He showered, shaved and was about to pick out his clothes for the day when his phone rang. He glanced at the clock. Who the hell would be calling at ten past seven in the morning?
He instantly thought of Walker. Had something happened to his brother? He reached for the phone.
“Dammit, Cal, this is your fault,” Penny yelled before he had a chance to say hello. “Get down here right now. To the restaurant,” she added. “I mean it. You have twenty minutes.” Then she hung up.
A push, but he made it with forty-five seconds to spare. Whatever the crisis was, he planned to have a little talk with her about manager-chef relationships. She might be in charge of the kitchen but that didn’t make her boss of the world.
He pulled into the parking lot and circled around back. As he’d suspected, the morning deliveries were stacked outside the rear of the building. Penny stood there with a very tousled Naomi at her side.
He didn’t want to think about what Naomi had done with her night. Not when his brother was involved. So he parked and climbed out of his car. Penny saw him and raced toward him.
“Smell this,” she said, thrusting a large piece of fish in his face. “Smell it.”
He inhaled, then wished he hadn’t. Good fish shouldn’t have a smell at all. Old fish smelled fishy. This fish smelled as if it had died three weeks ago.
“It’s all crap,” she said, her eyes bright with temper, her cheeks blazing as red as her hair. “You could tie the celery in knots and it wouldn’t break. The shallots are practically a liquid. Crap. Did I tell you? Did I say there was a reason this restaurant had closed? Did you listen?”
She sucked in a breath. “Do you know how many reservations we have for tonight? The house is full. Full. Starting at six and going through until ten, we have every seat taken. We’re talking about dinner for just over three hundred. You want to know how much food I have? None. None! I have a damn box of cornstarch and three leeks and I have to provide dinner for three hundred.”
“Penny—”
She ignored him. “I said they could screw up one time. Well, they have. I’ll get my own people in here, which is great, but I still have dinner for three hundred tonight. I want someone’s head on a platter. I want it now and I want it raw. I’ll cook it myself.”
With that she turned on her heel and stalked into the restaurant.
He was equally torn between admiring her spirit and dealing with the disaster at hand.
Naomi stared at him. “Don’t go there, big guy. You already screwed that one up once.”
Cal ignored that. “Tell the guy to pack up and send it all back.” He would call later and cancel the contract, but right now there was a bigger problem. Dinner for three hundred.
He went into the restaurant and found Penny in the cold storage, taking inventory.
“I have shrimp,” she said, a note of hysteria in her voice. “Great. If we cut them in half, then everyone gets a serving. Fabulous. Come to The Waterfront and enjoy half a shrimp.” She turned and saw him. “Get out of my way.”
“I want to help.”
“You will. Tell me you drive something bigger than that expensive toy.”
“I have a full-sized truck.”
“Good. Go get it. Dress dirty. We’re going to Pike Place Market. But first I’m calling my fish people and finding out what they can do for me.” She winced. “They’re going to charge a lot for a last minute order.”
“We’ll pay.” He moved close and grabbed her shoulders. “I’m sorry the delivery was crap, but we’ll handle this. We can do an opening night chef’s menu and pretend it was our plan all along.”
“I know, but you have the easy part. You just have to print it out on the computer and slip it into the menus. I have to figure it all out and then make sure we have enough food, then cook it.”
“You can do it.”
“There’s an assumption.”
He saw the doubt in her eyes.
He felt her pain and annoyance and couldn’t think of a damn thing to make her feel better. She deserved more. Worse, he was partially to blame. He’d insisted on keeping the old vendors.
“I…”
“Yes? Any solution would be welcome.”
When he was silent, she sighed. “Yeah, I don’t have a miracle up my sleeve, either. Okay, meet us at the market in forty-five minutes,” she said. “We’ll check out what’s available and I’ll come up with a menu. Then we’ll put it all together and pray that it works.”
C
AL WALKED THROUGH
the dining room at eight-thirty on opening night. Every table was full and there wasn’t an empty seat at the bar. Quiet music blended with conversation and laughter from the guests. He could smell the various foods and hear the comments of surprise as people tasted one of Penny’s many special dishes.
The disaster had been averted.
Three hours at the market, with everyone running around buying mushrooms, shallots, fish, shellfish and ingredients for salad had produced a Chef’s Menu that should fool everyone. He couldn’t believe she’d pulled it all together so quickly, but she had.
He crossed the floor and pushed through the swinging door. In contrast to the quiet elegance of the dining room, the kitchen was a loud, bright, crazy house of activity.
“Fire up!” one of the cooks yelled. “Fire up, you skinny-assed sonofabitch.”
“Puta,”
the other man replied without looking up from his pan where he sautéed shrimp with various vegetables.
“Table three. I’m waiting on bisque,” Naomi yelled from the front. “Bisque, ladies. How hard is that?”
Another chef pushed a full bowl toward her. She grabbed it, put it on a tray, expertly turned, then hustled out into the dining room.
Cal moved next to Penny who watched everything anxiously. She fingered the orders lined up and then turned to him. “What’s the next seating?” she asked.
“Two tables of four are going to open up in about five minutes.”
“Okay, once they’re seated, switch the menu.” She shook her head. “I hate this.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Ha. Like that helps me now.”
He was just as pissed as she was, but figured there was no point in showing it. One of them screaming was enough. But the contracts with the old supplier had already been canceled and the new company would start in the morning. He would be there himself to make sure everything was up to standard. If it wasn’t, there would be hell to pay.
“I’ve never had to do this,” Penny said. “It’s opening night, Cal. I’m playing fast and loose with the menu. One special order could sink me. I don’t need this kind of pressure.”
The small printer in the corner spat out three more orders. Penny lunged for them. He sidestepped her and started out of the kitchen. On his way, he passed Naomi.
“She still threatening to kill you?” the other woman asked.
“Not to my face.”
“You should have been here earlier.” Naomi lowered her voice. “Orange sherbet. Bring her some and she’ll be eating out of your hand. Assuming you’re into that sort of thing.”
He looked at Naomi. “Why are you being nice to me?”
She grinned. “Because sex with your brother was so amazing, I’m feeling at one with the world. I’d say that you should try it, but that’s a place neither of us wants to go.”
“You got that right.”
He left the kitchen and made his way to his office. Leaving the store wasn’t an option—not on opening night. But he was management, he knew how to delegate. Once there he picked up the phone and called Reid. “Do me a favor,” he said. “Stop at the store on your way over and pick up some orange sherbet.”
I
T WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT
before the last guests had left, the kitchen had been cleaned and the staff clocked out. Penny sat at a round table for six, her feet propped on a chair, her lower back aching.
Every cell in her body groaned with exhaustion. She’d been at the restaurant since shortly after six. Eighteen-hour days weren’t all that uncommon in the business, but she was pregnant and apparently that changed things.
“You did good,” Dani told her. “I was impressed.”
“Thanks. I just never wanted to have to replace menus partway through the evening.”
Talk about doubling the work in the kitchen. But they’d done it. Their first night in business was a hit.
Hugh, Dani’s husband, raised his glass of wine in her direction. “To Penny—chef extraordinaire.”
“To Penny.”
Everyone joined in. Penny smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Now one of you volunteer to take care of my shift tomorrow and I’ll be really grateful.”
“Not a good idea,” Naomi said from her place next to Reid. “You’re the talented one.”
“That is the rumor.”
Penny picked up her glass of water. She’d been fake-drinking her wine for nearly half an hour and was ready to give up the game. Half the people at the table knew the truth. She did, of course. Naomi and Reid. Which left Dani, Hugh and Cal as the only ones who didn’t.
Penny looked at Dani and her husband. Dani sat on her husband’s lap, her legs hanging over the arm of his wheelchair. Hugh was tall and muscled, a former star football player at the University of Washington. He’d been injured his senior year, a hit gone wrong paralyzing him from the waist down. Dani had stuck by him through his recovery and rehab, her love never wavering.
Penny didn’t know anything about their sex life, although with Hugh’s injuries it was unlikely to be completely conventional. What would happen when they wanted children?
On the off chance word of her pregnancy might send Dani to a bad place, Penny decided to keep the news to herself for now. She would have to come clean with Cal sooner rather than later, but not tonight.
Speaking of Cal—she turned her attention to her ex-husband. She was still pissed off that he’d insisted she use his suppliers who had then totally screwed her, but she had to admit he’d taken the fall like a gentleman and had done everything he could to help. He’d always been a great guy to have around in an emergency. It was the day-to-day stuff he wasn’t so good at.
“Your fish and chips were a hit,” Cal said, with a nod of his head. “I bow to your superior cooking skills.”
“As you should,” Naomi told him.
“It’s our first victory,” Penny said. “Let’s hope there are others that follow.”
He stood. “I need some more wine,” he said. “Anyone want any?”
There was a chorus of
no
s. Cal had a feeling the party was going to break up soon. Both Dani and Hugh had to be up early, and Reid and Naomi were looking at each other like sharks eyeing bait. He guessed they’d be heading out shortly to do things he didn’t want to think about.
He nudged Penny’s chair. “Come into the kitchen for a second,” he said.
She pushed herself to her feet and followed him. “If we’ve got rats, I don’t want to know.”
“It’s a restaurant in an old building. What do you think?”
She shuddered. “I know it’s inevitable, but I don’t want to see them.”
“I’ve got a great exterminator.”
“You’d better. I hate rats. It’s the tails. They’re so scaly looking. Why can’t their tails be furry?”
“Not my department.”
He crossed to the freezer and stepped inside. The carton Reid had brought earlier was right where Cal had left it. Orange sherbet didn’t sound the least bit like anything Penny—the queen of fussy eating—would want, but Naomi was too happy with Reid to lie. So he pulled out the container and slapped it on the counter.
“I heard you had a taste for this,” he said. “It’s my way of saying thanks for doing a hell of a job tonight.”
Penny took a step back. “Who told you to buy this?”
“Naomi. I think she felt bad because I heard you planning to kill me.”
Penny grabbed a bowl and a spoon. “I only threatened to take out your liver. There’s a difference.”
“It’s a subtle one.”
“Want some?”
“No, thanks. Not my favorite flavor.”
“More for me.”
She scooped out the sherbet and pushed the carton toward him so he could put it away. When he stepped back into the kitchen, she’d raised herself onto the stainless-steel counter and was happily chowing down on sherbet that was a very unnatural color of orange.
“Couldn’t you just drink juice?” he asked.
“Not the same.”
“If you say so.” He leaned against the counter opposite hers. “You did good tonight.”
“Thanks. You did okay, too.”
He chuckled. “Gee, thanks. You still mad?”
“Not so much. Everything worked out.” She raised her head. “I’m good at my job, Cal. That’s why you hired me.”
“I know.”
“Then stay the hell out of my way. Do I come into the dining room and tell you how to fold napkins?”
“There’s more to my job than that.”
“You get my point.”
“I do and it’s well taken. The kitchen is your responsibility.”
“Except for the rats.”
“Fine. The rats are mine,” he said.
She licked her spoon. “Gloria didn’t come. I thought she might.”
“She was here last night.”
“Oh, I know.”
He frowned. “Did she bother you?”
Penny shrugged. “Was she breathing?”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really. She’s a cold old woman. That hasn’t changed. She didn’t exactly scare me when we were married, but I never wanted us to be best friends.”
“She’s not my favorite person.”
“That makes me sad,” Penny said.
“Why?”
“Because she’s family. Your folks are gone. She’s the last living member of a previous generation. It’s too bad she makes it so hard to love her.”
As nothing about his family situation had changed since he and Penny split up, she was dead on in her assessment.
“I think she needs to get laid,” Penny said.
Cal winced. “Tell me you’re not talking about Gloria.”
“It’s true. When do you think was the last time the old bird got any?”
“I am
not
going to think about that.”
“I’m not asking you to stand in the room and watch. I’m saying she’s lonely. It’s sad.”
“You’re being nicer to her than she deserves.”
“I have very little to do with her, so it’s easier for me. Although last night she really got on my nerves.”
“What did she say?”
“What did who say?” Reid asked as he and Naomi walked into the kitchen. “Dani and Hugh bugged out. They said to say good night. We’re heading home, too.”
“Thanks for coming, baby cakes,” Penny said to Reid.
He walked over and kissed her cheek. “You, too, knife girl.”
Penny laughed. “Night, Naomi. See you tomorrow.”
“Bright and early.”
Reid put his arm around her. “Early, at least. I don’t think your assistant is going to be getting any sleep tonight.”
Naomi smiled. “I like that in a man.” As she passed Cal, she patted his arm. “Want to know how many times we did it last night?”
“Not even for money.”
Reid made a fist. Cal did the same. They bumped them together.
“Later,” Reid called as they left.
When the front door of the restaurant closed, Penny grinned. “So do you think they’ll wait until they get back to his place or do you think they’ll do it in the car?”
“What is with you? You’re on a roll with the sex talk tonight.” Was she feeling an itch? He would admit to a need to scratch. After all this time, Penny could still get to him just by being in the same room. “Someone else might think you were issuing an invitation.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Don’t go there. This is my kitchen and I know where all the knives are. It’s just interesting to speculate. Okay, not about Gloria, because I don’t want to think about her naked. But with Naomi and Reid. Come on—you have to wonder. They’re both out to break the land speed record for most partners in a lifetime.”
“Doesn’t it get old after a while?”
Penny’s eyes brightened. “Are you saying sex gets boring? How interesting.”
“No. I’m saying switching partners all the time would get old. I gave up counting conquests about the time I turned twenty-two. The sex is more fun when I’m in a relationship.”
He hadn’t had any complaints about Penny. She’d been caring and responsive and just adventurous enough to keep him guessing about what was going to happen next.
“I think they both do it because they can,” she said. “I’m not sure Naomi’s ever met a guy who didn’t want her and Reid is just, well, Reid. Women flock to him.”
“Not you.”
“I know. I always saw him as a friend.”
“And after we split up?”
He’d wondered. Had his brother offered comfort?
He’d told himself it wasn’t possible. That neither of them would do that to him. Except Reid didn’t play by the rules and Penny had wanted revenge.
“Yuck,” Penny said, sounding both sincere and annoyed. “Why on earth would I sleep with your brother? It’s gross and tacky. It would be like you sleeping with Naomi.”
“No, thanks.”
“That’s my point. Besides, I wouldn’t have done that to you.”
“Why? I thought you hated my guts.”
“I did. But I didn’t want you punished.”
He thought about the angry fights, the things she’d said to him. “Could have fooled me.”
Penny put down her empty bowl. He hadn’t understood then and she doubted he would understand now, but she meant what she’d said. She didn’t want Cal punished—she’d wanted him to get it. She’d wanted him to love her enough to want to have a baby with her. She’d wanted them to be a family.
Deep in her heart, she believed he loved her but with Gloria always ready to pounce at any sign of emotional weakness, he’d been afraid to show his tender side. Leaving had been a last-ditch attempt to get him to admit that she was important to him. The plan had backfired. Instead of coming after her, he had let her go and decided that being apart permanently was the best course for both of them.
“It was three years ago,” she said. “Does it really matter now?”
“Probably not. But speaking of the past, I heard an interesting story about you the other day.”
Uh-oh. “From who?”
“Gloria.”
“Then it’s probably not true.”
“She said you’d stabbed one of your cooks when he wouldn’t do what you said.”
Penny laughed. “Actually, that
is
true.” She giggled at Cal’s shocked expression. “Well, sort of.”
“What happened?”
“This guy was bugging me. He didn’t like that I’d been promoted over him. You know how guys are in the kitchen. Every word is profane and it’s a giant power play. The guy had been backing me into the corner and touching me. I told him to stop it or I’d make him stop it.”