Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
T he following Thursday, Jill worked the bar as she wasn’t going to New York that weekend. Billy was coming to Nantucket, and Mandy was having them over for dinner Saturday night. Emma was coming too, after working the lunch shift.
Gina was working the front desk when Jill arrived. She smiled when she saw her. “If you get slammed at the bar, I am happy to jump in if you need help.”
Jill appreciated the offer. Thursday nights sometimes were busy at the bar. “Thanks. I’ll holler if I need a hand.”
She went in the kitchen, and both Paul and Jared were behind the line. Paul said a quick hello, then disappeared into the walk-in refrigerator.
“What do we have for specials tonight, Jared?”
“We’re doing a roasted striped bass with a red pepper and goat cheese risotto. And we have oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer special. Oh, and a braised veal shank—osso buco.”
Jill nodded. “That must be what I smell. I love osso buco.”
Jared grinned. “Well, you have to try it. So you can tell the customers what it’s like, right?” He made a small plate with the braised veal, whipped potatoes, and a bit of the risotto.
“Yes, for the customers. Thanks, Jared.”
He handed her the plate of food, and Jill took a bite of the veal.
She knew that osso buco braised for hours until the meat fell off the bone.
It was so tender and flavorful. She tried the potatoes next, and they were light and fluffy and loaded with butter and cream.
The risotto was rich and creamy and delicious.
She looked at Jared. “I am seriously impressed. This is all so good. Did you make the veal?”
Paul heard the question as he stepped out of the walk-in carrying a case of chicken breasts. He glanced at Jill’s plate.
“Jared made all that. His potatoes are better than mine.”
Jared flushed, and they all laughed. “I’m sure they are not,” he said.
“It’s fine. I’m tired of making whipped potatoes anyway,” Paul teased. “Seriously though, Jared’s food is awesome. And Jason is back to full schedule and doing great. We have a really solid team.”
“We really do,” Jill agreed. Both Jared and Jason were great to work with.
She didn’t work the lunch shifts, but both Mandy and Emma had sung Jason’s praises, and they were all so grateful that Jared had stopped in the bar that night and that he wanted to work with them.
His cooking was on a similar level to Paul’s, and they hadn’t had that kind of consistency in a long time, according to what Gary told them.
Word was getting around too, that the food at Mimi’s Place was better than ever. Mandy said that reservations continued to be up, and overall sales were up too. Which was a huge relief.
Jill finished her plate quickly and headed back to the bar to get ready for the night ahead.
It was a busy night. Her bar filled up early and stayed steady.
She was surprised to see a familiar face come in a little past seven.
Cory and one of his colleagues sat at the bar in two seats that had just opened up.
Cory had never struck her as an eat-at- the-bar kind of guy.
She knew the restaurant had a wait though, and she knew he didn’t like to wait either.
He smiled big when he saw Jill. “Congrats, Jill. I heard about the engagement.”
Jill was surprised that Mandy had told him about her engagement. She didn’t realize they talked that much.
“Brooke told me. She’s excited to be a flower girl eventually,” he said.
Jill smiled. That made more sense. She knew her niece was excited about the wedding. It would be her first, and she and Blake were going to be in it, as flower girl and ring bearer.
“What brings you in tonight?” she asked, setting cardboard coasters in front of Cory and his colleague.
“We closed a new client today. Ross’s biggest client to date, so I thought a celebration was in order.”
Jill glanced at Ross, who she guessed was around thirty. He looked the part of a finance guy; he was tall and blond, with a square jaw and blue eyes. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks. It’s pretty exciting,” he said.
“I promised him a steak dinner if we closed this client, and I love the steak here. I didn’t expect that there’d be a wait for a table on a Thursday night,” Cory said.
Jill smiled. “Thursdays have been busy. We have a new sous-chef now. He came from the Blinds, and he’s good.” She told them about the specials, and Cory was impressed.
“The Blinds is as good as the Straight Wharf. I’m tempted to get that osso buco.” He glanced at Ross. “What are you thinking?”
“You mentioned steak, and I’m going to stay with that. The New York strip sounds pretty good.”
“Can’t go wrong with that. I’ll do the veal. Ross, you like red wine?”
Ross nodded affirmatively.
“Jill, we’ll take that magnum of Opus One, please.” Opus One was their most expensive wine, and a magnum held two bottles. She put their order in and went off to the wine cellar to get their wine and a decanter.
Jill decanted their wine and set the crystal decanter between them.
“Did you want to wait a bit before pouring, to open it up?” Normally, Jill would offer a taste of any wine she opened, but not for an older or expensive wine that was going to be decanted.
Usually, they’d let the wine sit for at least an hour to open up.
But she suspected that Cory probably didn’t want to wait.
“Go ahead and pour,” he said. “I’m sure it will still be delicious.”
She did as instructed, pouring him a small taste first. He made a big production of tasting it, swirling the glass and sticking his nose deep into it before taking a sip. Mandy had told her that he did that and it always embarrassed her. He was a bit over the top about it.
“Excellent. You can pour.”
Jill bit back a chuckle, filled both their glasses, and then went to attend to a new arrival at the bar.
Cory and Ross made a good dent in their wine before their food even arrived.
By the time they finished the appetizer, she noticed that Cory’s voice was getting louder and more animated as he and Ross talked.
She heard bits and pieces of the conversation, and the gist of it was how wonderful Cory was and how well his year was going.
They talked and laughed and drank all through their meal, and the wine was almost gone by the time they finished dessert—cheesecake for Ross and an ice cream puff for Cory.
The chocolate cake was Emma and her grandmother’s favorite dessert, but the ice cream puff had always been Jill’s favorite dessert at Mimi’s Place.
The pastry puff was made at a local bakery and delivered fresh each day.
It was filled with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and smothered in hot fudge.
She wanted to introduce it to Billy the next time they ate at the restaurant. She knew he’d love it.
Cory was signing his charge slip when an older blond-haired, blue-eyed man walked in and made a beeline for Cory. He did not look happy. But Cory smiled when he saw him. “Hey, Patrick! I didn’t know you were still on the island. I thought you were flying back to Boston earlier.”
“I was. I was on my way to the airport when something was brought to my attention, and I confirmed it with Daisy before coming here.” He paused for a moment, and Jill watched with fascination, noticing how the expression on Cory’s face changed to apprehension mixed with guilt.
“Is it true you’ve been having an affair with my wife?”
Cory took a sip of his wine and looked away. Finally, he spoke. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it an affair. That implies something more serious. It was just a bit of fun. It didn’t mean anything,” he assured his partner.
Patrick reached back and slammed his fist into Cory’s face. He didn’t see it coming and looked up in surprise, with blood running from his nose and onto his silk tie. Ross looked on in horror. Patrick turned his attention to him.
“Ross, I can give you a ride home.” He glanced back at Cory. “You disgust me. You’ll be hearing from my attorney soon.” Patrick turned and walked away.
Ross hesitated, and Cory waved for him to follow. “Go ahead. It’s probably best if I get a cab home anyway. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
Once he left, Cory swallowed his last sip of wine, wiped his bloody nose with his napkin, and pulled out his phone.
Jill watched as he pulled up the Uber app and ordered a ride.
He handed Jill the credit card slip. She glanced at it and wasn’t surprised that he’d left a huge tip. Cory had always been a generous tipper.
“Thanks, Cory. You’ve really made a mess of things, huh?”
“Yeah.” He smiled slightly and slurred his words a little. She was glad he’d ordered a ride. “That’s what I’m good at. It wouldn’t have happened if Mandy had agreed to take me back.”
Jill didn’t know what to say to that so she said nothing and grabbed a wet rag to wipe down the counter. Once Cory left, she’d spray the area with cleaner.
Cory pulled his jacket on and stood, swaying just a bit.
“It’ll be fine. It will work itself out.
Patrick will get over it.” Cory sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
He was so used to getting away with things.
But Jill didn’t think he’d be able to talk his way out of this.
Of all the people to have an affair with, he chose his partner’s wife.
She knew Mandy would just shake her head at his stupidity.
The bar was empty after Cory left. Jill was glad that the altercation hadn’t happened earlier when she had a full bar.
The restaurant cleared out soon after, and everyone gathered at the bar for their shift drink.
Jill noticed that Jared settled into the seat next to Gina.
She seemed oblivious to the fact that Jared kept stealing glances at her.
Jill thought it was cute. She knew Gina was single, and she thought Jared probably was too.
She knew the other younger servers thought he was extremely good looking, with his dark hair and green eyes with the longest lashes Jill had ever seen. Why did men always get the long lashes?
She got everyone their after-shift drink and then took her own glass of chardonnay and sat on the other side of Gina.
“So what was all that commotion about earlier? Did someone really punch Mandy’s soon-to-be ex-husband?”
Jill nodded. “He did, and he completely deserved it.”