As the weeks dwindled down to days and then hours before the Hearts to HEARTS banquet, Meredith began to realize just how hard her New Year’s resolution was going to be to fulfill. Though she had been asked out twice since Antoine’s invitation, and had even gone out with one of the guys, she just couldn’t seem to find anyone she wanted to spend a whole evening with, let alone the rest of her life. And while she enjoyed Ward’s company, she couldn’t force herself to fall in love with him.
She stared out over the city from the glass-front elevator. Truth of the matter was, no matter how hard she tried to get over Major, each man she met seemed to reinforce just how deep her feelings for him ran.
Fat lotta good being in love with him would do for her, though. That he was falling for Alaine Delacroix couldn’t be any more apparent—from the tanning to the teeth whitening to going to the gym and losing weight, he seemed to be doing everything he could to make himself fit the image of a man someone like Alaine would deign to be seen with.
Shame tingled on her skin. Alaine had never been anything but friendly with Meredith, and she couldn’t allow her own jealousy to shine an unflattering and untrue light on the reporter.
The elevator doors slid open on the twenty-third floor. Speaking of Alaine ...
The facilities staff swarmed the enormous floor space of Vue de Ceil, with a cameraman and his spotter hustling around in the chaos getting shots of the setup. Meredith jinked and dodged through the mayhem to get to the service corridor on the other side. She wished she could stop and enjoy the way the red and orange sunset made the banquet facility glow, but she did at least spare it a moment’s glance, hoping tomorrow’s sunset would be just as spectacular.
The pandemonium in the kitchen wasn’t at quite the fevered pitch of the banquet hall, though the presence of another cameraman and spotter, along with Alaine and her producer, did make it feel much more crowded than usual.
“Hey, Meredith.” Alaine waved in greeting.
Meredith slipped through the busy cooks and porters to join her. “How long have y’all been here?”
“Since nine this morning. Well, not me, because I had to do my show. But Pricilla and Nelson were here at nine to start filming prep. I brought everyone else with me after the show wrapped. Good thing this was Major’s regular day for filming and that the banquet is our feature for his segment this week.”
Meredith moved out of the way as a prep cook came out of the walk-in refrigerator behind them with a crate of pears. “My mother said something to me about Major and me meeting you at the studio Friday?”
“Yes—didn’t my intern call you?” Alaine shook her head, her plump curls bouncing around her shoulders. “I’ll have to have a word with him. You and Major are my featured guests on the show Friday.”
“On the show— on the show?” Meredith’s legs wanted to give out on her.
“Yes. It’s going to be clips of the event—and all of the stuff we’ve filmed up until now—interspersed with live chat with the two of you about it. Don’t worry; you’ll be fine. You did great in our interview.”
“Yeah, well, that was just the two of us in my office. I’m sure you’ve got a bunch of people in the studio watching when you do your show.” She stuffed her hands into her pants pockets to keep from wiping the sweat on the ivory fabric.
Alaine patted her shoulder. “It’ll be okay; I promise.” She glanced over at the prep cook who was in the process of peeling and coring the pears. “What are those for?”
“Poached pears with ginger crumble. One of the three dessert choices the diners were given.” She was particularly glad Mrs. Warner and the board had stayed away from the two desserts containing tropical fruit. Though she trusted Major’s staff to be cautious about cross-contamination of foods such as raw meats, most prep cooks didn’t worry about cleaning and sanitizing a work surface between cutting up different types of fruit. And if someone who’d been working on the tropical fruit touched something else that then touched something Meredith might eat that night...
She shuddered. The memory of the last time she’d eaten something that had been cut on the same surface as kiwi wasn’t pleasant. Her throat had been sore from the breathing tube for nearly a week afterward. But at least it’d kept her from suffocating when the swelling from the allergic reaction nearly closed her windpipe.
“How did that whole thing work? I know you and Mrs. Warner narrowed down the choices from what was presented to the board a few weeks ago.” Alaine pulled her pen from behind her ear, ready to write on the steno pad in her left hand.
“Once we narrowed that down, I had menus made up giving each banquet attendee a choice of starter salad, protein—from red meat, poultry, seafood, or vegetarian—and dessert. The menus will be at each place, and the wait staff will take the guests’ orders as they serve beverages.” Meredith glanced around for Major but didn’t see him. She didn’t really need to talk to him, but coming up to ask Alaine about Friday had been all the excuse she’d needed for an opportunity to bump into Major.
“But all of the meals are served at the same time?” Alaine scribbled on her notepad.
“Yes. Dinner service is at seven o’clock sharp.”
“How do you know how many of each dish to prepare?”
“Based on the percentages of how many chose similar dishes last year,” Major said, and Meredith turned, heart thrumming. “Hey, there.”
“Hi.” She wanted to think that the warmth of his smile, the soft expression in his eyes were for her—but who was she kidding? No man in his right mind would look at her like that when she was standing next to someone like Alaine. Just as she’d only seen that kind of expression in men’s faces whenever she was with Jenn.
“What brings you up to the kitchen? Everything okay?” Though he looked at Meredith, his attention was most definitely divided between her and what was going on in his domain.
“I needed to ask Alaine a question about Friday.”
“Yeah.” He crossed his arms as his gaze wandered over his staff. “That sort of took me by surprise, too. But it’ll be easier to do it together.”
“Chef!”
“Gotta go.” He squeezed Meredith’s shoulder and disappeared into the intricate ballet dance of a frenzied kitchen.
“I guess I’d better head back downstairs and get back to work myself.” Meredith sighed.
“What are you working on today?” Alaine looked as if she wanted to follow Meredith back to her office, which was the last thing she needed.
“All of the last-minute details—confirming all vendors and deliveries for items not arriving until late tonight or tomorrow, coordinating with all departments involved to make sure the work is getting done”—her cell phone started ringing—“and fielding lots of phone calls.”
Alaine grimaced. “I won’t keep you, then. See you around.”
“See you.” Meredith answered the phone as soon as she stepped out into the nominally quieter hallway. “This is Meredith.”
“Mere, it’s Corie. You’d better get down here. I’ve got the florist on the phone—he says it’s urgent.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” Instead of risking the stop-and-go pace of the main elevators, Meredith opted for the freight elevator across from her, which let her off just across the hall from the executive kitchen on the fifth floor. She swiped her security card and dashed through the dim kitchen and dining room to her office.
“Which line?” Three of them flashed, signaling they were on hold. “Two.”
Meredith took a deep breath. “This is Meredith Guidry.”
What had sounded like an emergency turned out only to be a glitch with the schedule for delivery of the centerpieces. She dealt with it and moved on to the uniform supplier on line one and the symphony director on line three, who wanted to inform her she was getting four violins and two violas instead of three and three as originally planned.
In a brief respite between phone calls, Meredith finally took the aspirin she’d been thinking about taking for her headache all afternoon.
Corie knocked on her open door and stepped inside the office. “I just got off the phone with Giovanni’s. The pizza is on its way.”
“Great. Thanks for handling that.” Meredith picked up the phone and dialed the extension for the Vue de Ceil kitchen.
“Catering division, Steven LeBlanc speaking.”
“Steven, it’s Meredith. Is Major easily accessible?”
“Sure. Hold on just a second.” The freight-train sound of the busy kitchen was replaced by soft classical music for a moment until Major picked up.
“Hey, Mere. What’s up?”
“The pizza’s on the way here. How do you want to handle sending folks down to eat?”
“Let’s send the facilities staff down first. It’ll be easier for them just to stop what they’re doing and take a dinner break. Once they’re fed, I’ll have my crew come down as they get to stopping points. I’ll send a couple of porters down with the ice chests of sodas, but other than that, the executive dining room should be set up for buffet service.”
“Mind if I keep your porters and have them help sort pizzas and get everything organized?”
“I figured you would. They’ll be down in a minute.”
Meredith rubbed the back of her neck. “Remind me why we decided against canceling lunch service today?”
“We?” He chuckled. “I thought that command came down from on high.”
“Hmm. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“See you in a bit.”
“Bye.” Her hand lingered on the receiver for a few seconds after she hung up. How would she do this without him? She almost snorted at the irony. Maybe if he did decide to start the restaurant, she should take Ward up on his offer to work as his interior designer so she didn’t have to find out how horrible this kind of event would be without Major at her right hand.
She leaned back in her chair and let her eyes wander over the features of her office—wrecked though it was currently. Seeing Corie, Pam, and Lori bustling around in the outer office warmed the cockles of her heart. And though right now it seemed crazy, she was actually excited about the banquet tomorrow night. She couldn’t wait to see the looks on the board members’ faces when they walked in and saw how the thousands of candles sparkled off the glass walls and ceiling.
She thought about Easter in the Park and the library fundraiser in May. She couldn’t think of anyone her parents might hire to replace her who would put heart and soul into those events the way she would. She pressed her thumbs and forefingers to the corners of her eyes.
Truth of the matter was—she liked her job. Despite the fact her parents had little respect for her position, doing her job gave her pleasure. And even with as much as she enjoyed working on her house for the past couple of months, she knew she wouldn’t get as much pleasure from remodeling and redecorating houses as she got from planning events. God had given her the heart, mind, and soul to be doing exactly what she was doing.
And there was always the slight possibility that Major might not take her parents’ offer.
Around seven o’clock, Major went to each station in the kitchen and told his people to go down to eat as soon as they got to a point where they could stop.
Steven returned from his quick dinner break, allowing Major the opportunity to go grab a bite. Out in the main room, the facilities staff were just getting back to work, and Alaine stood over to one side, talking to her people as they packed up equipment.
He detoured over to them. “Calling it a night?”
“They are. I’m going to stick around awhile longer if that’s okay with you.” Alaine pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
“That’s fine. Why don’t y’all come down and grab some pizza before you go.” He nodded toward the freight elevator. “This one takes us practically right to where the food is set up.”
Only one of the camera assistants didn’t want to stay. Major led the rest of them down to the fifth floor. Most of his kitchen staff sat around the carved mahogany tables in the executive dining room—a place none of them had probably ever dreamed of eating a meal, even though the pizza was served on paper plates.
The two event planners, Pam and Lori, along with Meredith’s assistant, sat with pastry chefs Sandra and Jeff, having what looked like a very entertaining discussion. Major glanced around the room again. He hadn’t been mistaken—no Meredith.
Corie got up and came over to him. “She’s still in her office. Maybe you might have better luck convincing her to take a break and come get something to eat.”
“I’ll give it a shot.” He went across the hall to Meredith’s office. Her door was half shut. He knocked lightly and pushed it open.
Meredith and Mairee looked up from the large piece of paper they were leaning over, spread on Meredith’s table.
“Everything okay?” Meredith asked, her eyes begging him to say yes.
“I was just getting ready to ask you the same question.” He nodded toward the table-layout schematic.
Meredith rubbed the back of her neck. “Just a few last-minute RSVP changes, so we’re having to rearrange some of the seating assignments.”
“Additions?” He joined them at the table.
“Yes.” Meredith pointed to an eight-top table she’d penciled in. “But it works here. Remember how you and Orly kept saying that side of the room looked unbalanced? Well, now it’s balanced.”
He nodded. “I reviewed the original with Jana this afternoon for server assignments, so I’ll be sure to inform her of the change tomorrow before the staff arrive so she can adjust coverage if she needs to.”
“Well, I’m going to leave this in your more-than-capable hands.” Mairee put her hand to the small of Meredith’s back. “Meredith and Major, you’ve done a wonderful job on the preparation, and I know tomorrow night is going to be spectacular.” With a smile trailing behind her, she turned toward her own office, her gait a bit stiff.
Meredith left the floor plan on the table and went around to collapse in her desk chair.
Major followed and grabbed her hands. “Nope, come on. You need something to eat.”
“I’m too exhausted to eat.” She resisted his gentle tugging for a few seconds, then, with a sigh, got back out of her chair. “All right. I’m coming.”
It was all Major could do to let go of her once she was back on her feet. Her hands fit perfectly in his, felt just right clasped there. He tried not to think about Ward Breaux, with his big catcher’s mitts, holding Meredith’s hands.
Corie passed them on their way into the dining room, and she grinned at him. “See, I told you that you would have better luck convincing her.”
Meredith didn’t seem to hear—or care about—what her assistant said. “Corie, do you mind staying until I get back? I’d hate to think what would happen if someone else calls and I’m not there to answer it.”
“I already told you I can stay as late as you need me.”
The fatigue in Meredith’s face vanished when she smiled. “Thanks. You’re sweet as a Georgia peach.”
“And twice as sassy.” Corie cocked an eyebrow and laughed.
Meredith went over to talk to Pam and Lori, so Major fixed plates and grabbed sodas for both of them. He chose a table a little bit away from where the few remaining kitchen staff sat, wanting to give Meredith a few minutes’ peace before she dived back into work.
On her way to join him, she made a full tour of the room, speaking to everyone, including Alaine and her camera crew. Compared to Alaine, on whom the toll of the long day was evident, Meredith looked as if she were just starting her day—shoulder-length hair perfectly in place, cream-colored pantsuit not in the least rumpled or wrinkled, skin as luminous as ever. Alaine, on the other hand, with her hair pulled back in a limp ponytail, looked like she’d been through the wringer. She’d slung her suit coat across the back of her chair, kicked her shoes off under the table, and rolled her shirtsleeves up. But it was in her face, in the dark circles beneath her eyes and the slight downward turn of her mouth, that her fatigue showed the most.
His chest tightened with pride in Meredith and how she thrived in a whirlwind like tonight. Finally, she joined him. He asked a blessing, and they launched into eating.
After her third slice of pizza, Meredith leaned back, popped open a second can of Diet Coke, and took a long swig of the soda. “Ah. I needed that. Thanks for making me come eat.”
Major weighed the pleasure of a fourth slice against the pain of the extra running he’d have to do on the treadmill later on. The pizza won. “Want some more?”
“Some apple dessert pizza would be great.” She handed him her plate.
After getting her dessert and his fourth slice, he turned to see Alaine had joined Meredith at the table. He grimaced. He’d hoped to have Meredith to himself for at least a few more minutes before he had to get back up to the kitchen.
“Major, I’ve been wondering something,” Alaine said before he could regain his seat.
“What’s that?” He handed Meredith a fork to go along with her dessert.
“I was a little surprised to see that you actually wear your chef ’s jacket to cook in. I always thought those were just for show—you know, something you put on before you come out of the kitchen to take a bow. Hardly any of the chefs on TV wear one.”
Every muscle in his body cringed. He hated it when people compared what he did to what the celebrity chefs did on TV. Wait a minute— he was now one of those TV chefs. Oh, the irony. “The jacket is actually a very practical piece of the kitchen uniform in addition to looking good. It’s double-breasted to protect from burns, but also, if something gets spilled, it can be rebuttoned with the other side out to hide the stain.” He went on for another minute or two on the design and proper usage of the chef’s jacket.
“So, would it be better if we had you wear one in your segment?” Alaine propped her elbow on the table and rested her cheek against her fist.
“Probably not. Since I’m supposed to be preparing what people can do in their home kitchens, it would probably look pretentious if I started wearing it after I’ve already been on the show for two weeks without it.” He ate a few bites of the pizza before he realized he wasn’t hungry anymore.
“Yeah, that probably wouldn’t go over very well.” Alaine raised her hand to cover her yawn. “Sorry, I’ve been up since five this morning.”
Major caught Meredith’s eye—they’d walked in together from the parking garage at a quarter of six this morning. The corner of Meredith’s lips quirked up, but she turned her attention to her apple pizza.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, though, that the feedback we’ve been getting from viewers has been overwhelmingly positive. You’re a big hit with my viewers, Chef O’Hara.” A little bit of the glimmer returned to Alaine’s dark eyes.
“That’s good to know. I’d hate to think I was tanking and taking your show down with me.” Actually, he’d tried not to think of it, because he knew finding out wouldn’t be good for maintaining a healthy level of ego.
“The feedback we get most often, from our female viewers of course, is that they feel like you’re talking straight to them. Some of them were afraid that you might do stuff that was way over their heads or too fancy or that you would use terminology or techniques they didn’t understand. But they say they feel like you’re just a friend who’s come into their kitchens to give them a one-on-one cooking lesson.” Alaine stifled another yawn. “Which is exactly what we were hoping for.”
This time, Major didn’t risk looking at Meredith. If only Alaine knew to whom he was really talking when he explained what he was doing. If only Meredith knew that he sometimes imagined she was there with him, sharing and participating in his favorite thing to do.
Lord, I love Meredith. I want to marry her. Please, show me what to do.