29. Taylor
Chapter 29
Taylor
“ W hat did we miss?” Gem asks Ben and Victoria politely as I help her back into her chair. She smiles up at Ben from her seat, a peace offering.
He accepts graciously and allows us to move past it all. “Nothing. They cleared the snapper course, and we’re on a break before they bring out the lamb.” He gestures to the giant, round goblet that’s replaced the tall white wine glass in front of our place settings.
I take mine with both hands, letting the aroma of the red fill my senses. “Where do they get lamb on this island?” I ask him, shifting the focus onto me.
“Dominic has a farm raise the animals just for us,” Ben says.
“Did I hear my name?” A tall, dark, imposing figure of a man in black chef regalia appears at the end of our table.
“Hey, Dom,” Ainsley sits forward and grins as Dom claps him on the back.
“Welcome back to the island, kid. It’s been too long. ”
“Yeah, well. College and whatnot.”
He and Dominic share a familiar look before the chef turns his sights back on the table. “How’s dinner?”
“It’s incredible,” Ainsley says.
Dom stands tall, folding his arms. I get a glimpse of the stern leader I’m sure he is behind those kitchen walls. “I want to hear from the chef at the table.”
All eyes fall on me.
“Oh.” I set down my wine glass and clear my throat. I’m surprised this guy knows anything about me, but I try my best to hide it. “It’s an honor to be sitting here at all. I feel like I’m in church or something.”
My lame attempt at a joke gets the appropriate amount of polite laughter.
Dom’s silent, arms crossed, eyebrows lifted slightly as if I’m keeping him waiting.
“The wine pairings are masterful. I thought food and wine were made for each other before, but it turns out I knew nothing. The way you sent out the scallop and then the seaweed salad had me confused at first, but when I tasted the miso, I just knew.”
“You knew what?” he demands, not hiding his authoritarian nature one bit.
Fine by me. “I knew why you didn’t plate them together. They seemed like such natural companions, but the miso with the tobiko and the seaweed was a fully formed dish all on its own. When you tasted it with the orange wine, of course. And sending the scallop as a simple crudo…” Words escape me as my eyes drop closed and I remember the rich, unassuming flavor of the shellfish on my tongue. “People generally use a scallop as a flavor delivery system. It’s what I expected with the miso. But that scallop stood all on its own.”
Dom nods as if I’m telling him everything he wants to hear. “ Just wait till you get to the mains. The lamb we’re raising on this island are finished on herbs and olives.” He shakes his head as a smile spreads across his face and his eyes go a bit misty. “Perfection. I’m happy to have someone in the dining room that can appreciate it for once.”
Dom means it as a compliment, but I feel the dig hit Ainsley. He stiffens next to me.
And, as seems to be a pattern since we set foot on this island, I find myself becoming defensive of the guy. “We’re all food lovers here,” I say, shifting toward Ainsley just slightly.
“I just mean you work in the industry,” Dom replies.
“Ainsley works in the same kitchen I do,” I toss back, unwilling to let it go.
“Ainsley does not work in the kitchen,” Ben cuts in from across the table, letting some of his perfect composure slip as he practically spits the words at me. “He’s a temporary volunteer.”
I try to hide my snort by taking a sip of wine, but Ben’s laser focus misses nothing. I set my wine down and return his glare. “If by volunteer you mean delinquent working off his court ordered community service, then yeah.”
Ben’s jaw clenches slightly, but he says nothing.
Dominic, however, lets out a bellow of laughter that draws attention from all over the dining room. “I thought I liked you before, but you’re my new favorite dinner guest.”
His gaze shifts to Gemma. “This is your boyfriend?” he asks, gesturing to me with his head.
I don’t have time to turn to look at her before she answers. “Yes. But?—”
“But he’s my boyfriend, too.”
I watch Ainsley speak the words, chin held high, eyes wild and defiant.
It wasn’t necessary. We’ve never had a conversation where we declared each other boyfriend and boyfriend. He made no mention of announcing it to his father and the world.But, as I’ve done over and over today, I stand firmly beside him, ready to jump in and defend him if needed.
No one says anything. After a long moment, I glance over at Ben, once again impressed by the guy’s ability to hold a poker face.
“I think they need me in the kitchen, actually,” Dom says, wiping his hands on his apron and backing away from the table.
No one looks away from the tense moment as he escapes.
“We had a feeling there was something going on with the three of you,” Victoria braves, cutting through the tension. “Thanks for letting us know. We’re happy for you,” she adds, elbowing the still silent Ben.
He coughs softly and shakes his head. “Yes, of course. You haven’t brought anyone home to meet me in…” He cocks his head to the side, letting his gaze drift. “Well, ever, really.”
Ben focuses that heavy gaze back on Ainsley as if Ainsley did something wrong, and I can’t help it. The words just slip out.
“Maybe he was worried you’d steal them.”
The women gasp in unison, a sound that would be far more comical in just about any other situation. I brace myself for the lashing, happy to be taking it instead of Ainsley.
But it never comes.
Ben just laughs, leaning back in his seat, wine goblet in hand. “I guess I deserved that.”
He sips his wine and then sits forward again, leaning toward me across the table. “You’re the first person to ever make a joke about it.”
I shrug, unsure where we stand. “I’ve got plenty more.”
“One is enough, I think,” Gem chimes in from beside me.
I can feel her glaring at me, but I don’t look away from Ben. “ Ainsley’s doing a great job in the kitchen, you know.” I glance over at Ainsley to make sure he’s surviving all this. He’s a bit flushed, but he looks like he’s recovering from blurting out his deep, dark secret. I look back to Ben, who’s waiting for my gaze. “He’s a natural.”
Ben’s eyebrows raise slightly at the insinuation, and he seems to recover himself. “There are no bad skills to learn. That’s what college is for. It will all serve him well in his career.”
“As an environmental engineer,” I say.
Ben shrugs, sitting back and seeming to notice we aren’t alone for the first time in a few moments. “Or an environmental lawyer or a corporate lawyer for an environmental engineering firm.”
“Ainsley isn’t in law school,” I say, trying to keep my voice as calm as this seasoned attorney.
“Law school,” Ben replies, holding my gaze for another moment before shifting it to Ainsley, “is a graduate program. Ainsley is getting his undergrad right now.”
“I know exactly what Ainsley is doing at college, Ben,” I send my words across the table, speared with sharpened ends, and watch them land. Then I go for the kill. “Are you sure you do?”
“Alright, alright,” Victoria says loudly, at the same time Gem practically rises from her seat, saying “That’s enough of this.”
The two women lock eyes and smile.
Victoria turns back to the table, clearly deciding to take charge. “You two need to let this go. We’re enjoying dinner at a beautiful restaurant. This is not the time for pissing contests.”
She pushes her chair back and half rises, waving to our server. “We’re ready for…something. Whatever you’ve got.”
Settling back into her chair, she smiles at the white clad waiter who arrives with a pour of red wine. As if more alcohol was what we needed.
“This has been a wild ride of a meal, hasn’t it?” Victoria laughs. “I hope you three start coming out to the estate. You could really liven up the holidays.”
I see the first crack in Ben’s perfect mask when he looks quickly down at his lovely bride to be. “Is life so boring?”
“No, no. Of course not.” She slips one arm through his and leans her chin on Ben’s shoulder. “But this is so fun.”
He smiles down at her in what could be a smirk. “A little drama is what the lady craves?”
Victoria shrugs, smiling up at Ben like he hung the damn moon.
I look away from the lovebirds to meet Ainsley’s gaze for the first time since he claimed me in front of the man he fears most in this world.His eyes are soft, cheeks flushed from the wine and the tropical heat. His shirt still hangs open, boldly displaying his chest at a Pendleton badged restaurant. My own shirt is buttoned up nearly to the top.
“You okay?” I mouth, and he nods.
The subtle intimacy of the moment. The familiarity, like he really does belong to me, hits me hard.Leaving me wide open, vulnerable, and completely unprepared for the next attack.
“Taylor used to have his own restaurant,” Gem announces.
I let my eyes fall closed briefly, still facing Ainsley, before sucking in a breath and turning back to the table. To my fate.
“Is that right?” Victoria asks, clearly happy to have someone offer up a new topic of conversation. “Where was it?”
“Downtown Seattle. Just across from Pike Place Market.”
“Young,” Ben says, an entire monologue of his feelings on the topic wrapped up in one word.
I nod. “I was young. I worked at a place back then with a chef who was hell bent on world domination. He got it into his mind that I would spearhead a new project downtown. We took over a small cafe space and turned it into a restaurant.” I smile fondly at the memory. How new and possible everything felt back then. “So, it wasn’t actually mine, per se. I would have become partner.”
“But?” Ben tosses out another perfectly selected word, apparently still displeased with me from earlier.
I shrug, taking up my wine glass just as the fleet of servers arrive with another course. It’s the lamb dish, and my eyes lock onto the perfectly seared meat resting atop a bed of what the server tells us are Jerusalem artichokes.
We thank the server, and a few moments pass when everyone comments on the food and takes first bites. The ladies moan, and honestly, I would moan too if Ainsley’s dad wasn’t sitting across from me, still poised for attack.
I swallow a bite, chasing it with the perfect, velvety red, before daring to look back up. Sure enough, Ben’s waiting.
I set down my fork. “But some family stuff got in the way of me being able to work for pennies. I held out as long as I could, but in the end, I had to take a full-time corporate gig to be able to help out.”
I watch Ben’s gaze shift to Ainsley, who meets it and offers the tiniest shrug.
It takes me a second to process the exchange, but when I do, it leaves me dumbstruck.
Ben’s wondering why Ainsley hasn’t bailed me out, being my boyfriend and all, and clearly in a financial position to do so. I suddenly remember Ainsley asking me something similar, on that first ferry ride home from Bainbridge together. Offering help if I wanted it.
“We’re getting it worked out, though. The family stuff.” I throw the words out quickly, hoping the finality of them will allow the subject to change.
No luck.
“Your parents?” Victoria asks, leaning forward as she cuts into her perfectly rare meat.
I glance down at my own, feeling my appetite waning. The last thing I want is to get into all this right now, especially since it’s a subject I haven’t exactly discussed with my new boyfriend yet.
And then it hits me, sucking the breath out of my lungs.
Has he been avoiding it because of the way I shut him down when he offered to help out financially before? I mean, he knows there’s something going on with my family. He witnessed the ill-explained drama on New Year’s, brushing it off with a joke about a stripper. Right after that, he let me know he could help, and I shit on him, as I tend to do when I get nervous. And he’s never asked about my family again.
My thoughts stumble but I know I need to get it together. I can’t show any cracks at this table. This is not the time for weakness.
“It’s not a big deal,” I start, but my words come out too loud, too forceful. I take a deep breath. “My parents own a house on Bainbridge Island, it’s been in the family for generations. The foundation needs some major repairs, so we’re working on getting those done.”
The sound of silverware and soft chewing is deafening in the silence that follows my words. I catch another exchange between Ben and Ainsley, Ben clearly asking why the hell Ainsley hasn’t given me what is probably chump change to these guys.
“Really, it’s not a big deal.” Just the house crumbling into the sea. Just the homeowner’s association threatening to have it condemned unless we can work some kind of miracle.
After another pregnant pause, Ben clears his throat. “Well, you just let us know?— ”
“Will do,” I say quickly, before he can make the same offer Ainsley made.
Then I pick up my own fork and knife, tearing into my lamb instead of cutting out my own heart to end this torture. “How’s the wedding planning coming?”