Chapter 7
Tori watched Penny expectantly. Which was to say, yes, Penny was hugely pregnant, so every pause she took was pregnant, but she was taking her time lingering over Tori’s presentation. Tori had a notebook full of reference material and costs, if Penny would only ask questions.
Tori had taken a field trip to check out the farmer’s market in Calistoga, an excursion well worth her time. The sellers were set up to take credit cards, and even EBT cards. That meant farm to table food was available for all. This key selling point was featured prominently in her presentation.
Tori titled her presentation, “Beauty is only skin deep, but nutrition is all the way through.” She needed to shorten it for a booth slogan, but it got the point across. PnK wouldn’t have to sort through their produce for commercial beauty standards because they would sell what they had in all its glorious weirdness.
Penny leaned back and rubbed her baby bump. She hummed a bit before sitting upright. She clicked the keyboard, backing the presentation up.
“How soon could all of this happen?” she finally asked.
“I have us on the waiting list for Calistoga. We can basically walk into the markets in Napa and Yountville.” Tori pulled the already filled-out applications from a file folder. “Just need your signature.”
“And St. Helena?”
“We have to be reviewed by a committee. It’s only open seasonally. They want pictures of our booth,” Tori answered.
“We don’t have a booth,” Penny countered.
“Sure, we do.” Tori leaned over the computer and clicked to the slide in the presentation featuring an image of a market booth with crates and signs. It wasn’t pretty, but that was the point. “We can put up a banner or a bunch of chalkboard signs with ‘give ugly food a chance’ or ‘you don’t eat veggies because they look good’ and stuff like that. This is all from what we currently have, and we have plenty of these delivery trays. Putting them to use at a farmer’s market wouldn’t impact operations at all. Besides, if we get started in the other places first, we can have pictures of a live booth in action for future applications.”
Penny leaned back in her chair. “How soon can we do it?”
Tori’s insides bubbled up with excitement. She flipped open her notebook.
“We need someone to man the booth and take care of sales. I figure we can rotate this through a few different people. We should get you out there as much as you can handle. It will probably be a long day, so you’ll need back-up. And you’ll need someone to do the heavy lifting. But in the beginning your presence is a boon for us. Even if all you are doing is standing around looking pretty.”
“You mean pregnant.”
Tori chuckled. “I mean, like the person who owns and runs Peaz’n’Karrits Farm. Get a face with the name. So back to your timetable. People power we already have, a booth we already have, veggies we already have. What we don’t have is a delivery van for the market day or an idea of how long the waiting process is for us to be accepted. But I do have an idea for the van. I went ahead and applied to participate in the Golden State Fresh program, so that we can be participating in that EBT card program as soon as possible.”
“This might be a feasible idea, Tori. I need to think about it.” Penny played with the application forms in front of her.
Tori pulled out another document from her file folder. She slid it in front of Penny. “Here is a cost breakdown. I compared the prices of things at the farmer’s market and the grocery store versus what you currently sell to restaurants. This isn’t a suggestion to replace restaurant sales in any way, shape or form, but it’s a decent side hustle. Numbers aren’t my thing, but you said I had to make a positive impact on your bottom line to keep my job. I like working for you, for PnK. I like the mission and the message you are trying to achieve here.”
“I appreciate this, Tori. You really ran with this challenge. How could you leverage this with your online social marketing goals for PnK?”
Penny had to ask a tough one, but Tori was prepared. “Hashtags and silly signs for selfies. We need an artist. I bet one of our growers has hidden talent and would love the opportunity to paint some signs.” She leaned over the keyboard and navigated to a Pinterest board. “I was thinking something like this.”
Tori rotated the laptop to face Penny again. This time it displayed happy customers posing with their shiny purchases in front of a sign that said ‘I got stoned at the Gem Fair.’ The set-up was clear, even to Penny, a self-proclaimed social media idiot. The customers were sharing the gem dealer’s information on their social media platforms. That sign and the humor in it was going viral—a small, community sized viral, but viral. It wasn’t just the dealer making the posts, but everyone else sharing it out. Leverage.
Penny grinned and nodded. Sold. “I’ll get back to you.”
Which meant that Penny would get back to her with a check and signed applications.
Before tonight, Tori would have said she had never met a cheesecake she didn’t like. The Agave Grill stepped up to the challenge. She stared at the slice of cheesecake in front of her. Her days were beginning to become boringly redundant. Work and then margaritas, or work and then home because Bella and Emily wanted to hit The Cave. Tori didn’t go to The Cave, not anymore.
She wasn’t sure which was worse, here where she got to see Les hanging on hot female tourists or home where she would be alone? The margaritas were better here. The mariachi music in the air taunted her. She should be enjoying herself, but this cake had other plans.
She had taken one bite and couldn’t decide if she wanted to attempt another one. Could it really be as bad as the first taste indicated? Her gaze drifted from the dessert to Bella’s oversized purse slouched on the end of the table next to a plate of decimated nachos. Even if she did come back to finish them, they would be nasty cold.
Tori picked her phone up to check in with Sam. Her thumbs typed up a quick message, filling her friend in on how life this week was going. It was boring, it was all work.
Tori poked the fork into the creamy white cake. She had ordered it as a way to pass the time while she felt confined to the booth. Emily had started a new job, so it was just her and Bella tonight, and Bella had taken off, saying she would be right back. That was over thirty minutes ago. Tori was stuck watching her friend’s purse while her friend was off doing whatever.
She needed to come back and pay for her nachos, and her drinks. Tori fumed. She wanted a decent slice of cheesecake, and she wanted to hang out with her friend, not her friend’s purse.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Les slid into the booth across from her. He shoved Bella’s bag and plate farther down the table.
Tori forgot everything she had just been fuming about. Her face broke into a grin all on its own. Okay, maybe this wasn’t going to be such a crappy night out, after all. She didn’t say anything as he reached forward and picked up her fork off the plate and took a bite of her dessert. Les was sitting in the booth with her. Everything in her body went stupid happy.
“Uh, this is crap.” He made a face and scanned the table for a napkin. “How can you eat that? I thought you liked cheesecake?”
She suppressed a giggle. “That’s not cheesecake. It’s frozen cardboard. I don’t know what it is, and I wasn’t eating it, I was staring at it.”
Les turned his attention back to the restaurant at large, making a nodding motion when he spotted whatever he was looking for.
Maria approached the table. “S’up?” She nodded at Les.
Les rambled a stream of Spanish at Maria and pushed the cheesecake toward her.
Tori really needed to learn the language. She was picking up more and more at work and had learned enough to know Les called the cake crap.
He handed the waitress an unwrapped setting with a flourish. Maria slid her gaze to Tori. “Why haven’t you said anything if it’s as bad as he says?”
Maria pulled the fork from the napkin bundle and carefully took a piece of cake. She spit the offending piece out into the napkin and followed it with a torrent of Spanish epithets.
Tori could not suppress her giggle, especially since Les was roaring with laughter.
“I was trying to decide if it was really as bad as I thought. You know, working my way up to a confirming bite. But also figuring out the best words to describe it. Gross just doesn’t seem to do it justice. I mean, how many times has that been frozen and refrozen?”
Maria swept the plate with the offending cheesecake away. “I’ll take care of this. You still want something? I’ll bring you a flan, I know that’s good. We make that here.” She left with an expression of extreme distaste as she stared at the rancid piece of cheesecake.
“You’re all dolled up. What’s up?” Les asked.
“Nothing, and I’m just not in work clothes. I mean, you aren’t in your black and white chef pants.”
“Point taken. Where are your friends?”
Tori shrugged. “Emily had to work and Bella said she would be right back thirty minutes ago. I have no clue where she went.”
“Fall in the toilet?” Les chuckled.
Butterflies flitted in Tori’s stomach when he grinned at her.
She shook her head. “I checked. And I can’t call her, ’cause her phone is in the bag.” Tori pointed at the offending property she felt obligated to monitor. “To be honest, I’m ready to leave. What about you?”
Maria appeared again and slid a plate with a glistening flan onto the table between Tori and Les. She placed napkins and two spoons down. “I promise you this isn’t gross, and I made sure it’s not on your bill.” She reached over and picked up the plate of cold nachos before leaving.
“Thanks.” Tori reached for a spoon.
Les was already scooping a serving of the creamy dessert into his mouth.
“I’m ready to bounce, too. We were hanging with some chicks earlier, but they left, mi primos already took off, and this place is dead tonight. Thought I’d come over and?—”
She closed her eyes and experienced the flan as it played across her tongue. Les stopped talking, but Tori didn’t care. She hated that she knew he was in her booth because there was no one left for him to talk to in the bar. She didn’t particularly want to know about some chick he didn’t manage to successfully hook up with.
Actually, it made her a little happy. This way he did come and talk to her, even if it was a crappy reason.
More importantly, why hadn’t she ordered this before? She breathed in and noticed the perfection of the caramelized sugars as they mingled with the rich custard. She may have hummed in satisfaction. This more than made up for that painful attempt at cheesecake, and almost consoled her over being stuck with Bella’s bag. She was going to need a second bite to get past being Les’s fallback.
Tori watched as the spoon cut into the dessert, scooping up a mouthful of confectionary delight. She closed her eyes as she slid the spoon back between her lips. She savored the moment of perfect happiness. No matter what else was going on in her life, right now the flan seemed to take all of her pain away.
Les cleared his throat. “You enjoying that?”
Tori blinked at him. Yes, this moment was bliss, a perfect dessert, Les looking at her with those fathomless dark eyes of his, his mouth twitched up into an amused grin.
Tori felt like purring. “I am. It’s really good. You’re the professional. What do you think?”
“It’s good, but I don’t think I got nearly as much out of it as you did,” he said with a chuckle.
The dessert was small, and between the two of them they finished in a few bites.
“You need a ride?” Les asked.
Tori shook her head. “I’m walking, but I can’t go anywhere until Bella comes back. I can’t leave her shit here, and I really don’t feel like paying for her drinks.”
“Where is she?”
“Like I said, I don’t know. She took off a while ago.”
Les managed to grab Maria’s attention again. He asked if she had seen Tori’s friend.
Maria pulled a check from her pad and paused. “Oh, she’s out on the patio smoking,” she answered.
Les took the check from Maria and handed her several bills.
She looked at the money in her hand. “You need change?”
Les shook his head.
“Wait, she’s been outside this whole time? I could have left.” But she was glad she hadn’t because Les, and flan. “Maria,” she called after the waitress as she was leaving, “Can I get my check?”
Maria looked confused and pointed at Les. “He just paid me.”
“Oh, okay.” Tori turned her attention to Les. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing. You shared your dessert with me, so call it even.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“You aren’t letting me. C’mon. I’ll walk you home.”
Tori huffed, grabbed her bag, and scooted out of the booth to follow Les. She wasn’t about to let this opportunity slide by her.
Once she exited the front door, she walked along the patio until she saw Bella, sucking on a cigarette and curled up in some tourist’s lap. “Hey Bella, don’t forget your purse when you leave.”
“You just left it? You could have brought it out to me,” Bella grumbled.
“I didn’t know where you were. You could have told me where you went.” Tori shook her head. “Look, I’m headed home. Your bag is back at the booth.”
Bella rolled her eyes, and Tori just shrugged it off. Bella was always doing shit like this. “See you later, okay?”
Bella jumped out of the man’s lap, stumbled over to Tori, and leaned over the railing separating the sidewalk from the patio to give Tori an air kiss to the cheek.
“See ya later, sweetie, and thanks. Didn’t mean to ditch you like that. This guy is really hot. I think his name is Scott.” She turned and yelled back to him. “Scott, wave hi to Tori.”
Tori coughed and waved in return. The guy was good-looking and was just Bella’s type, buff and temporary.
“Good, that’s his name. Okay, I’ll see ya later.” Bella tottered back to Scott.
Tori caught up with Les, who stood waiting by the front door.
“You all good?” he asked.
Not really, but she didn’t need to share that she hated it when Bella treated her like a purse babysitter or that everyone seemed to prefer to do anything instead of hanging out with her. She just nodded and set off down the street.
“You walk home a lot, or was she your ride?” Les had his hands shoved down into his jeans pockets.
“She was my ride, and I end up walking a lot.”
“Why do you put up with that?”
Tori shrugged. “I know it’s gonna happen, so it’s not like it’s a surprise. Besides, I live downtown, barely a mile away.”
“Is it safe for you to walk home alone at night?”
“No less safe than getting in a car with a tipsy driver. Look, most anybody out this late is in a car, not out walking. And if they are, they are walking their dogs or out for a jog. It’s probably as safe as any other time of day,” Tori explained.
“So where do you live?” Les asked.
Tori pointed north and a little to the left. Her insides did a little happy dance. She needed to tell Sam that Les walked her home. “Just up here. I’m in a back apart?—”
A loud honking cut Tori off. A bright red convertible, clearly a rental, pulled to an awkward stop alongside the curb. “Hey, Les, you still interested in partying?”
The blonde who leaned out of the passenger’s side was lean and tan and falling out of her spaghetti strap ruffled tank top. It was too cold to be wearing a tank top without a jacket. The other woman behind the wheel was dressed similarly. Tourists, thinking California was perpetually beach weather. Tourists who looked like every other woman she had ever seen Les with: shiny hair, big eyes, boobs.
“Izzy and Emma, right?” Les halted next to the car.
Tori’s stomach sank. She knew exactly what was about to happen, as if she was a psychic. She didn’t need to be clairvoyant to know that Les would jump in the car to leave with these two.
“Tori, you’re good from here, right?”
Bingo. She should go buy a lottery ticket. She gave Les a weak wave and concealed her huff. Can’t be mad at a dog for being a dog, can you? She should have expected it, just as she’d known Bella would go home with some guy with a neck thicker than his IQ.
Les fell into the back seat, and the passenger chick tossed her arms up in the air and shouted, “Woo hoo!” as the car pulled away from the curb.
“Woo fucking hoo,” Tori muttered as she watched them drive off. She couldn’t keep doing this to herself. Setting herself up for a fall. She needed to do something nice for herself. Remembering a notice for social dance lessons and open floor on the front door of the community center, Tori took a detour.
She walked the extra few blocks to check. The office was closed, but the class schedules were taped to the plate glass window. She confirmed the information she wanted on the website.
Thursday nights at eight o’clock. Show up fifteen minutes early to learn the dance steps. Hanging out at the bar at the Agave Grill wasn’t doing her any favors. She wasn’t meeting new people, and Bella and Emily preferred The Cave anyway. Tori couldn’t go there anymore, she just couldn’t. It was bad enough having to deal with Lucas at work, and she didn’t want to deal with him on her own time, and on his home turf.