Penny had been very specific about the pairing. Some pinots were sweeter than others and she"d wanted the exact balance of sugar with her salmon.
She jerked off her jacket and stepped out of her clogs. If she was going to have to walk through the dining room, she didn"t want everyone noticing that she was the chef.
After slipping into loafers and tugging on a black blazer she kept hanging on the back of her door for just such occasions, she pulled off her head scarf and raced toward the dining room.
Once there, she moved slowly, acting as if she were simply one of the staff. She smiled at various diners as she walked toward the wine room that was clearly visible from the front of the restaurant.
The cold hit her at once. The room was kept at a constant fifty-five degrees. She ignored the momentary discomfort and quickly walked to the pinots. Sure enough, the bin in question was empty. The wine room door opened.
She turned and saw Randy there. Cal"s a.s.sistant was young, tall and very blond. He rubbed his hands together in a signal of worry that reminded her of her grandmother.
"We"re out of the pinot," he said, his voice shaky and weak. "I don"t know what to serve with the tasting menu. Naomi wouldn"t help. She just threatened to kill me."
"I know. Right now I"m all that"s standing between you and certain death."
Penny scanned the various pinots, then grabbed three and walked back to the kitchen. Randy followed.
"What are you going to do?" he asked in a whine.
"Taste them and figure out what works best with my salmon," Penny said.
"But then we"ll have three open bottles. Plus, what about costs? We haven"t calculated if these wines will still allow us to meet our margins on the tasting dinners."
Penny did a quick change of clothes again, this time emerging as chef. She found Naomi holding a very large chef"s knife to Randy"s throat-and Naomi looked more than capable of taking him down.
Ignoring the tableau, Penny collected three winegla.s.ses, then quickly opened the bottles.
"Salmon," she yelled.
Burt dropped a piece of salmon onto a plate. Edouard topped it with the reduction and slid it toward her. She poured, careful to line up each gla.s.s with its appropriate bottle.
"Taste," she yelled.
"Do I have to let him go?" Naomi asked.
"Yes. This is more important. You can beat up the a.s.sistant manager later."
Naomi released Randy, who squeaked, then raced from the kitchen.
Penny grabbed a fork and took a taste of the salmon. She let the flavors meld on her tongue.
"d.a.m.n, I"m good," she muttered, then studied the wines. She picked up the middle one first and took a sip. "Not enough flavor."
The first wine blended well. She took another sip, tried the third wine, then scrawled her initials on the first bottle"s label.
Naomi went next. She liked the first and third bottle equally. Edouard agreed with Naomi.
"Then I"ll break the tie," Penny said. She grabbed the first bottle and handed it to Naomi. "Give this to Randy. Don"t hurt him until the shift is over. Understand?"
"Oh, be that way," Naomi grumbled.
Within five minutes, the kitchen was back on track. Penny left the two open bottles of pinot in the kitchen for her staff to indulge in later. It would serve Cal right to lose the money. He shouldn"t have left such a green a.s.sistant in charge of something that important.
And where the h.e.l.l was he, anyway?
He didn"t appear, but shortly after nine there was another visitor in the kitchen. Penny glanced up as Gloria entered. The older woman was well-dressed and looked very happy. The latter was never good news.
"Penny, I wanted to stop by and say how wonderful everything was tonight. I"m here with friends who are very impressed."
"Thanks," Penny said. "The special is doing well."
"Yes. I noticed that. Although it seemed a little over-priced. Still, you and Cal are making the decisions these days."
Penny forced herself to keep smiling. She"d felt her baby move for the first time that day and nothing the old bat was going to say could upset her.
"Speaking of Cal," Gloria said, "I don"t know if you noticed he"s not here."
"I had noticed. Did you want me to give him a message?"
"Oh, not at all. I know where he is."
Uh-oh. Penny recognized potential trouble when she heard it. "Good. I"ll tell him you stopped by."
"If you"d like, dear. But you"re the reason I"m here. I thought you"d want to know where Cal is tonight."
Penny had been curious, right up until Gloria had offered to tell her. Now she felt a little queasy.
"I"m really busy," she said. "Maybe another time."
"This won"t take but a moment," Gloria said, pulling a piece of colored paper out of her purse. She smoothed the paper on the metal counter. "It"s a flyer for a local high school play. They"re doing a musical-The King and I. Look at the girl playing Anna. Isn"t she pretty? Her name is Lindsey. She"s seventeen. Do you know about her?"
Penny couldn"t speak. She could only stare at the picture. There was something about the teenager-something familiar.
"Cal"s daughter," Gloria said. "Didn"t he mention her to you? I would have thought he might have, seeing as you were married. Hmm, maybe not. She"s a lovely girl with a beautiful voice. So lovely. She was sick a few years ago. Cancer, I believe. But she"s fine now. She"ll be going to college in the fall. Cal adores her. He"s never missed a school production. He hated giving her up, but he was just a teenager himself. What choice did he have? Still, he"s been a wonderful, caring father. He always wanted children. Just not with you, dear. Just not with you."
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
CAL WALKED INTO The Waterfront a little before ten. The dining room was surprisingly full, with three couples still waiting to be seated. It was going to be a late night.
He nodded at the hostess, then looked around for Randy. His a.s.sistant was a little new to have been left in charge on a Friday night, but Cal hadn"t had much choice. He wanted a report, then he wanted to check in with Penny.
As he crossed the dining room, he saw Randy race out of his office. The younger man slowed his pace slightly as he approached. He grabbed Cal"s arm and pulled him to the side.
"We ran out of wine," he said, his voice low and thick with tension. "For the tasting dinner. Penny"s really mad. I mean really mad. She picked a different wine and wouldn"t let me run the numbers, so I don"t know if we"re losing money or not."
Cal groaned. "We ran out of the pinot? How did that happen?"
Randy shrugged.