Love and Food (10 page)

Chapter 7

              Ethan and Haillee stand in the middle of the kitchen.  It’s probably the first time she has stood in the restaurant’s kitchen and she is going to cook something.  She’s watched over things cooking for Mack, but she hasn’t cooked an actual dish herself.  The realization is shocking to her.  How can she call herself a chef and she has never made a dish in her own restaurant?  The realization makes her feel ashamed of herself.  The distance she has let herself go away from her true self is a painful realization.  She is glad that she getting a chance to change it.

              “Okay,” Ethan says, “What are you going to cook for me?”

              “I’ve been thinking about what you said about a simpler menu and I’ve come up with something that I used to cook for my parents when they would let me.  It’s only a few ingredients, but it’s delicious.  Do you like seafood?”

              “I love seafood.”

“Well, I call this dish, Champagne Shrimp and Pasta.”

“Alright, it sounds good to me.  What do you want me to do?”

              “You know what, I want to everything on my own, if you don’t mind.”

              “I don’t mind at all.  I will sit right here and watch you do your thing,” he says, pulling up a stool from the corner of the room.  After a few minutes of watching her, he asks, “So, what’s in this dish?”

              “Well, from its name, you know that there is shrimp, champagne and pasta involved.  There are also some mushrooms, shallots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, heavy cream, salt, pepper, parsley and some parmesan cheese.”

              “You’ve got my mouth watering.  I can’t wait to try it.”

“You’re in for a treat.  I promise.”

“I don’t doubt it for a minute.”

She starts pulling ingredients out the large sterling silver refrigerator and places

them on the counter.  She can feel her hands shaking.  She wonders why she feels so nervous.  She decides it’s because it’s been a long time since someone has tasted what she’s cooked that’s not Kyle.  She really wants to impress Ethan.  For some reason, she feels like she needs his validation. 

              “So, how does it feel to be in here?” Ethan says, watching her cut up onions.

              “You know what?  It feels really good.  I feel like I’m returning home after a really long journey.”

              “That’s a perfect analogy.  That’s really what it’s like, isn’t it?  You’re been away from the kitchen for a long time, but now you’ve returned home, a place where you really are the most comfortable.”

              “It is,” she says, turning a knob on the stove and pouring some olive oil in a pan.

              “Hey guys,” Mack says, surprising them both.  “What are you two up to?”

              “Hey, Mack.  What are you doing here?” she asks, placing mushrooms into the pan to sauté.

              “I forgot my knives and I wanted to use them tonight.  I’m having a couple of people over for dinner.  What are you guys doing here so late?”

              “Mack, I’ve been meaning to tell you something, but I haven’t gotten around to it.  Now seems like as good a time as any,” she says, arranging her next words in her head.  She really doesn’t want to hurt his feelings by what she is going to say next.

              “What’s that?” he asks, looking concerned.

              “Well, obviously you know what’s been going on around here.  We’ve been making some major changes and one thing that Ethan has suggested is that we change the menu.”

              “You’re changing the menu, completely?” Mack asks, surprise in his voice.

              “You’re menu was awesome, you know that, but Ethan thought that I should be the one to put the menu together.  Right, Ethan?” she says, looking at Ethan for some help.

              “Yeah, it’s true.  I was telling Haillee that menus created by the owner of the restaurant, if they have experience cooking, do better.”

              “Oh, is that right?” Mack says, looking at his feet, thinking about what he’s just heard.

              “Yeah, it’s true,” Ethan says, looking at her. 

              After a couple of minutes of thinking, Mack says, “Well, you do what you think is best, Haillee.  I totally understand.”

              “Thank you so much, Mack.  I knew that you would understand.”

              “Of course.  Well, you two have a good night,” Mack says, turns, and leaves.

              “How do you think he took it?” Ethan asks her a couple of minutes after Mack has left.

              “Mack has been my good friend for years.  I think that he gets what’s happening here.  I think that he knows that a change was desperately needed.  I think that he knows that it’s not personal.  I think that he’ll be fine with it.”

              “I’m sure he will be.  Change is hard, but we all adjust, right?”

              “We do,” she says, placing a handful of angel hair pasta into boiling water.  “This is going to be done anytime now,” she says, stirring the sauce that is bubbling in the pan.

              “That was quick,” Ethan says, surprised.

              “I told you it was simple,” she says, smiling at him.

              When the dish is ready, she loads their plates.  Ethan watches as she sprinkle’s parmesan cheese over their plates.  She looks at Ethan and watches as he licks his lips.  She knows the telltale signs of someone who is hungry and Ethan is displaying a lot of them.  When he catches her looking at him, he mouths the words, “Yum.”  She can’t help, but smile at him.  She feels proud of the meal she has prepared.  She just hopes that he is going to enjoy it as much as she and her parents have over the years.

  Ethan helps her carry the plates out into the dining room.  After they place the plates on the table, she gets a bottle of wine that she thinks will complement the meal.  When they’re seated across from each other, she watches Ethan take his first bite of the pasta dish she created.

              “Wow.  You weren’t joking.  This is delicious,” he says when his mouth is empty. 

              “I thought that you would like it,” she says, starting to blush.  It’s always been hard for her to take a compliment.

              “To be honest, I wasn’t so sure about the champagne bit, and then with the wine.  I thought it was all going to be too much, but I was so wrong.  It all works and it tastes fabulous.”

              “So, do you think that customers would like it?  Do you think that customers would order something like this if it were on the menu?”

              “I think that people won’t just order it, I think that they are going to love it.”

              “Ethan, you are telling me the truth, right?  I don’t want you to say that you like something and you think it tastes awful.  I hope that you’re being completely truthful.”

              “Haillee, I know what’s at stake and I know that it is not the time to worry about hurting people’s feelings.  In fact, this is probably the time when the most feelings will be hurt.  Trust me; if I thought this dish wouldn’t work on the menu, I would not hesitate to tell you.  I am not a people pleaser.  I don’t say things just to make people feel warm and fuzzy inside.  If I did that, I would be wasting everyone’s time.  We mine as well just throw everything in the trash, if I’m just going to tell you everything that you want to hear.  I try to be as straight up as I can be at all times.  In my opinion, being a straight arrow is the only way to get people to trust you, anyway.”

              “Okay.  So, my first dish is a success then?”

              “You’ve hit it out of the park.  It’s a homerun.”

              “Thanks.  I appreciate your kind words.”

              “It’s the truth.  So, this is just one dish.  How is the rest of the menu looking?  Is this dish all that you’ve come up with so far?”

              “Honestly, the menu is complete.  It’s been complete for a while, actually.  I have every dish that I would like to be on the menu picked out, but I just wanted cook this for you and see if I went in the right direction.”

              “If the other dishes are anything like this one, the menu is going to be great.”

              “I would like to cook all the dishes for you at some point and get your opinion.  You might be able to see something with them that I can’t see.  You know what I mean?”

              “Of course, that would be fine.  Anytime you want, just call me over and I will taste it all.”

              “Good.  Thanks.”

              After a couple more bites of food, he asks, “So, Haillee, I know that ultimately you want the restaurant to make money, but is that your only goal?”

              “Money is obviously very important, but it’s not the main reason I started the restaurant.  I want to be able to provide for myself and have a comfortable life, and I want my employees to have the same, but the restaurant has really been about the love I have for food.  I want people to taste my food and taste the amazing things that can be made from the things provided by the earth.  I want people to be able to come to my restaurant and be able to enjoy good food and escape the worries, stresses, and pressures of life.  I always envisioned my restaurant as being a place for people to go and escape for awhile.”

              “I totally get that.  Food and good company have always been one of the ways that people can enjoy the fruits of their labor and just relax.  Some of the best times I have had in my life have been while I have been surrounded by good food and good company.”

              “Exactly.  Me too.  In fact, every good memory that I’ve had has been just that and I’m not saying that because I’m a chef.  Weddings, showers, graduations, different celebrations – food, friends and family have always been part of the equation.”

              “We need to eat to survive.  We mine as well enjoy something that we can’t live without.”

              “My thoughts exactly.”

              They chitchat about the business for a while and the plans that still need to be completed, but she is sick of all the business talk.  She wants to know about the personal side of Ethan Saint.  She wants to know what sort of things he does in his spare time and if he has a significant other.  After she places the soufflé she prepared earlier in front of him and makes her self comfortable again, she decides to ask him the questions that she’s been wondering about.

              “So, Ethan, are you seeing anyone at the moment?  If it’s too personal a question, you don’t have to answer.  I was just thinking that we’ve been spending quite a bit of time together and I don’t really know you that well, outside of our business relationship.”

              “No, I don’t mind at all.  There is nothing that you could ask me that would be too personal.  I like to think of myself as an open book.  I like to be as transparent as I can be, most of the time.  To answer your question though, I am not seeing anyone at the moment.  I haven’t really been with anyone since Maggie.”

              “Who is Maggie?” she asks, intrigued.  She can’t wrap her mind around why a handsome and successful man like Ethan would be single.  Why would this Maggie person let him go?

              “Maggie and I were high school sweethearts.  When we met, everyone used to point out to us how young we were and how we couldn’t possibly know what love was.  Everyone was convinced that we were going to break up eventually, most likely right after graduation, but when I met Maggie, I just knew that she was the one.  I knew that I was going to marry her.  We both went to the same college and we remained inseparable.  The day that we both graduated from college, I got down on one knee and I proposed.  I had saved up every cent I could over the four years of college and bought her the biggest diamond I could afford.  When she said yes, it was the happiest day of my life.  We got married a year later.”

              Ethan looks at her.  She can see sadness in his eyes.  She’s afraid to ask, but she asks anyway.  “So, what happened to Maggie?”

              “We were about a year and a half into our marriage when Maggie started to get these headaches.  She just brushed them off at first.  She thought that they were just migraines and that she would be fine, but then her vision started to be affected.  Then, she had seizure.  She didn’t want to go, but I forced her to go see a doctor.  I think that she knew there was something serious going on with her, but she didn’t want to face it.  It didn’t take long before they diagnosed her with terminal brain cancer.”

              “Oh, Ethan, I’m so sorry.”