Catering to Love (27 page)

“Well, you give me whatever jobs you think I can do. How about I dress up like the waiters do? I could bring dishes out to the table. Clear tables, things like that. Would that help?”

“Tremendously. Thank you, Stephanie. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Oh, hush. Don’t you go getting all syrupy on me.”

Gabi enjoyed the late-night silence in the kitchen, now that all the equipment had been shut down. The Saturday dinner guests and staff were long gone. But despite her attempts, Gabi prepared herself for another sleepless night and decided work was the best medicine for her overactive mind. She pulled the oven door down to check on the loaves of bread now baking. Doing a partial bake simplified the process and cut the baking time in half on the day of service. She meandered to her office and removed the packaging from the new menus. The designer had dropped off the package earlier, but they were so busy, she just didn’t have time to show it to the staff. She removed one from the pile. Tears spilled from her eyes when she noticed Corey’s recipe was the first item on the menu. She allowed herself to cry and get it all out. She hadn’t cried since she’d spoken to Cassie the other night. It certainly wasn’t because she hadn’t wanted to, but she’d been so busy, she wouldn’t allow
herself to think about him. She swallowed hard and tried to push any thought of him from her mind.

The menu was beautiful. The designer had done a wonderful job with placement of the items. She eyed the elegant fonts used throughout that made the content just jump off the paper. Even though she’d seen the proof, holding the finished product in her hands and seeing the vivid colors made her dream a reality. She slipped the menu into the leather jacket and smiled with satisfaction. This was perfect. She rubbed her hand over the plastic cover and smiled when she saw the background color of the paper. Making the color a muted gold simulated a faux finish and was pleasing to the eyes. The first page had the history of Carters’, with Gabi’s signature at the bottom to make it more personal. As she put down the menu, she imagined how the staff would react to seeing what they’d been part of creating, and walked back into the kitchen.

Despite the team’s diligence, there were still two issues facing them. They hadn’t finished testing the dishes, and they seemed to be having a tough time comprehending how she wanted the plates presented. The fact that none of them had the experience to handle the workload gave her a queasy feeling in her stomach. Jamie would have this down to a science, but the only experience Cassie had was her externship at Chez Francoise.

It was out of loyalty that Gabi’s staff had pushed themselves these last two and half weeks, but would they have the stamina to keep it up during this critical time? Gabi could see the staff was already dragging. She sighed. Maybe Corey was right. Maybe she had been pushing too hard. Passing by the calendar, she stopped and counted out the
four remaining days until the grand opening with the new menu.

Forcing more air from her lungs had a calming effect on her, until she thought about him. Damn that Corey. He knew how important this was to her. How could he do this to her, especially when things had been going so well? She shook her head in disbelief and removed the loaves from the oven. She’d already spent too much time thinking about him. As soon as the loaves of bread cooled down enough for her to wrap, she’d place them in the freezer and wander off to bed.

Gabi jumped up from a sound sleep when the brightness of the light shone on her face. Her heart pounded frantically from fear that she might have overslept. Fighting to keep her eyes open, she glanced around the room, and realized she’d been sleeping on top of the covers with her clothes on and lights on. She’d plopped down on the bed for a few minutes to rest, intending to take a shower first, but obviously passed out from sheer exhaustion. Gabi groaned when she noticed it was only three o’clock in the morning.

She stretched her arm to reach for the light switch on the wall and shut out the light. Easing back down, she pulled the covers snuggly over her shoulders. She didn’t wake until she heard loud pounding on the downstairs door; she sat up abruptly wondering if it was a bird or something. Peeking out the window, and she saw it was Lucy, Cassie, and Jamie. She practically galloped down the stairs and opened the door.

“Oh goodness,” Lucy said, bursting through the door. “We thought you’d be up by now.”

“Mother, she’s been working her butt off.” Cassie threw her hands up and shrugged.

“This is beautiful.” Lucy’s elevated voice bounced off the walls.

Gabi shushed her and pointed to the rooms. “I have guests.”

“Ooh, I’m sorry. Damn, I should have remembered that. Sorry, sweetie,” Lucy said, reaching out to give her a hug.

Jamie greeted Gabi. “Sorry we’re so early,” she whispered. “Lucy was worried about you and bugged us until we got into the car.”

“That’s okay. I’m glad you’re all here. I passed out on my bed last night, clothes and all.”

“Well, go take your shower. We’ll make the coffee. Lucy stopped at Soranno’s Bakery and bought you some goodies.”

“Oh, yum.” She shut the door. “Okay, ladies, show Mom around while I take my shower.” She mounted the stairs right behind them and disappeared.

Twenty minutes later and she was down in the dining room, listening to Lucy rave about her place. She smiled, excited the troops had shown up—not necessarily quite this early, but she knew Lucy all too well. Gabi walked around the table and hugged each one of them.

“Thank you for coming. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

“We know, but we also know you’d do the same for us too.”

“Here,” Lucy said, shoving the box of donuts over to Gabi. “You eat. You’re getting too skinny.”

Gabi picked one up while Cassie grabbed the coffee and poured a cup for her.

“So, tell me how you two pulled this off, Jamie,” Gabi said. “I’ll bet Mama Carlucci was upset you were leaving your post for five days.”

“No, actually, they’ve been telling me to take a vacation. Of course, Mama Carlucci wanted me to go away with her son,” she laughed. “She said I needed someone to take care of my little girl and he was the perfect man to do that. They said I could go if I promised to return.” Jamie shrugged. “We have a pretty solid crew, so they’ll be fine without me.”

Gabi bit into the donut and moaned. “What about Bailey? Who’s watching her?”

“Her surrogate grandpa is watching her. He’ll keep her plenty busy,” Lucy said.

“How adorable.” Gabi looked from one to the other and shook her head, “Boy, how I’ve missed these,” she said, holding up the jelly donut.

“Then you should come home to New York, where you belong. This living in the wilderness is for the birds,” Lucy quipped. “It’s beautiful and all, but geez, there’s nothing out here.” Her hands flew in the air in gesture. “And you’d have a number of chefs to choose from if someone like that stupid jaboney walked out on you before the most important business day of your life.”

“I know,” Gabi said in a low voice. She felt her stomach churn at the mention of Corey. “I couldn’t afford to open a business in New York. That’s why I came here. The nice thing is the previous owner is holding my loan. After I’m successful here, maybe I’ll sell the business and move back to New York—if that happens, I’m going to owe you guys big time.”

“We’re here because we love you, and besides, this is going to be fun for us,” Cassie said. “Okay, so what are our assignments?”

“Lucy wants to be hostess, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lucy said. “I like to be in the where the action is in the front of the house. Let me charm these customers. You know, I used to do that for Michael in the deli. You leave it to me, kiddo. I’ll have them eating here on a regular basis.”

“I know, Lucy.” Gabi grinned at her spunkiness. “I’ve missed you, Miss Lucy.”

“Me too,” Lucy said, giving her a tight squeeze.

“And since Jamie’s been doing this every day, I thought Jamie could be the sous-chef and Cassie, the expeditor.” Gabi glanced at Cassie’s face. “No?”

“You want me to have the most stressful job in the restaurant?”

“Well, I figured with your New York temper, you could get these kids hustling. You should also know they don’t have much experience. They’re wonderful, they’re loyal, and I don’t know what I’d do without them, but they are a little slow.”

“Okay, I can handle that… and stop worrying… I’ll be nice. I see that look on your face.”

Gabi released a nervous chuckle. “I trust you. But like I said, they’ve supported me through all of this by putting in extra long hours, not taking their days off, and I wouldn’t—”

Cassie’s hand went up. “You don’t need to worry.”

“Okay. Thanks. Stephanie, the girl at the motel you’re staying at, is coming over to wash the dishes.”

“Wow! That’s really nice of her.”

“Where’s the new menu?” Jamie asked.

Gabi got up and grabbed three menus and put them in front of each of them, then stood back waiting to get their reaction. She loved the expressions and listening to the oohs and ahhs. “So what do you think?”

“Beautiful!” they said in unison.

“Well, let’s hope it works. I’m hoping this is just the shot in the arm I need to realize the full potential of this place.”

“So tell me, Gab,” Lucy said, “any prospects in the romance department?”

She cringed hearing Lucy’s question. She’d always been a full-disclosure kind of gal with Lucy, because the woman could see right through a fib, but she couldn’t tell her about Corey right now.

“Hey, we’d better get started,” Cassie interrupted. “We have lots of work to do.”

Lucy’s threw her hand in the air. “I come all the way out here and I don’t even get any of the good stuff?!”

“No time right now, Ma. We have a lot to do,” Cassie said, squeezing Gabi’s hand.

When the restaurant staff arrived, Gabi introduced the newcomers. “Our New York rescue squad,” she said.

“Phew,” Steven said, blowing out air. “Thank you.”

“Okay,” Gabi said to them, “let’s walk around the kitchen so I can explain what each station is responsible for and how I’d like it to work throughout the weekend. Are you ready?”

Gabi shut the lights out in the kitchen, and everyone released a sigh. “I hope you have something to drink upstairs,” Cassie said as they headed upstairs to Gabi’s suite, “because I think I’m going to pass out.” She latched onto Lucy’s arm. “How you doing, Ma?”

“Me? I’m doing fine, but why are you having trouble with exhaustion? I’d think at your age, you’d be galloping up these stairs.”

“That’s only because your pace is a lot slower in the store,” Jamie offered as a response. “You don’t have to be frenzied all day like we are.”

Gabi unlocked the door and they entered, each finding a place to sit. Gabi walked to the small refrigerator and pulled out a bottle and poured a drink for everyone, then walked to the sitting area and set down the tray. “Are you hungry?” she asked, returning to the small kitchen and pulling out a tray with sliced cheese. She reached for the crackers on the counter and brought them out in the box. “I had planned to be more formal, but tonight, you get what you get. Have at it.”

“You don’t need to entertain us.”

“I know, but that’s the least I can do after what you’ve done for me. I just don’t have the wherewithal right now.”

Jamie threw a kiss in the air. “Okay, let’s talk about today,” she said.

“Yes, let’s,” Gabi said with excitement. “It was very successful… but slow moving.”

“Okay,” Jamie said, “tomorrow we’re going to need to light a fire under the line cooks. They’re slow but steady.”

Noting Gabi’s expression, Cassie reassured her. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to single anyone out. I’ll address them as a whole.”

“They’re nice kids,” Lucy said. “I had fun tonight talking to the customers. I told them all about you, Gabi, and asked them to bring some nice young guys around for you to meet.”

Gabi and Jamie laughed, but Cassie was rolling her eyes. “Mother,” she screeched, “why would you do that?”

“Because Gabi’s the only one who told me to send ’em her way.” She turned to Gabi. “Isn’t that right? You told me to go full speed ahead, that night when you came to see Cassie’s house. Remember that?”