Love and Food (4 page)

              “Fine.  I’m going, but this isn’t over,” Stella says, turning to leave.  When she is close to the door, she pulls a tablecloth off a table sending dishes crashing to the floor.  Haillee starts to charge after her, but Mark stops her.

              “Let her go,” Mack says, turning her around and leading her to the back of the restaurant.  “She’s sure as hell not worth it.”

              “You’re right.  I’m just going to go into my office and calm down,” she says, patting Mack on arm.  She’s glad he was there to witness the exchange because she doesn’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t been.  She may have ended in prison at the end of it.  She would have taken great pleasure in inflicting some pain on the woman helped cause a huge rift in her relationship and changed her life for the worse.

              “Sounds like a good idea.  I’ll come and get you if we need you out here,” Mack says, giving her an encouraging smile.

              “Thanks, Mack.”

              “No problem.”

              When she shuts the door to her office, it takes everything inside of her to stop herself from screaming at the top of her lungs.  The frustration and the anger she feels is overwhelming.  She knew that things were not going to be easy dealing with the aftermath of the affair, but she didn’t expect it to be so terrifying.  She’s never been more scared in her life for what tomorrow might bring.  Every moment she’s waiting for her heart to be broken all over again.

              She looks at her wedding ring and thinks about the things that Stella said.  She wonders if Stella was right.  Maybe she has made a big mistake.  Maybe Kyle is a habitual cheater and she shouldn’t trust him.  She feels so lost.  She doesn’t know what direction to go.  In addition, what about what Stella said about the restaurant?  The restaurant isn’t making any money, so she must be right - it is crappy.

              She sits down in the desk chair and closes her eyes.  She needs to shift her thoughts.  She needs to stop thinking negatively and start thinking positively.  She’s never listened to naysayers in her life and she’s not going to start now.  She needs to start to instill hope back into her thoughts.  She vows that from this moment forward, she is going to start to think positively and optimistically.  She needs to start to believe that her relationship with Kyle and the restaurant are going to survive and thrive. She needs to dismiss what the haters say and start believing that good things are possible for her again.

* * * * *

              Haillee wanders out of her office to check how lunch service is going.  The restaurant is dead.  There are a few customers, but not nearly enough.  She looks at the bar and she takes note of all the different liquors and wines that she has available.  She is sure that the selection is adequate.  She picks up a menu and studies it.  She knows that the dishes are superb.  Mack made the menu and he is an excellent chef with good taste and an excellent palate.  She trusts his selections wholeheartedly.  She’s tasted every single one of the dishes on the menu and they’re all excellent and so delicious.  She looks at the prices for each dish.  They are all more than reasonable.  They are all priced so that she is able to make a profit, but not priced so high that people would feel gouged.  All the pieces seem to be in the right place, so why is the restaurant dead?  Why isn’t the restaurant more successful?

She’s tried everything to turn things around.  She’s tried promotions and discounts.  She’s hosted charity events to get feet in the door, butts in the chairs, and eyes on her menu.  She’s tried advertising in the newspaper and online.  She put up flyers on poles and bulletin boards and nothing has worked.  She’s run out of options and strategies. 

She can’t bear to look at the emptiness of the dining room, so she decides the best place for her to be is in her office.  In there she can pretend that everything is hunky-dory.  She can pretend that she doesn’t have a care in the world and that everything is rainbows and unicorns.  She can pretend that she is the owner of the most successful restaurant in the city and the citie’s people flock to her restaurant for the most exquisite cuisine.  Locked in her office, she doesn’t have to face the reality.  The reality is not as glaring inside her office as it is standing in the empty dining room.

When she walks by the kitchen, Mack smiles at her.  She wonders how he stays so upbeat when the walls are caving in.  Deep down she knows that he keeps a brave face on for her benefit.  She’s sure that he doesn’t want to cause her anymore worry than she already has.  She’s never met a more loyal person.  Any other chef would have packed up their knives and high-tailed it out of there, but not him.  She knows that he will stick around to the bitter end. 

When she's inside her office, he eyes are drawn to the stack of bills that have been growing and growing.  She’s been avoiding them, but she knows that they won’t stay quiet for very much longer.  The companies listed on the envelopes will soon be demanding their money or else. 

She breathes out a long sigh.  It’s all she can do.  She sits down at her desk and wonders when the knife is going to fall and everything is going to come crashing down all around her.

* * * * *
 

              Her head is pounding from a headache when there is a knock on her office door.  Bill, her landlord, stands there with a look on his face that lets her know that he’s here to give her bad news. 

              “Hi, Bill.  Come in,” she says, motioning to the chair on the other side of her desk.

              He sits down and clears his throat.  “Haillee, I’ve come here to talk to you about the rent.  You’re a couple of months behind.”

              “I know.  I’m working on it.”

              “I believe you, but I can’t let things go on like this for much longer.  I think that I’ve been more than lenient this far.”

              “You have been and I really appreciate it.  You don’t know how much, actually.”

              “Haillee, I’m not going to beat around the bush, I need my money.”

              “Bill, I just need a little more time.”

              “I’ve given you more than enough time to make things right.  I have to draw the line somewhere.”

              “Just give me a little more time.  I promise that I will come up with the money.”

              “Haillee, I like you.  I really do.  When you first opened this restaurant, I saw how successful it was.  I had high hopes for you.  I thought that our business relationship was going to be a good one.  At first, you were paying your rent on time and all was well, but now, things have changed.  You’ve fallen too far behind.  You obviously know that.”

              “I know and I will get you your money.  I’m working on turning things around.”

              “I believe you and I really think that you can turn things around, but that takes time, doesn’t it?  I just can’t wait any longer.  I’m a businessman and I’m in the business of making money.”

              “I understand that entirely.  I’m in the same boat.”

              “I’ve had other offers for this place from some more successful enterprises.  I had offers from businesses that I won’t have to worry about getting rent from.  Do you understand what I’m saying?”

              “I hear you loud and clear.”

              “I’m willing to give you a little more time, because I really do like you, but I can’t wait forever for my money.  I’m here to put you on notice.  I need my money in the next couple of weeks or I’m going to have to terminate your lease and let someone else have the space.”

              “I understand,” she says, not bothering to protest.  It would be a waste of time.  Bill has every legal right to do what he says he’s going to do.  She’s not holding up her end of the lease she signed.  He’s well within his rights.

              “I’m really sorry about this, Haillee.  I wish things could be different.  I hope that you know that this isn’t personal.  It’s just business.”

              “I understand totally, Bill.  I would do the exact same thing if I were in your shoes.”

              “Okay, well, that’s all I came here to say.  I wish I was visiting under better circumstances.”

              “Me too.”

              “I hope that you are able to come up with the money and we can continue on with our agreement.”

              “Me too.”

              “Good day.”

              She watches him get up and leave.  Her day keeps getting better and better.  She knew this day was going to come.  It was inevitable.  She had been shuffling funds around with the main goal of keeping the fridges stocked and paying her employees.  Paying the rent was put on the backburner and she knew it was eventually going to come and bite her in the ass.  She needs to find a way to get money to pay the rent.  If she doesn’t have a space then she doesn’t have a restaurant, plain and simple.  She starts to rack her brain for solutions to her problem.

Chapter 4

              Haillee’s exhausted and she just wants to put her feet up and take a hot bath.  When she walks through the door of her apartment, she is surprised to kind Kyle waiting for her.  She wasn’t expecting to see him tonight.  They had spoken earlier and decided that they were going to spend the night apart.

              “What are you doing here?” she asks, kind of wishing that he wasn’t standing in front of her. 

              “I wanted to surprise you.  I made dinner for us.  I thought that we could spend some time together.”

              She’s about to tell him how tired she is, but she stops herself.  When he spoke to her about how much time she was spending at the restaurant and neglecting him, it didn’t fall on deaf ears.  She made note of it and made a decision that she was going to try to spend more time with him.  She decided that Kyle wasn’t the only one in the relationship that needed to make changes.  After thinking about things, she realizes that there were areas that she needed to make more of an effort in and making time to spend with Kyle was one of them.

              “Wow.  Really?  You made dinner for us?”

              “I made your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs.”

              “You made it yourself?”

              “All by my lonesome,” he says, a proud grin on his face.

              “Well, I’m impressed.  Is it ready now?”

              “It’s ready and waiting on the table.”

              She follows him into the kitchen.  He has mellow music playing, candles lit on the table and a bottle of champagne chilling.  She really is impressed.  She can’t remember the last time Kyle took the time to plan something romantic for them.  This is the setting she had imagined when she had rushed home that night to surprise him and found him in bed with Stella.

              He pulls the chair out for her and helps her to sit down.  “What brought this on?” she asks, watching him open the bottle of champagne.

              “I just wanted to do something special for you and show you how much you mean to me.”

              “You really shouldn’t have,” she says, placing a napkin in her lap. 

              “I absolutely should have.  After everything that I put you through, it’s the least that I could do.”

              “You know what, I can’t disagree with you.  What you did to me was pretty traumatic.  I was devastated and completely blindsided.”

              “I know and that is why I’m going to do whatever I can to make it up to you.”

              “Okay,” she says, dropping the subject.  She really doesn’t want the conversation to lead to a fight.  She just wants to enjoy what he’s done for her and enjoy the moment.

              “I’ve really been thinking about everything a lot.  You have pretty much been all I’ve been thinking about lately.  Everything that happened has really opened my eyes to how much you really mean to me.  I promise to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.  The first step is walking down the aisle.  I can’t wait to stand up at the front to the church and watch you walk towards me.  I can’t wait for the moment when I can call you my wife,” Kyle says, filling her glass with champagne.

              “I can’t wait either,” she says, enjoying the words he’s saying.

              “I love you so much, Haillee.”

              “I love you, too.”

              She looks across the table at her future husband.  He reaches across and grabs her hand.  She wants so badly to believe what he says.  She wants nothing more than to be able to completely forgive him and put the past behind them.  She wants to believe that the affair was simply just a big mistake and it will never happen again.  She wants to be able to trust him again.