The Caterer

Chapter 24

A LICE LET OUT HER brEATH, the floors ticking away on the elevator to Macon’s offices. She spent all weekend thinking about the night in Delany’s apartment and how good it felt to hold him. When he looked up at her and she brushed the tears off his cheek, it took everything in her to not just kiss him. Katy’s interruption earlier in the week should have been enough for Alice to admit she was too involved. Instead she let herself comfort him and pretend they could be together. Then the alarms went off. She had too much on the line to give in to her heart. It was time to do what she should have done in June and get Delany out of her life. She and Carver were getting ready to hire a backup who could take the existing Macon events until they could be phased out. It was playing with fire, and thus far she hadn’t been burned, but it was time to walk away.

It had been building since the basketball fundraiser. Before Bobbie showed up, she found herself leaning toward him. Her heart rushed when his hand brushed her palm and he interlaced their fingers, Alice holding her breath. She loved that he was always at his apartment, that he stayed to talk to her. It wasn’t until the moment when he told her he had no secrets from her and then got close that she knew what she’d had been denying for months. Before that, she told herself it was all in her head. Why couldn’t it just be in her head?

Katy’s desk was empty. Delany stood just inside his office, his gaze on a TV screen. The afternoon news played on low, a fire raging somewhere.

“What happened?” Alice asked.

Delany looked at her, his eyes heavy. “There’s a massive fire in New Mexico.”

“Do you know someone there?”

Something in his gaze made it feel personal.

He shook his head. “I just hope we’re able to do something.”

Katy came into the room. She smiled when she saw Alice, hugging her from the side.

“Eddie called. Morse can’t go,” Katy said to Delany.

“Does he see…”

“Yeah, he does. He told Eddie he was done for the year. The cancer’s pretty aggressive, Delany.”

He ran his hand over his head.

“What’s wrong?” Alice asked Katy, who looked at Delany.

“The chef who normally goes with Comida backed out.”

Alice shook her head, having no idea what that sentence meant.

“Delany has a nonprofit that brings meals to emergency areas. Normally, Eddie and his team, a chef included, would leave from D.C. tonight to start cooking. There’s a team there already working to get things set up. The fire has already taken out 20,000 acres and a hundred homes. People are living in shelters and need to get fed.”

“I can go,” she said before she realized what she was saying. Delany looked at her, a lightbulb going off for him. Of course .

“It could be a while before you’re back,” he said.

“What about your events?” Katy asked. Alice closed her eyes and slid her hands into her back pockets.

“Let me talk to Carver. We should be able to shift things around. Please, let me do this after what you’ve done for me.” She looked at Delany. What happened did not negate that he had given her everything. She could do this, and then they’d be even. Alice could walk away not feeling like she owed him a thing.

“We leave from DCA at 8:30.” Delany said.

“I’ll be there.”

#

TABBY WAITED AT THE CAFé for Cyndi who had been cryptic on the phone, saying she had a project she needed Tabby’s help on. Cyndi came in with two women their age. One was heavier-set with curly red hair and blue eyes. The other was tall and lanky, brown hair in a bob cut. Her gray T-shirt tucked into raspberry-colored shorts.

“Tabby, this is Martha and Joanie.” Cyndi made the introductions before they sat. “This is the woman I was telling you about,” Cyndi said to her friends. “She used to run her own business, started it from nothing. I think she’d be the perfect speaker.”

“Speaker for what?” Tabby asked, the other women nodding.

“We run a chapter of a group dedicated to helping businesses owned by military spouses,” Joanie, the taller one, said.

“With moving every few years it’s hard to get a good following,” Martha said. “Some of us have brilliant ideas, but don’t know how to write a business plan or get funding.”

“We’re hosting a workshop in September,” Joanie added. “We have panels and people coming to help with business plans. Someone is coming to talk about how to use social media to promote your products. ”

“And we want you to be the lunchtime speaker.” Cyndi almost interrupted Joanie.

“Me?”

“Come on, Tabby. You’re perfect. You grew that company to what it was.”

Tabby waited while the server came to get their orders. Maybe she could do this.

“Where is it?” An event center on the water in Alexandria. “Do you have a caterer?”

“Not yet. I have some places to call,” Martha said.

“Let me save you the trouble. I know another female-owned business you all can support.”

They spent the rest of the morning talking like old friends. Martha hand-painted wooden signs in her home using song lyrics or movie quotes. Joanie did group fitness out of her garage, but she wanted to expand into marathon training too.

Over Cyndi’s shoulder Tabby saw a man who offered her funding for TabiKat when she was just getting going. He later partnered with some guys in their twenties to develop iPhone apps, the process taking longer than it should. She knew what to do from WlkmNt. Tabby swallowed her pride and told the ladies she’d be back, making her way to where he stood talking to another man at the front of the restaurant.

He saw her and raised his head. He remembered her. She waited for him to finish his conversation before going to say hello.

“I didn’t expect to see you here. Still enjoying days off, I presume.” The man offered her money for her company in the same breath as trying to get into her pants. If those twenty-somethings could figure out what they were doing, their apps could be top grossers. She might have lost her ideas, but that didn’t mean she could not work on something similar.

“I was wondering if that drink was still available.”

He chuckled and smirked. “I heard about TabiKat. You didn’t want to talk before, don’t come groveling now that you got tossed out.”

“You told me I was a woman of vision.”

“You told me I was a man without any.” He raised his hand to someone standing behind Tabby. “A word of advice, Mrs. Black. No one in the tech industry is going to hire you. Macon might have been kind toward you in their PR, but Bobbie Dunn made sure we all know what a diva you are. Your ship has sailed. Have a good day.” He walked past her. Tabby flexed her jaw, her pulse racing. She went back to her table, Cyndi telling her friends about her kids’ first day of school.

She told the twins to start their homework before going to the fridge. White wine was not going to cut it. She poured a double of Paul’s whiskey and sipped while the kids did their homework, replaying the encounter. Just what had Bobbie been telling people—that she dared stand up to the great Delany Clare, that she didn’t grovel and demanded better for herself.

Paul called hello from the front door, the kids barely answering back from their video game. Tabby left her glass by the sink and followed Paul into the bedroom, where he rambled about his day and the case she long stopped giving two hoots about. She leaned in the doorway to the closet.

“You okay?” he asked. She kissed him, Paul moaning. She reached for his T-shirt. “What got into you?”

“I think we should have another kid.” If she was going to be stuck at home, it would give her something to focus on for a bit.

“What?” He stepped back and met her gaze. She said it again. “Why would we do that? We’re halfway to freedom, Tabs. Why would we start over?”

“If I’m going to be your little housewife, it would make sense, right?”

“What happened to trying to get back out there? ”

Tabby stepped back and crossed her arms. “I am trying, but it’s not easy with a man hellbent on destroying me.”

“What happened?” He touched her forearm. Tabby pulled it back and went to make dinner. She didn’t want another child, but it was something to fill her day. She couldn’t sit around the apartment. What was she supposed to do—get a job at the local coffeehouse? Go back to retail? She was thirty-five and created the biggest launch in stock market history and had nothing to show for it.

“Does anyone know where your aunt is?” They were not Alice’s private hotel. It would be polite of her sister to tell them if she planned to be there, help Tabby to know how much to cook. Tabby found her cell phone and called, but it went to voicemail. She thought about calling back.

Paul heard from the kids about their days before asking what he could do to help. He eyed the glass by the sink, looking at her curiously.

“Don’t judge me.”

“Is this why you’re on edge?” He leaned into his arm on the counter. Tabby studied the TV. “Tabby.”

“You think it’s easy being stuck at home all day?”

“I know it’s not, which is why I thought you were going to get another job.”

“You make it sound so simple. I’m trying!”

“I know you are…”

“It’s not as easy as you think. Both you and Alice bailed on me and expect me to do all of this myself.”

He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms. “We didn’t bail on you. We’re working. Alice’s job is not 8-5, and neither is mine right now…”

“Oh, right, I forgot—your big case.” She set her arm on the counter, the other on the back of her hip. Paul studied her, Tabby breathing deep .

“What is going on?” he asked calmly. Tabby shook her head. “We can get someone to clean the apartment or take the kids to school. Your mom might be able to help…”

“I am not going to call my mom to come sit with my kids.”

Paul paused. “I was going to say she might have a lead on a job.”

“I don’t just want a job, Paul. I want something I’m good at. Something I enjoy. You walked into your ideal job after law school. I had what I wanted and…” She stopped, tears building. Paul moved off the counter and tried to touch her. Tabby recoiled. “Don’t pity me. And don’t act like I am doing nothing right now. You try staying home with nothing useful to do. It’s not as easy as you think.”

She left the room. Next time she saw her sister, she’d remind her about common courtesy when living with other people.

#

ALICE UNDID HER BIKE from the rack outside Macon, unsure how to explain her decision to Carver. She thought she was going to tell him she’d walked away from Macon, instead she needed to explain she was leaving for an indefinite amount of time. But she couldn’t not go. Let her use her cooking for something positive. Let her do more than stand behind a buffet line at an event.

Carver was far more understanding than she expected. They called Rita, the woman they wanted to hire, who agreed to come in that afternoon. Alice talked her through the events on the schedule for September, hoping to be back before her birthday in October. But Carver was good, and with Rita ready to go. The staff would help where needed. It would be okay.

Telling her sister was another matter. Alice played over what to say. She collapsed her bike at the apartment and slipped it into its place. One more deep breath. Tabby worked on dinner, the kids watching TV in the living room. Paul said hello from further down the island where he sat working on his laptop.

“Did you get my message?” Tabby asked, her tone impatient.

“I’m going out of town.” Alice leaned into the island for support. Tabby turned from the stove. “A nonprofit in town got my name. They help with food after a natural disaster. They asked me to go with them to New Mexico.”

“Where that big wildfire is?” Tabby crossed her arms, her body taut.

“Their usual chef can’t go, so they asked me. We’re leaving tonight.”

“You’re intentionally going into the path of a wildfire?” Tabby said with more emphasis. Alice could only nod. “And you really think…”

“When do you leave?” Paul cut her off.

“In two hours. I need to pack.” Alice pushed off from the island. Tabby started to say more, but Alice kept walking. She dug her backpack out from under her bed. Take her good tennis shoes and a couple jumpsuits, underwear. Hopefully there might be a way to wash her clothes. Annie knocked on her door, her body slumped. Alice sat on the bed and hugged her close.

“I’ll miss you.” Alice kissed by her ear. Annie handed her the stuffed panda Alice gave her to take to summer camp the year before. For luck and bravery, Alice told her. Alice thanked her and slipped the bear into the pocket of her short blue jumpsuit.

“I’ll be home before you know I’m gone.”

Delany stood with the man from the basketball fundraiser, dressed down in zip away cargo pants, a longer sleeved, button-down hiking shirt open over his gray T-shirt. He said her name. The second man turned and reintroduced himself .

“Thank you for agreeing to come,” Eddie said. He had a T-shaped frame, tanned skin, and a balding head. Alice tried not to focus on his prosthetic leg, or the scar on his long face. His kind eyes reminded her of the Potomac at night. Eddie’s easy smile helped calm Alice’s fear she was making a terrible mistake.

They boarded together. Eddie sat in the aisle seat, Delany by the window, Alice in the aisle across from them. Eddie told her about their teams already on the ground and what would happen once they got there. She was supposed to help in this chaos by making sandwiches?

“I brought you this.” Eddie handed her a notebook. “It’s our training manual, so you have some idea what people usually know. You can toss it in a crate once we get there.”

“Thanks, Eddie.” Alice turned on her light and started to read. Delany and Eddie talked for the rest of the flight, Alice desperate to silence the dread that she was in over her head.