“Why sure! I’ll phone Shirley and set it up.”
I found myself looking forward to it and I was curious to meet Mitch’s wife. The fact that David would be torn between his disapproval of Shirley and his desire to encourage my friendship with Donna only added to my pleasure. But how the hell was I going to get through the next three-and-a-half months with this man?
First we had to get through dinner.
Johan gallantly offered me his arm as we walked up the front steps, much to Donna’s obvious amusement and David’s sullen irritation.
The maitre d’ fussed around our table, pulling out chairs for Donna and me before introducing our waiter for the evening: a familiar face was grinning down at us.
“Oh, hello, Ches,” said Donna, pleasantly. “What a nice surprise! So you’ll be our waiter. How are you?”
“Very well thanks, Mrs. Vorstadt.” Then he turned to Johan. “Hello, sir. Hi, Caroline!” he grinned at me.
I smiled back. “Hi, Ches, how are…”
But before I could finish the sentence David snapped, “Her name is ‘Mrs. Wilson’.”
Ches’s smile vanished while Donna and Johan looked embarrassed.
“David,” I said softly. “I’ve met Ches before: he and his father were kind enough to help me with my surfing article.”
“I know who he is, Caroline,” said David sharply, “and it’s not appropriate that he addresses you by your first name.”
Donna hid a look of disgust behind her menu and I saw a hard look pass over Johan’s face. David had screwed himself royally this time. I didn’t care about that, but I was mortified by the way he’d treated Ches.
“Perhaps you can tell us what the specials are, Ches?” said Donna coolly.
“Sure, Mrs. Vorstadt,” said Ches, with a chastened tone.
We placed our orders and I tried to think of some way to apologize for David’s appalling rudeness.
“By the way, Ches,” I said, “the surfing article will be published in City Beat tomorrow. Yours and your dad’s picture are in it. I’ll buy a copy for each of you. Will you tell your dad for me? And Sebastian and Fido. I never did find out his real name.”
He grinned at me. “Okay, thanks, Mrs. Wilson, I’ll do that.”
He walked away smiling but David pursed his lips. “Don’t be over-familiar with the waiting staff, Caroline.”
“He’s our neighbor,” said Donna, raising her eyebrows to make the point.
“Of course,” said David after half a beat.
Johan cleared this throat and threw a warning look at his wife.
It was a wonder we didn’t all have indigestion before we started. But then our wine waiter arrived and the talk devolved into a discussion of how well New World reds stacked up against Old World. I kept my mouth firmly shut: now was not the time to irritate David even further.
Johan picked a soft Californian Merlot and ordered a jug of iced water.
Our entrées were very slow arriving and Johan’s eyes began flicking back and forwards towards the kitchen. The maitre d’ came out to apologize, saying that two members of staff had suddenly gone sick and that they were short-staffed but trying to remedy the situation.
That’s when I saw Sebastian.
He wasn’t in his usual sports assistant uniform; instead he was dressed in long, black pants, a white button down shirt with a black bow tie. He was walking purposefully towards our table, carrying a basket full of small bread rolls.
No! No! Shit!
I then had to endure the hideous spectacle of my lover serving my husband, while I tried to stop myself from screaming and running.
Donna smiled as I studied my linen napkin.
“Hello, Sebastian. We’ve already seen Ches this evening. It looks like you boys are running the place tonight.”
I didn’t dare look up to see his face but I could tell from his voice that he was nervous as he tried to laugh.
“Not really. They’re just very short-staffed: I haven’t done this before.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, dear. You look very handsome, doesn’t he, Caroline?”