Chapter 13
Thirteen
ELI
We had set a date for the staff and friends launch of the new menu for just under two weeks from now.
So, naturally, I was locked in an office that barely had space for the desk that occupied it, at Vivi’s, thinking about changing the chicken dish completely.
There was no need for me to feel such pressure about this menu.
Xander and Darren were both pretty chill people as restaurant owners went.
I hadn’t done anything more than shadow the current staff and get an idea of the way they worked with each other so far.
The shock of how relaxed yet efficient the kitchen ran still hadn’t worn off.
When I had read my contract, it made it abundantly clear that I was going to maintain a healthy work-life balance, whether I wanted to or not.
They would give me a grace period while we got the changes that were coming off the ground, but after that, I could only work a certain number of shifts in a week and no doubles.
It went against almost everything I’d experienced working in the culinary world for the past decade, and my fear over all that free time was manifesting itself as obsessing over this menu being perfect.
Just before I decided to nix the chicken dish altogether and see if turkey might yield a more creative dish, Addie texted.
There is a deal on pizzas
And now I am thinking tonight feels like a good night to have a pizza party
I smiled as her messages kept on coming.
It might be the jet lag talking
Although, probably not
A pizza party is always a good idea
Pizza party?
Yeah. We get pizzas. Currently I’ve been eating pizzas while watching reality dating shows which both gives me hope and makes me despair
Then there are doughnut ice cream sandwiches and we drink bourbon out of mugs
Or any drink really
The key is the drinking it out of a mug
The image was cute. It sounded fun. Carefree in a way I hadn’t been for a long time. A way I hadn’t allowed myself to be in a long time.
Sounds like a fun time. Pizza party it is
Pick one
An image of a shelf stocked with pizzas came through.
And just know that if you say you want the one with pineapple on it I will be making a citizens arrest
I can see that you have one in your basket that has honey on it. Why is pineapple a crime? You clearly agree that sweet and savoury work
My gripe comes from the fact that hot pineapple should be illegal
What about pineapple upside down cake?
Whoever invented that needs to answer for their crime
A laugh bubbled out of me.
You can only eat one pizza for the rest of your life, what are you going for?
My answer to that was Margherita because it was a good base for other flavours, but then a thought struck me.
As is or am I allowed to make additions?
As is
Well, shit.
Pepperoni then
Which is also my pick now
Great. Now I can stop standing opposite pizzas looking lost while smiling down at my phone
That made me smile down at my phone, a warmth flooding through my veins.
Addie was appraising a frame when I got in from work.
“Hey, does this thing look straight to you?”
I stepped further into the living room and walked around behind her to see it how she was seeing it.
There were a good couple of feet between us, but I could still smell the almond scent from one of the products she used.
Her glasses were on top of her head, threaded in her braids, which fell just past her shoulder blades.
A purple silk scrunchie was high on her bicep, acting like a cuff on her oversized grey Kim Possible T-shirt.
The frame in question was almost like a mirror of the Hampstead Heath one I had already put up, only it was for Martinique. Even though one was mine and the other hers, they both encompassed parts of her.
“It’s straight,” I said quietly.
Addie turned around, and our eyes locked. When we were teenagers, she’d been a few inches taller than me, but now, we were the exact same height.
“Thanks. I was thinking we should maybe furnish this place and make it look like real people live here, rather than some kind of pseudo show home. You know, get cushions and blankets or just…something. Unless you’re stashing that kind of stuff somewhere and were waiting until I got here?”
Her eyes looked like grass in the early morning spring sunshine—an impossibly bright green that was made brighter by dawn dew.
It took me a moment to catch up to what she said.
“No. I came back with the bare bones. I’m not stashing anything anywhere. Shopping sounds good. Could we wait until I get everything off the ground in a couple of weeks?”
She nodded slowly. “Sure. I’ll make a list of potential things we need, and we can review it then. How are things going at Vivi’s?” she asked as she walked past me and into the kitchen.
I was really going to have to stop startling every time someone dared to ask me how my day was. Thankfully, Addie didn’t notice.