Authors: AJ Harmon,Christopher Harmon
David walked into his small but adequate kitchen and checked
to make sure it was clean. Of course it was clean…he never used it. He opened
one of the cupboards and looked at the neatly stacked dinner and salad plates.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d used them. He opened the refrigerator
and saw bottles of ketchup and mustard. There was a half-gallon jug of milk
that was about a third full and three bottles of beer. He doubted the contents
would impress Lindsey.
I’m not trying to impress her so I guess it doesn’t
matter
, he told himself.
Grabbing the stack of mail off the dining room table, he
wandered through to his bedroom and threw it on the small desk next to his bed.
Back in the living room, he fluffed the pillows and made sure there wasn’t any
cat hair on the back of the sofa. Freckles didn’t shed, but he wanted to make
sure his apartment said he wasn’t a slob. He fed the cat and opened a couple of
windows to let in some fresh air. And then he went to take a shower.
As David stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, he
slathered shaving cream all over and ran the hot water in the sink. As he began
with the first scrape of the razor, his phone rang. He walked over to the bed
and saw Nic’s name on the Caller I.D.
“Hi Nic.”
“Hey David. I wanted to call and tell you thank you for the
sketch. Paul has just hung it in the nursery and it looks amazing!”
“You’ve already thanked me several times,” David chuckled.
“I know, but now that it’s up on the wall I just wanted to
say thanks again.”
“You’re welcome,” David smiled. “So you’ve got the nursery
ready?”
“Mostly,” Nic replied. We’re done with the painting and
papering and Paul hung the new light this morning too. Still haven’t picked out
a crib though.”
“Well you still have…what is it? Five months?”
“We want to be ready.”
“You’ll be ready in plenty of time,” David laughed. “And I
tell you what. After the baby is born, I’ll do a portrait of all three of you.”
“Really?” Nic screamed. “That would be awesome! Thank you!”
“Of course, no problem. I’d be honored to do it.”
“I hope someone really special snatches you up David Lathem.
You are a catch for sure!”
David chuckled. “I don’t have anyone pounding down the door
yet.”
“Well, I’m sure the perfect woman for you is just waiting
for the right time. Thanks again, David. Bye.”
David threw the phone back on the bed and re-smothered his
face in shaving cream just as the buzzer screeched. He hurried through to the
front door as the door man announced he had a visitor.
“Send her up,” he casually replied and went back to finish
shaving. He’d just splashed the cool aftershave on his cheeks and neck as his
doorbell rang. He opened the door with his towel wrapped low on his hips.
“Hey,” he smiled. “Running just a tad behind. Let me take
that for you.” He reached out and took two of the three bags Lindsey was
balancing. “Come on in.” David turned and walked into the kitchen, setting the
bags on the counter. “Let me go get dressed.” He walked down the hall and
turned right and disappeared, leaving Lindsey standing in the hallway mouth
open at the sight of him.
*****
When David returned to the kitchen, Lindsey had emptied the
bags of groceries on the counter.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had this much food in my kitchen at
one time,” he grinned.
He wore jeans and a t-shirt and his feet were bare. His hair
was wet and he smelled amazing. Lindsey tried to focus on the food in front of
her.
“So today, I thought we’d make soup and salad for lunch.
Pretty simple really,” she smiled.
“When it comes to cooking, simple does not exist for me,” he
said. “But I’ll try.”
“That’s all I ask,” Lindsey smiled. “We’re going to have
roasted butternut squash soup. So obviously, the first thing we need to do is
roast the squash.”
“No
obvious
about it,” David grinned.
“Okay,” Lindsey laughed. “The first thing we’re going to do
is roast the squash.”
David smiled his crooked smile. “Tell me what to do.”
Lindsey showed him how to peel and cut the squash. Then she
showed him how to oil the roasting pan and season the squash and get it in the
oven.
While washing his hands, David announced, “That wasn’t that
hard.”
“Great!” smiled Lindsey. “Let’s move on to making croutons
for the salad then.”
Step by step, Lindsey showed David simple techniques and
taught basic skills to help him begin the life-long process of learning to
cook.
“I’ve been to culinary school and trained under some of the
best chefs in the country,” she told him. “And I’ve been working in the
business for years and years, but I’m always learning something new. It never
stops.”
“You don’t get sick of it? Cooking
ALL
the time?”
“No not at all. I love cooking! I love creating. I love
watching people enjoy eating my food.”
“I like creating too. It appears that art and cooking are
similar,” he observed. “We both make something from nothing.”
They were pureeing the roasted squash and adding the
vegetables they’d sautéed on the stove and the chicken stock and some cream.
David poured it all back into the dutch oven and stirred ‘til the thick, creamy
soup was heated through. Lindsey had dished up the green salad they’d put
together while the squash was in the oven and David finished it off by adding the
croutons they’d made from day-old brioche bread.
“I have a couple of beers?” David asked as they laid their
food on the table.
“Sounds great,” Lindsey smiled.
David popped the tops off two brown bottles and sat down at
the table. “This smells wonderful,” he grinned.
“And you made it!”
“I did, didn’t I?” he grinned again.
“Let’s eat!”
It tasted as good as it looked and smelled. They chatted all
through lunch about the different restaurants Lindsey had worked at and how it
had taken David a while to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. She
listened as he talked about the gallery.
“You really love that place.”
“I do,” he nodded. “In school I couldn’t fathom how I could
make a living in the art business, so I figured I’d have to do something else. But
now here I am…doing what I love.”
“I wish everyone could do what they love,” she sighed.
“You’re not talking about you now?”
“No,” she said as she shook her head. “My foster dad worked
as a janitor until he retired a few years ago. He used to say that the best
part of his day was coming home to Trudy, his wife. I didn’t think about it at
the time, but he disliked his job. Not the duties of his job, but the
supervisor who made him feel like dirt. I don’t understand when people get a
little bit of power, why they treat the people under them like crap. They used
to be in the same position. You’d think they’d have compassion not contempt.”
“I bet you’re a good boss,” David said as he finished the
last of his salad.
“I try to be,” Lindsey replied. “In the restaurant business,
you work a lot of hours every day, sometimes seven days a week. And most of the
time you don’t earn much money either. It’s hard work but the people who go in
to this profession do it because they’re passionate about food. The financial compensation
is a side benefit, not the main focus. I hope that my employees think I treat
them with respect because I do try to.”
“I’m sure they do,” David assured her. “I’ve seen you with
them.”
Lindsey smiled. “Well? What do you think of your first lesson?”
“This was awesome. I can’t believe I made this.” David
appeared to be quite proud of himself.
“Same time next week?”
“Absolutely!”
*****
Peter Lathem sliced the prime rib as the family sat
salivating around the table. Serving bowls were passed around and plates were
being filled with potatoes and vegetables and bread. Finally, everyone was
ready to eat. Peter said grace and the clink of knives and forks on the china
plates filled the room.
It had been a family tradition that every Sunday, the sons
who were in town joined their parents for dinner after they’d attended Mass. As
the sons found significant others, the table expanded and the dinners got
bigger. On this particular Sunday, the only son that was missing was Ben. He
was off in London on business. But all the grandchildren were in attendance,
including Janie’s twin boys and Katy’s son, Derek, and that had Maureen’s heart
swelling with love for her family.
“The spinach salad is delicious Katy,” Nic said as she took
another mouthful.
It had taken Maureen a while, but she had finally come
around to letting her daughters-in-law contribute to the meal. “Yes it is,”
Maureen agreed.
“Maybe one Sunday I could bring the salad,” David offered.
Every adult muscle in the room stopped moving and every
adult pair of eyes was now on David.
“You?” Paul choked.
“Yeah…me!”
“You can’t make toast and you’re offering to bring a salad?”
Tim laughed.
David glared at the youngest Lathem brother. “I’m learning.”
“Well good for you!” Janie smiled. “I think that would be fantastic.”
“It’ll be store bought,” Tim joked.
“Actually, I prepared a green salad yesterday for lunch and
made my own croutons.”
Maureen audibly gasped.
“Really mom. I’m taking cooking lessons. Just tell me what
to bring next week and that’s what I’ll make.”
“We should probably look out the window.”
Everyone turned to Mark with a confused expression on their
faces.
“Pigs must be flying,” he explained.
“Ha ha ha,” David smirked. “Very funny. Joke all you want.”
“I think that would be lovely David,” Maureen smiled at her
son. “I’m very proud of you.”
*****
At lunchtime on Monday, Audrey sat with David and shared a
cheese pizza.
“This is so yummy,” she giggled as she wiped a drip of
grease of her chin. “I’ll pay for it later in the gym, but right now I don’t
care.”
“Nothing like New York pizza,” David agreed.
“So I have this friend who wants to have drinks with you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because she saw you at the opening and thinks you’re cute.”
“Cute?”
“Her words, not mine,” Audrey insisted. “You should meet
her. You’re an eligible bachelor and she’s from a very well connected family
with gobs of money.”
“My family has more than gobs of money,” David frowned. “I’m
not looking for money.”
“Fine! I’ve seen her naked and you’ll want to fuck her when
you see her.”
“Audrey!”
“Well you will! All men do. Let me introduce you two. You
are too good-looking to be living like a hermit.”
“I do NOT live like a
hermit
!”
“When was the last date you went on?”
David didn’t reply.
“Hermit!” Audrey sneered.
“Fine!” he snapped. “Set up drinks for this week then.”
Audrey stood and threw her paper plate and napkin in the
trash can. “Will do,” she said over her shoulder as she left the small kitchen
at the back of the building.
Once out of earshot of David, she pulled her cell phone from
her pocket and dialed in a number.
“We’re all set for this week,” she said. “He says he’ll meet
for drinks. Wednesday is good. I’ll text you where and what time. Bye.”
She put the phone back in her pocket and grinned. Phase two
of the plan was now in motion.
*****
David sat at the bar of the hotel waiting for a woman he
didn’t know. He was supposed to meet her at seven. She was late.
Downing his second cola, he felt someone slide into the
chair next to him. He turned to see a gorgeous redhead looking at him.
“David,” she smiled. “I’m Veronica.”
“Hi,” he grinned. Audrey was right. “It’s a pleasure to meet
you Veronica.”
The bartender arrived and took her drink order. “Umm, I
think I’ll have a Long Island Iced Tea.”
He looked at David. “I’m good.”
“So, David,” Veronica smiled. “Tell me all about yourself.”
She played with his tie.
David cleared his throat and paused as her fingers were now
very close to his belt. He looked down to see her fingers walking down his
chest getting dangerously close to a part of his body he didn’t show in public.
Her other hand had moved to his knee and she was slowly caressing his thigh. He
was about to speak when the bartender saved him, arriving with her drink.
“Yummy!” she squealed with delight and turned and grabbed
the glass, enabling David to relax now that her hands were no longer fondling
him.
In a matter of moments, her glass was empty and she ordered
another. As she waited for the bartender she turned back to David.
“Where were we?” she purred. “Oh yes! I was going to give
you this.” Veronica reached into her purse and pulled out a hotel key. “I went
ahead and got us a room.”
David swallowed…hard. He watched Veronica swing back to her
fresh drink and suck the straw in between her bright red pursed lips. And then
she downed that drink faster than anyone he’d ever seen. As she ordered
another, David looked at her full breasts busting out of her halter top. Her
waist was tiny and her legs went on forever. She wore a short leather skirt and
very high heels and the effect was intoxicating. The bartender’s movement
snapped him back to the present…a hotel key lying on the marble bar in front of
him.
“So Veronica,” he began. “Why don’t you tell me a little
about yourself.”
“I’m single and I do yoga so I’m very…bendy.”
“Well okay then,” David chuckled. “Do you have a job?”
“Keeping myself looking like this
is
a full time
job.”
“I bet it is.”
“So let’s go upstairs and I’ll make you appreciate the hours
of yoga I do.” As she slipped off the chair, she
slipped
off the chair.