A Menu For Loving

by Olivia Gaines

  Right now, she had to find a way to help him slice and dice his way through this family issue with his birth mother. Still, it must be an odd feeling for him to have two mothers. “Babe,” she yelled out the window. “How does next weekend sound for Atlanta?”

  “Sounds good, I’ll call Tony and let him know to expect us.”

  As he stood in the yard of the little yellow house he had acquired, he thought it would be a great home for him and Ebony to possibly start their family together. If only he could clear away the cobwebs and the old grease in the pot on the stovetop from his own.

  Intermezzo...

  As hard as it was for her to admit, Jennifer was really looking forward to her time with Sasha. Her hormonal clock was ticking like crazy and, much like her father, she really wanted a child of her own. However, before any of that could happen, so much in her life needed to change. There was no way she could start a family and be on her feet all day in a kitchen. With more money, she could afford to hire a full time chef and she could be more of an administrator, and not so much a cook. But time would tell. In the interim, Sasha was a nice palate cleanser.

  At four o’clock on the dot, Tony P walked in the door with his daughter. He carried a leather satchel with his laptop and asked for a place to set up so he could work. He really wanted to watch Jennifer do her thing. No. He really wanted to watch her. Dear Lord, she is a lovely creature.

  “Hey there, Sasha. Grab an apron, roll up your sleeves and let’s get started,” Jennifer told her as she pulled out carrots, celery, radishes and broccoli bunches. “We will start with the crudités,” she told the girl as she first demonstrated the sizes and layout vegetables would be in, then gave her new student several containers to place the vegetables in.

  “If you have any questions, Sasha, let me know.” Then Jennifer walked away, leaving the child on her own.

  “Chef Jennifer, you’re not going to supervise me?” Sasha asked with some surprise.

  “Why? Do you need to be supervised on cutting up some vegetables?”

  “Well, when you put it that way ... I guess not,” she said as she looked at the pile of produce.

  “Just don’t slice off a finger or anything. I’ll be back and check on you in a few,” she told her. She looked at Tony and shook his hand. He looked down at where their hands were touching and looked back up at her with an are you serious look on his face. Jennifer had to stifle her laughter. “Mr. Peay, if you like, you can use my office to set up and work.”

  “Why don’t I just do that?” he told her with a twisted mouth as he pushed her hand away like it was covered in something nasty. This, of course, made her actually burst out in laughter, which caught Sasha’s attention.

  “What’s so funny?” Sasha asked.

  By this time, Jennifer had cleared a space for him to use her desk. She moved the old menu out of the way and placed the new menu idea and pricing on top of the pile. Jennifer responded to the girl, but kept her eyes on the father, “Just trying to make sure your dad knows where to park it.”

  This made Tony laugh as he lowered his voice. “I got something else I would like to park....”

  She ignored him and went back into the kitchen, standing next to Sasha and watched her work.

  “Here, let me help,” she said as she grabbed the celery, broke down the stalks and washed them in the big sink. With a few white flour rags, Sasha watched the chef blot dry the stalks and begin to dice them.

  Sasha watched her with interest until Jennifer finally said, “So you don’t like Kitty Berry?”

  The girl’s eyes were wide. “No! I love Kitty, but my dad and Grandma won’t let me go to events like that.”

  “May I ask why?”

  She sighed as the snipped the top off a radish and made a perfect rosette out of it and added it to the bin. “My grandma says concerts like that are patrolled by predators, and too much can go wrong real quick ... so I wasn’t allowed to go. It’s going to suck, too, because all of my friends will have all of these concert selfies. But it’s okay.”

  Jennifer watched her with interest. “Why is it okay?”

  The answer that Sasha provided was a defining moment in the budding relationship between Jennifer and Tony’s daughter, a moment that melted her heart and made her want to forever be a part of the child’s life. “Because I get to hang out and learn from you. I mean, I know most kids wouldn’t care about this kind of stuff, but I want to make sure my dad eats right, and if I can learn to cook super well from a cool chef, who cares about a concert? I mean, I appreciate what you’re doing for me even though we can’t afford you. So, if I need to come and lend a hand on busy days, I will do that for you. You know, be there for you like you are for me.”

  If she could have caught her heart, she would have because it was melting and running down her sternum. The maternal clock inside her started humming and she turned to Sasha and pulled the child into her arms. “That is possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” She used her knuckles and wiped away the tears that had started to trickle and excused herself to go and make an important phone call.

  Curiosity led Tony to pick up the menu and take a look at what was being offered. He held it up beside the current menu, which was pretty plain and bland. He understood the concept for a bistro, but the food wasn’t plain, so the menu shouldn’t be either. With his phone, he snapped a photo of the printed menu, as well as the old one, and set to work designing something worthy of the Pretentious Puss. He thought a logo of a sensual cat with full pouty lips would be perfect.

  Melinda walked into the office to find him sitting behind the desk. “So whatcha working on there, big guy? The new menus?”

  He could not put his finger on it, but something about Jennifer’s assistant bugged the heck out of him. “Yeah, I was taking a look at it, thinking of something new to jazz it up a bit.”

  Before he could say boo, she was around the desk, standing so close to him, he could smell what she ate for lunch. Her voice was breathy as she told him, “You smell so good.”

  Sasha must have known something was wrong by the look on his face and she immediately came into the office. “Dad, I should be done in a little while, then we can leave and get home to Mom. I’m excited to tell her about the things Chef Jennifer is teaching me.”

  Tony stared at her with amazement. Jennifer was right – kids do have a sixth sense. Melinda straightened up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were married. I didn’t see a ring or anything. I’m sorry.”

  As Melinda moved from behind the desk, Sasha came around and plopped herself on his lap. With the cutest of grins she told the nosy helper, “Yeah, he has a metal allergy, so he can’t wear jewelry.” It wasn’t true, but ironically enough, today he wore a watch with a leather band. “I know Mom was thinking about getting you a leather band for your finger so the young ladies can stop hitting on you.”

  Tony was shocked at his daughter’s insight, but also at how cleverly she had managed to get rid of Melinda. He said with a low voice, after Melinda had backed awkwardly out of the office, “Well, that was brilliant.”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank me later by asking Chef Jennifer to cook us some dinner. All this food is making me hungry.”

  “Will do,” he told her as she went back to her station and began working on the carrots.

  His phone was still lying upon the desktop when it began to vibrate. “Tony Peay, how may I help you?”

  The voice on the other end was almost yelling in the phone. “Hey, it seems like I am heading to Atlanta tomorrow, any way you can work me in this weekend?”

  It was Tino. Tony didn’t like surprises and something about this sudden desire for a visit was sitting sideways in his mouth.

  “Well, this Saturday is my daughter’s 13th birthday party and she is having a sleepover. So the house will be full of young girls...”

  “You have a daughter?”

  “Yes, she is a handful,” Tony said, hoping this would give him an
out.

  Tino felt emotional and wanted to get off the phone as fast as possible. He had a blood related niece. “Great, I’ll drop by and bring her a gift. Can you text me a time and your address? I don’t plan to stay long.”

  For some reason that made Tony feel better. “Sure thing, see you Saturday.”

  Is that quail...

  Life is all about timing. Whether you are in the right place at the right time, or just having a windfall arrive in the nick of time, or being completely out of it, is really all, well, a matter of timing. Jennifer arrived at the Peay home promptly at 10 a.m. with her SUV loaded to the gills – everything from fresh flowers for the display to perfectly cut fruit and a Ninja smoothie maker to set up for Sasha’s birthday party. Based on her arrival, she was in time to witness her client in full meltdown mode.

  “Sasha, what’s wrong?”

  The words that came out in between rants were more nervous energy than anything else. Jennifer understood far better than the child’s father, who was trying to reason with her to no avail.

  “Sasha?” Jennifer raised the inflection in her voice.

  The girl jumped. “Yes, Chef?”

  “My car is loaded in reverse order. What is in the rear is the first thing to set up, which are the cloths to pipe and drape the display tables. We have a lot of work to do. Will you lend me a hand so that I get everything set up the way you want it?”

  She calmed down. She had something to focus on and she was on task. The relief on Tony’s face was immediate. “Jen, she has been like this since she got out of school yesterday. I swear I was about to lose my mind.”

  In a matter of minutes, she also calmed Tony, who was given a task of firing up the grill to make burgers and dogs in the afternoon. It helped to get him out of Jennifer’s hair because he was continually interrupting her every few minutes either trying to steal kisses when Sasha was in another room or he was just plain in the way.

  Tony’s mother arrived early, looked at the display, looked at the chef, said harrumph and was about to take a seat to supervise until he mentioned that Tino was going to stop by later. Jennifer read her reaction as discomfort bordering on almost irrational as she frowned, appeared disgusted, and grabbed her things to leave. It did not go unnoticed by her son, who followed his mother to the car to ask, “What was that about?”

  “Nothing. He has just never come to Atlanta. Did he say why he wanted to see you?”

  “No, not really, Mom. He only said that he would be in town and he was going to drop by. Should I have said no?”

  She patted him on the arm. “No. I was just curious about the timing, that’s all.”

  “As am I. Why are you leaving? You’re acting like you want to avoid him,” Tony said flatly.

  “It’s just been a really weird week. I’m headed home. Take lots of pictures,” she told him as she revved the engine in her old car, and damn near peeled out of the driveway.

  That action alone put Tony in a weird headspace in the next few hours, which miraculously sped by, even after they took a break for lunch to have burgers on the patio. It was a very calm lunch until Sasha asked, “Chef Jennifer, are you married?”

  Jennifer nearly choked on her burger. “No, I am not, Sasha.”

  This answer seemed to please the child, who went on to ask more personal questions like, “Do you have any kids?”

  Tony was taken aback at her forthrightness. “Sasha Peay, mind your manners. That is none of your business!”

  “Dad, I only asked because she is so good with me, I figured she must have a few kids of her own,” the girl said in her own defense.

  “It’s okay, Mr. Peay. I do not have any children yet, Sasha. But I would like to have at least one.” She said it more for his benefit than anything else.

  The quiet was interrupted by the arrival of Raheem, whose timing was about as subtle as a rhino storming into a grocery store.

  “Ain’t this quaint?” he said as he rounded the corner of the house to walk up on the deck where they were dining. His eyes immediately went to Jennifer, the smoking grill and the lunch they were sharing.

  Tony was happy to see his old friend and Jennifer was relieved to get away from the table before Sasha could ask any more questions.

  “Uncle Raheem, come and see how pretty Chef Jennifer has set everything up,” she said as she started to tug on the man’s sleeve.

  Jennifer stared at Tony.

  Tony stared at Jennifer.

  Raheem stared at Jennifer who broke the ice. “Uncle?”

  Raheem asked, “Chef Jennifer?”

  Tony asked, “Do you two know each other?”

  “Dang, man, how many times do I have to tell you that all black people don’t know each other?” Raheem told him with a frown.

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Tony said.

  It was the perfect time for Jennifer to get back to the kitchen and leave the two of them alone. The conversation must have been deep because neither of them heard the doorbell. Which left Jennifer to answer the door since Sasha had run to change clothes for the fourth time.

  The man at the door looked like a younger version of Tony. He was alone, handsome and smelled like a night of something wicked. Tino was the same height, had a similar build, and had a deeper complexion than Tony, but was just as sexy. Her mind was dancing as she let him in and led him to the patio. “Tony, your brother is here,” she announced not thinking that he had told her he only had a sister.

  Tino didn’t correct her, which Tony immediately picked up on. The two men stood there, staring at each other as Sasha came out on the patio wearing a pink dress, with a gigantic bow on the top of her head. “Daddy, who is this? He looks like he could be your long lost brother.”

  Again, Tino didn’t bother to correct her, but instead presented her with a small box he pulled from his pocket. “Happy birthday, young lady. What is your name?”

  “I’m Sasha. Sasha Peay. Nice to meet you.” She shook his hand and accepted the gift. “You brought me a present?” She tore open the wrapping to find a pretty pendant with a pearl in the middle.

  Sasha kissed his cheek to say thank you as the awkward silence hovered. Raheem broke it and introduced himself.

  “You know, you two do look like brothers ... anyone ever told you that?” Raheem asked. Tony just stared at Tino, waiting for him to deny it. But he didn’t.

  “I guess the quail is out the bag now...” Tino said as he took a seat.

  Tony was furious. He was furious with his mother for running off and not letting him know something. He tried to tamp down the anger with Tino for his poor timing, showing up at his daughter’s party with a giant ostrich egg expecting him to swallow it whole. All of these sentiments ran across his face and Tino was able to read everything his brother was thinking.

  His only response was, “I just found out myself. I know nothing other than Jacqueline is my mother. I wanted to get to know you first and slowly, if possible, get to know her. I was happy to know that I also have a niece.”

  The doorbell rang as Sasha, who was now clad in a pink jogging suit, ran to answer it to let in the first wave of her friends. It was like watching a hoard of locusts descend on a wheat field. Within a half hour, Jennifer found herself replenishing much of the display. Several mothers also arrived with bottles of wine and immediately went to seek out Tony, but he was distracted by Tino.

  Two hours into the whole affair, Sasha disappeared into her room and Jennifer had to go and find her. “Sasha, what’s wrong?”

  It was obvious that she had been crying. Jennifer sat on the bed beside her and wrapped her arms around the girl’s shoulders, holding her close. “It can’t be that bad, talk to me.”

  “Some of the girls are being mean. You know, they’re all showing their pictures from the Kitty Berry concert. They are being mean on purpose because they knew I couldn’t go... and I mean this is my party... I don’t understand....”

  “Some girls are like that, Sasha, but yo
u have to show them that they cannot ruffle your feathers. You have to put on a bold face and stand tall, show them that they can’t get to you. Understand?”

  “I understand,” she sniffled.

  “Good, because my birthday present for you should be arriving soon and I think you are going to really like it,” she told the girl with pride.

  Sasha flung herself into Jennifer’s arms. “I hope you do have a baby soon. You are going to make an awesome mom.”

  That, of course, was the part that Tony walked in on. His timing could not be worse, or better, depending on which way you looked at it.

  “Chef Jennifer, there is someone at the door for you,” he announced.

  “Perfect! My present for you has arrived,” she told Sasha. Before they left her room, Jennifer checked the girls face, pinched her cheeks to balance her color and held out her hand for the child to take.

  They arrived in the living room to see a young woman with an earpiece and a tablet in her hand. “Jennifer Taylor?”

  “Yes, I’m Jennifer,” she responded.

  “We only have a few minutes, but she has allocated a photo op with the group and several individual pictures. Do you have your cameras ready?”

  Jennifer looked to Tony, who ran into his office and came back in time to see two of the largest black men he had ever seen in his life. The mothers, who had stayed and were drinking wine on the patio, all were getting concerned by the large men until Jennifer held up her hand. “It’s fine, I have a special present for Sasha. No need for alarm.”

  The front door opened and Kitty Berry walked in. The assistant was standing next to Sasha as the pop singer walked straight to the girl. “I was told that you’re one of my biggest fans, but couldn’t make the concert last week, so I thought I would pop in and take a few selfies with you.”