Chapter 15 #2
“I love a man with great taste,” Alex says. “Thank you.”
“Listen, all of my mean questions are gone now. Thank you,” Kyrah says as she examines her blue and white bottle.
“Yes. Thank you so much,” Giselle says.
When the three of them walk back to the table, I grab his arm lightly. He turns back to me. “Thank you for that. That was so thoughtful. How did you remember who liked what?”
“I listen when you talk,” he says matter of factly, like all men listened. They do not.
“Yes, you do. Thank you,” I say before kissing him. “You’ve won them over already.”
After leaning in closer to my ear, he says, “That’s cool but I’m really only trying to win you over, kyau.”
I swear the way kyau is pronounced sends a chill down my spine. I love it.
“It’s working,” I admit before taking his hand.
I lead us to the table. He pulls out my chair and pushes it closer to the table once I’m seated. Giselle motions to the servers standing by the food table and they carry the food for our family style meal over. As the platters are centered on the table, the chef describes the items.
“Tonight, we have a taste of the Caribbean. This is an assortment of conch balls and salt fish fritters, and for freshness, this is a mango ceviche. For your mains, we have braised oxtails and this beautiful jerk spiced pan seared snapper accompanied with our delicious Bahamian-style pigeon peas and rice and traditional style Jamaican callaloo simmered in rich coconut milk, garlic, and thyme. Enjoy,” she says, then nods before walking off. Her staff follows.
“Damn. I don’t know where to start,” Kyrah says.
“With the fritters. You’ve been trying to eat them since you got here,” Giselle says. “Eat up though. You know I don’t want any leftovers.” She looks at Quintus. “Please, help yourself,” she tells him.
“Oh I’m about to,” he assures her.
Collectively, we use the serving utensils and fill our plates. Because I’ve never had salt fish, I only grab one fritter, but after tasting it, I grab another. It’s delicious; everything is delicious and the drinks pair perfectly with the food.
“Giselle, this is so damn good. What made you decide on Caribbean for tonight?”
“You know me, I eat with my eyes. My assistant had oxtails yesterday from Redmond’s, and when I saw them, I immediately craved the oxtails I had in Negril last year. So I called On the Table and she suggested a tasting menu. I was sold. Are you enjoying it, Quintus?”
“I’m about to get another fish,” he says with a smile. “So, yeah. It’s really good. I thought I was going to be grilled during dinner though.”
“It’s coming. We decided to do it after dinner with a little game,” Kyrah says.
“We? Who? No one told me about a game,” I say.
“We as in Alex and I. After all it’s FNF, we drink and wine down on FNFs. Plus, he’s your husband, not just a man you’re dating. We are a permanent part of your life. He might have questions for us. So we’re playing a game after we eat.”
At her surprising revelation, I look over at him to gauge his reaction. Because I wasn’t a part of the change in plans conversation, I’m a little apprehensive, but he doesn’t look fazed at all. So I calm my ass down and get back to my food.
The chef and her team return to check on us some time later and we are all satiated and stuffed.
At least we thought we had no more room for food until we saw the dessert.
Plates with three beautiful mini desserts are placed in front of each of us.
My eyes hone in on the chocolate looking one. I love a good dark chocolate anything.
“And for our final course, we have a dessert tasting. From left to right, we have a Bahamian guava duff, a spiced, pillowy sweet dough rolled tightly with fresh pink guava and steamed to perfection. It’s finished with a rich, buttery rum sauce.
In the middle, there’s a decadent Jamaican chocolate rum cake.
The chocolate is heavily infused with real Jamaican rum and finished with a glossy rum glaze.
And lastly, you have a Bahamian coconut and pineapple tart.
The flaky pastry is filled with a caramelized mixture of diced pineapple and shredded coconut, flavored with a hint of vanilla and nutmeg. Enjoy.”
“Thank you so much, Chef!” Giselle says and we all thank the chef as well.
I start with the chocolate rum cake and I’m not disappointed at all.
It’s so damn good. The tart tastes delicious too but the duff is a no for me.
The dough is too soft. I think because it’s steamed.
Quintus actually likes the duff, so I give him mine.
Once we are finished, the catering team returns to clean the solarium and we head into Giselle’s family room.
“Are you ready for the game?” Kyrah asks Quintus but I answer.
“Depends. What is it?”
“I was talking to him,” she says, then smiles. “Relax, it’s just a little Truth or Shot. With each question, you can choose to answer truthfully or take a shot. It’s perfect considering that he brought our favorites.”
“I don’t know,” I utter, but he hears me.
“It’s cool. I don’t have shit to hide, so I’ll just tell the truth and y’all can drink, do y’all normal Friday thing,” he says coolly.
“See, I’m liking you already,” Kyrah says, then stands. “I’ll get the shot glasses.”
“I need to run to the bathroom right quick,” he tells me.
“I’ll show you,” I say and we both stand. Once we are out of the family room and down the hall, he grabs my arm lightly to stop me. “I’m really good with the game and drinks,” he says while staring into my eyes.
“I’m already intruding in your life enough; I don’t need my friends to be intrusive too,” I say.
“Intruding? Nah. Blending and getting comfortable where you belong in my life is more like it. Chill out, kyau. It’s all good.
Besides, they love you and you love them too.
That’s already a good thing in my eyes. It’s for one night.
I can handle some questions,” he says, then crowds my space.
He leans in and his lips brush mine. “It’s fine,” he adds before softly kissing me.
When our lips break, I exhale and relax into his words. It’s fine.