in flip flops, a plain, white T-shirt and khaki shorts. He would have looked like he’d just returned from a nice, relaxing outing, except that when he sat down on the brick wall facing me and met my gaze, his red eyes told a different story.
I slid forward in my seat and rested my hand on his arm. “Are you okay?” He nodded, and I asked, “Where’s Cat?”
“She’s upstairs taking a shower. It feels good to get that sticky grape juice off.”
“Where’ve you been?”
“Out on the main road. That’s where I caught up to her. We sat in an old, covered bus stop and talked all night.”
Cole asked, “What did you two decide? Are you getting married?”
Cat stepped out of the back of the inn just then, and Conrad said, “Kitty’ll tell you.”
Cat’s long, wet hair was slicked back in a high ponytail, and it was the first time I’d ever seen her without any makeup. She was more beautiful than ever, especially when she locked eyes with Conrad and a bright smile lit her face. Her eyes were a little red and swollen, too, so I knew tears had been shed the night before, but that smile told me everything.
I got up and gave her a hug, and so did Cole, and then I said, “I’m so happy you two worked it out.”
“We talked ourselves hoarse.” She sat right beside Conrad and rested her head on his shoulder. “The first step was both of us admitting we were scared shitless. But we love each other more than anything, and we’re ready to get married.”
“But everything got taken away,” Darwin said. “What about the tent and chairs?”
“We didn’t need that stuff, so we called this morning and asked the rental company to pick it up. We also sent a group email to our four hundred wedding guests and told them the event was being cancelled. We didn’t tell them we’re just calling off the huge ceremony, but not our wedding. They were all my parents’ friends and colleagues or people I work with, and I’d invited them out of a sense of obligation. But we decided we only want people here who love and care about us,” Conrad said, and he and Cat smiled at each other.
“There’s still an enormous cake in the kitchen,” I told them, “and I’m sure you saw the metric ton of flowers in the dining room. We didn’t know where to put them when they were delivered this morning.”
“It was too late to cancel them, but that’s okay. We’ll figure out how to incorporate the flowers into ceremony 2.0, and we’ll send huge slabs of cake home with everyone,” Cat said as Conrad picked up her hand and held it in both of his.
“I’ll take my piece to Josh, he’ll be so excited,” Darwin said with a smile, as the little girl on his lap sat up and blinked. “He was bummed about missing out on the wedding cake.”
I asked the couple, “Since you called off the big reception, what do you think about donating the food to Lunch with Love? It’s a nonprofit that delivers hot meals to people in need. Trevor volunteers there.”
“That’s a great idea. Thank you for thinking of it,” Conrad said, and Cat nodded in agreement.
“Fantastic. Thank you both.” I pulled out my phone and sent Trevor a quick text, so the crew at the nonprofit could plan accordingly.
“By the way, we canceled your wait staff for tonight, along with the photographer, bartender, and band, with pay obviously, since it was so last minute,” Conrad told me.
Cat said, “Do you think we could set up a lunch buffet after the ceremony so everyone can help themselves? I’ll be more than happy to pitch in if you need a hand.”
“No need, we’ve got it covered,” Cole said with a smile.
“Oh good, here comes my family,” Cat said as she glanced over her shoulder. They’d gone for a walk through the vineyard to burn off some of the twin boys’ energy, and when they saw Cat and Conrad together, there was a lot of excited yelling and waving.
The couple met the wedding party at the foot of the stairs. Dmitri reached Cat first and grabbed her in an embrace as he asked, “Are you okay?”
“We’re great,” Cat told him. “Floppy and I worked it out, and we’re getting married in about half an hour, when the minister arrives. We asked him to come early, because we moved up our flight to Bali. We can’t wait to spend our honeymoon reconnecting. And, you know, doing other stuff.” She and her fiancé exchanged knowing smiles, and I grinned at her ridiculous pet name for Conrad. It was the first time I’d heard her use it all weekend, and that as much as anything told me they were back on track.
“Wait,” Jessica exclaimed, “half an hour? But we’re not ready! We have to do your hair and makeup, and it takes a good fifteen minutes just to get you cinched up in your wedding dress, and—”
“Actually,” Cat said, “we’re getting married just like this. Then we’re going to dance, and celebrate, and gorge ourselves on cake and that delicious food that River, Cole and Darwin have been busting their asses to make for us. After that, the love of my life and I are flying to the South Pacific for two magical weeks together.” Conrad caressed her cheek and kissed her, and the couple smiled at each other.
Jessica was a hardcore fashionista, and her brown eyes went wide. She blurted, “Okay, a nice, casual wedding sounds great. I support that. But we could run upstairs and pop you into a cute sundress, couldn’t we? I mean, you’re not actually getting married in flip flops and a pink, rhinestone-studded Hello Kitty tracksuit, right?”
Cat grinned at her. “I’m getting married exactly like this, in my favorite, most comfortable outfit. And guess what? None of you are changing, either. It’s a come-as-you-are wedding.”
Jessica glanced down at her black T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers, and a frown line appeared between her brows. But then she took a deep breath and said, “Yeah, okay. If this is what you want, Cat, I support you.”
; I glanced at the time on my phone and said, “I’m going to do a couple things in the kitchen before the ceremony. Will there be any more guests besides us?”
“The only person we’re expecting is Uncle Ethan. He’s on his way,” Conrad said. He sighed and added, “I guess he’s the only family I have left, since I’m on the outs with my parents.”
Cat said, “Well, the good news is, you’re about to marry into my family. So really, you’re getting an upgrade.” Conrad smiled at her.
“We’d better get set up for the ceremony, and we don’t have a lot of time,” Jamie said. “Tell us what you want, and we’ll make it happen.”
Cat looked around and muttered, “Damn, they took away the trellis. I asked them to leave that so we could get married under a canopy of flowers.”
Darwin stepped forward with Lily perched on his hip and said, “Leave that to me. I just need a few volunteers to help me bring over some lumber from the construction site beside the inn.”
“On it,” Jamie said. “What else do you need? Drills and screws, or hammers and nails?”
“Just the lumber.” Darwin grinned at the little girl in his arms and said, “I’m going to show Lily a magic trick.”
Cole asked, “Kitchen or construction? Where can I be the most help?”
Darwin had started leading half a dozen people on a lumber raid, and he called, “Kitchen. We got this.”
Cole took my hand and we went into the inn. As soon as we stepped through the door, we were enveloped by a wonderful fragrance. Every chair and table in the dining room was covered in gorgeous, pale pink and white flowers, including dozens of centerpieces which had been meant for the reception.
Conrad joined us in the kitchen a moment later and said, “I need to ask a favor River, and I feel like a real asshole, because I already put you to work all weekend cooking for hundreds of people who aren’t even coming now. But there’s no one else I can ask.”
“I’m happy to help in any way I can, Conrad. Just tell me what you need and consider it done.”