by Unknown
“You know you were supposed to be here with us so that Pete would have some company.”
Cheryl said in an accusatory tone. “Ah! Will you stop it Cheryl? We know you are overly protective of him, but he can manage on his own.” He picked a bottle of beer and said, “And it hurts my feelings that you would invite me only because you wanted him to have company.”
Turning to Kim, he accused, “What did I ever do to you? Why would you not invite me?”
“You know I am a much better food critic than all of them combined.” He picked some starters and after carefully nibbling on them for a moment he started naming all its ingredients, shocking even Kim that he could name each and everything that went into making it.
“Don’t look so surprised! I use to write articles for a food magazine back in Abu Dhabi.” He smiled at everyone and went and sat next to Judith. Though I must say Judith Aunty, your daughter either has been cooking for ages or she has a natural talent for cooking. She is so good.” He smacked his lips exaggeratedly to make the point clear to everyone. Then he got up to go to the kitchen to help Kim.
“You know, Kim,” he said when they were alone, “if you do feel passionately about this then you should think about opening up your own place. Though you would need to do more managing and less cooking, unless you hired someone to manage things for you while you do all the cooking.”
That was something that Kim had not thought of and it immediately had her thinking — Wouldn’t that be a perfect thing for me?
The evening went on with everyone pitching in ideas on all the various things that Kim could really do with her cooking. The excitement was contagious and the discussion was very informative, though the bunch of people present there had no idea about running an eatery of their own. But the variety of topics that were covered were amazing.
Bill and Sam who talked about renting versus buying a space for the eatery. Rob insisted that the licensing work should be taken care of before investing big bucks into this and that he could help, as he knew someone could do that for her at a reasonable price. Then Pete and Cheryl covered the area of interiors and the color schemes and the two gave complete opposite and extreme ideas on the color palette. And then there was Jake, who sat there opposing and contradicting everyone and everything with his own ideas and suggestions, which was something that Kim found very confusing and irritating both at the same time.
But she was beginning to like the idea of having a place of her own. The evening went by with a lot of talk about Kim opening her own place and how she could go about it. The crazy themes and menu options were also discussed.
CHAPTER 24
By the time they were done with their dinner and ready to leave, it was past midnight. After seeing each one off, Jake stayed back, insisting on helping them clean up. Judith didn’t really mind that as it meant she and Sam could retire for the night. They had work the next day, and with Jake around, they would not feel guilty about leaving Kim to do all the cleaning.
For Kim, the cleaning after dinner turned out to be more fun than the actual dinner. Jake was great company and they had a lot fun doing the dishes. He teased her about her manners when she got nervous and mimicked her. Kim was surprised to see how well she enjoyed his company. She liked not being alone for a change. With the self-imposed punishment, this came as a refreshing change. Once the dishes were done and everything cleared in the kitchen and on the dining table, Kim asked Jake if he would like to have some coffee as a thank you for helping her.
“If your coffee is as good as the food you just cooked, I don’t mind.” Jake said and took a seat in the living room.
He is getting too comfortable, Kim thought to herself and smiled. She took out two mugs and began making her famous coffee. While the coffee brewed, Jake came and joined her back in the kitchen and hovered over her, asking her mundane questions at first, and then turned over to the topic he was trying to broach.
“So, how serious are you about the eatery thing, Kim?” he asked her, looking straight at her, not blinking.
“Umm…” Kim felt pierced by his gaze, as if he was testing her. She felt a little uneasy and took a few steps back. “Umm… it’s a nice idea, but… I mean,” she stalled. “I don’t know, maybe...” She wanted the coffee to brew faster but it was stubborn and was taking its own sweet time.
Jake took a few steps forward; his height gave him the advantage of looking down at Kim and reading her face without Kim really noticing it. But Kim could feel his eyes scanning her face and felt awfully uncomfortable. Jake smiled as he saw Kim’s growing uneasiness.
“You have a week to think this over.” He said and stepped back, and started pouring the coffee into the mugs. Picking up both the mugs he came and sat in the living room.
Sipping his coffee Jake said, “Ah! This is good. You do make good coffee,” he said, stretching out his other hand with the second mug for Kim who walked over to him, took the coffee mug and sat across from him. “So, I’d like to invest in your eatery, big or small,” he said. I’ll finance and manage it and you could take care of the kitchen.”
He spoke with a straight voice and looked at Kim.
“Wow!” Kim sputtered, nearly spilling the coffee on herself. “That. Is. I mean… Wow.”
Jake gave her a smile.
“Why don’t we do one thing? Next Saturday when you have had time to think this through, stop by my gallery and we can discuss this further… that is, if you are interested, of course. And if not, then too come over and we can have coffee. I owe you one for this amazing coffee,” he said, lifting his mug. “Though I don’t make coffee, my coffeemaker does, and even though it is not as good as this one, I think you’ll not mind.” He winked at her.
When they were done, he took the mug from her hand and went in to the kitchen to rinse it. He placed them in the dishwasher and pressed the Start button.
“Kim, I'll see you then on Saturday,” he said, coming back into the living room. He kissed her on the cheek and bid her good night. Then he closed the room behind him and left Kim all alone in the room with the thought of having her own eatery.
***
It was around seven when Judith got out of her room to get herself some morning coffee. She saw Kim on the sofa, still in her evening clothes. She had fallen asleep on the couch.
“Kim, morning,” she said.
Kim stirred, and stretched on the sofa.
“Why are you sprawled out on the sofa?” Judith came over to sit next to Kim with her coffee. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, Maa,” Kim snuggled into Judith, laying her head on Judith’s lap. “Maa, how do you feel about me having my own restaurant, something small, maybe a cafe?”
She sat up and folded her legs, bringing them to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. “Yes, a small cafe for coffee simple snacks and maybe a reading area? How does that sound? Do you think something like that would work?” There was an eagerness in her eye.
Judith was taken aback with Kim’s sudden desire of opening her own cafe.
“Are you serious?” she said. “Have you been thinking of this all night here? Is it because of all the conversation last night over you having your own eatery?”
“Yeah Maa, last night… you have to agree that the food was nice. I enjoy cooking. Why not do that for a living? It all sounds very scary I know, but I am thinking of it seriously. There is no harm in at least working out the details, like a business plan, and take it from there. I could see how feasible it will be. I have some savings from my flying days and for the rest, maybe, I could take up a loan from family, friends, or the bank. I don’t know, but at least I can work on this to see if this can be worked out.”
She got up and started pacing around the room. “I have not been doing anything for so long. This would be a perfect thing for me. What do you say, Ma?” She stopped and looked at Judith who had a smile on her face.
“If this is what you want to do, then this is what you should do,” Judith said and got u
p to get ready. “And don’t worry about the finances too much. There are many ways we can arrange that without taking help from others.”
Judith kissed Kim on the forehead and went into her room.
For Judith, it was a sense of relief that Kim was finally thinking of doing something and had found something that she felt passionate about. She couldn’t have been happier for Kim right now. Kim had supported them for so long and now if she needed financial backing to start something of her own, then she would do all that she could to help her. And with Richard’s insurance settlement, they were more than comfortable to take on a business risk like this.
The thought of Richard made Judith a little teary. He would have been so proud of Kim for wanting to do something like this. He had never liked working for other people and would have loved to do something like this on his own. But given their conditions and the time that they lived in back then, he had never got the opportunity.
On days like these, Judith missed him a lot. She could have used a little emotional help at times. Though things had not taken much time to settle after Richard’s death, at least on the surface, Judith had had some really lonely nights. That loneliness was more pronounced when Kim was going through the rough days after she had walked out on Dave.
A part of her had always felt guilty of the complex person that Kim had become. She felt responsible to an extent for the way Kim never came out with her feelings, always dealing with them on her own, and sometimes building them up so much that they just consumed her. Judith could relate to that because Kim had got this from her, and that is why she feared for Kim so much. She knew very well her own struggles because of this nature of hers, and that was one thing she didn’t want her little girl to suffer through.
So when Kim was doing these things to help herself, Judith felt a lot better that Kim was doing all the right things to help herself. In future, if she was faced with something difficult in life again, and if Judith was not around, she knew her girl would know how to help herself without any outside help. But it did bother her that like her she was not asking for help when she should. So she hoped that someday soon Kim would understand that asking for help was not a bad thing.
***
Kim, on the other hand, was very excited with the whole idea of having her own little cafe. For the next few days, she spent most of her time in front of her laptop researching the details of starting own business, cafes, local shop on lease listing, financial options, cost and many other details. Anything and everything she could think of, she looked up over the Internet and made a lot of notes. She chalked out the things she needed to go check personally and started making calls to schedule them. She was getting more and more excited as the things started flowing. The next morning, she had scheduled two meetings with estate agents who would show her the two shops available on rent in the nearby areas.
Once these meetings were scheduled, Kim took a look at her watch to notice that she made missed lunch. She sat there, looking at the notes and her laptop. She felt content. She picked up her phone one more time and called Jake.
“Hi Kim?” Jake replied.
“Hi, hope I am not disturbing?” Kim asked.
“No, no… I’m just at the studio.” “How about I come over with some homemade coffee and scones?” Kim asked.
This was a surprise for Jake and he did not hesitate hiding that in his voice.
“Wow! That’s upfront.” he laughed a little. “Yes, sure! Come over. I could use some coffee.”
Kim walked into Jake’s studio half an hour later, dressed in skinny pants and a loose T-shirt. Her hair was tied in a bun and she had no makeup on. Her glasses were on top of her head, her laptop bag was slung over one shoulder, and she had a tiffin bag in one hand. Her high heels made that tick-tock noise as he walked in to the empty studio.
“You look nice even when you don’t make an effort.” said Jake, taking the tiffin bag from her. “Glad you got the cold coffee, I would have told you so if you had asked.” He took a sip and gave her a wink teasingly. Kim placed her laptop bag by the side of a chair and sat down sipping on her own coffee.
Then Jake asked, “So I take it that you have gone over our conversation last night and have taken up the offer?”
“Yes, no… actually I am here to make you another offer,” said Kim in a confident voice that even she didn’t know she had. “I am not thinking of a restaurant, at least not right now. And...” she paused, thinking her words over, “and I am not looking for a partner.”
She looked up at him. “I want to do this on my own.”
She looked straight into Jake’s eyes as she said that. They held each other’s gaze for a long time until his lips quirked up a little distracting her enough for her to notice that she had been staring at him.
“Okay....” Jake stretched the last syllable. “So, you came all the way here to tell me this? You could have saved yourself the trip and the trouble of making coffee and these lovely fresh warm scones by telling me this over the phone. Not that I am complaining!” He took a big bite of the scone.
“I mean I don’t want to partner in the business,” said Kim, “which means I don’t want your help financially.” She stared at her coffee mug. “But...” she gave a pause longer than she had intended.
“But?” Jake asked picking up another scone.
“But I do need your help. I need your support and help with everything. Just not your money.” Kim finally said in a rush, as if she wanted to get over with it. Of course it was odd for her. She was asking for someone’s time without him having any stake in the success.
Jake looked at Kim staring at her coffee mug, completely amused by her.
“All right,” he said simply and got down from the table and walked around to sit in his own chair across from Kim.
“All right?” Kim looked at him a little, astonished as to how easily he said yes. “Just like that?” she asked. “Don’t you feel upset that even though it’s your idea I am not letting you have a share in its success? That’s if it is.”
She intended to mumble the last sentence, but it all came out together in one tone.
“Well, I am not upset, because if I had not suggested it last night, someone else would have; or you might have thought of it on your own sometime soon. It’s not like I shared a big secret with you.” Jake said. “You are a great cook and you will be good at this, whatever you are planning to open. And if you need my help in any which way I will.” He leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on Kim.
It took her a few moments before she could speak again. Then she opened her laptop bag and pulled out some printouts with multiple post-its on them.
“Wow!” Jake exclaimed. “You’ve got a lot of research done already. What do you need my help with now?” He took the bunch from Kim’s hand and took a look at them.
“I want to open up a small comfy cafe with a little library,” said Kim in a small tone.
“A cafe with a library?” Jake looked up at her from the pages. “That is a wonderfully unique idea!”
“And I have looked up these two properties on rent which I feel will be perfect for such a place.” Kim said pointing at the printouts she had handed to him. “I want you to come with me tomorrow, to go look up these places. I could use your help with the whole renting and the details that go with it,” she said expectantly, “I mean, since you have recently done that yourself, you will know exactly what needs to be done, and I could use that.”
She looked at Jake hoping that he would because he wanted to close in on the location at the earliest before she started working on the other things.
“What time are you looking at tomorrow?” Jake asked, turning his phone on to check his own calendar. “I have one client who is coming in to see the gallery for her exhibition around 10 in the morning. I should be done in about an hour and half.” Jake looked at his calendar.
“I have the first place in Jumeirah at 11:30 and the next one is at 2:00 pm at Al Talay Street,” Kim said.
“Ok, so you go ahead for the one on X Street and I will join you there directly. You can stall the realtor for a few extra minutes till I show up and then I will take over from there.”
Kim’s expression changed when she heard ‘take over’ and Jake noticed that. He immediately corrected himself to, “I'll start looking into. Gosh! Are you going to be this touchy about this whole project?”
Kim shifted in her chair. “Okay! To clear the ground I am not going to ask you to be a part of this project any more than what you want me to, and please don’t feel like you have to give me any part of it until and unless you really do want to.”
Jake looked at her till her tight lips cracked into a slight curve.
“Thanks, Jake,” said Kim.
***
On her way back, Kim felt a strange sense of comfort. She hadn’t realized that she was beginning to get possessive about her project and that she would not have wanted anyone to overpower her on this. But the fact that Jake just let it go and still wanted to help her out felt good.
What is it that Jake does to make me feel comfortable? — she thought.
For the first time in her life a guy was not looking to help her out as if she was a denial in despair. He let her sort out her issues on her own and not get in there and do things for her. That was something that he had not had in a long time. She was doing things herself, without relying on someone else take care of things for her in a way that would leave her feeling crippled without them. Jake was there at the periphery. She could ask him for help any time she needed, but at the same time he would not do it all for her. She felt good about herself that she would do things on her own and still have the help just in case she needed it.
CHAPTER 25
The next day, Kim got ready in her formal grey pants and white shirt and put up her hair in a high ponytail and reached the realtor’s office sharp at eleven. They headed in her car to the nearby shopping area which was in the middle of a commercial space but yet in the secluded corner with the residential area surrounding it. It was a lovely space and was open on one side overlooking the city. Kim loved the place the minute she laid her eyes on it and when she walked into the space, it instantly drew her in.
