The Caterer

Chapter 40

A LICE CAME IN FROM her shower and sat on the bed. She lotioned her legs and looked at the room that had been her sanctuary for the last two years. By the end of the week, she’d be back in her apartment. The idea made her want to weep. But Tabby dug her heels in, and Alice would not cower or beg or excuse her choices. Tabby could say whatever she wanted and give her the cold shoulder, Alice would not lose Delany to keep her sister happy.

Her father agreed to come in Thursday to help her move her stuff. It wasn’t what she wanted but was what she thought would happen. At least Tabby knew the whole truth. Alice stood to get dressed, hoping it would be a better day.

Alice went to get a cup of coffee, the morning news on low. Tabby must be hiding out in the bedroom. It was the only explanation for why she wasn’t out there rebuking Alice with the full weight of her smug superiority, telling Alice how stupid she was, and that Delany was using her for sex .

Annie put her cereal bowl in the sink, asking Alice where she’d been.

“Working.” It was the easiest answer.

“Are you coming to my game Thursday? I get to start.”

Alice held back her emotion, not daring to look at Paul who drank his coffee at the end of the island by the exit. Maybe she could con her parents into going too and the sisters could pretend to get along for the twins.

“Of course. I’m sorry I wasn’t there over the weekend.”

“It’s okay. I just miss you.”

Alice hugged her and prayed to hold back her emotion. Paul moved, asking Mac to turn up the TV. A helicopter flew over a three-alarm fire at a storage unit in central D.C. Alice moved closer, something familiar about the multistory storage building with its collection of RVs outside. Her breath got shallow, her throat constricting.

“Aunt A, your phone is ringing.” Mac brought it to her. She answered Carver’s call.

“Yeah, Carver. I’m watching the TV now.”

“That’s where we park the food truck, Lil.”

That was not what she wanted to hear.

#

DELANY WAITED WHILE THE leadership of Macon came into the main conference room. One asked about his weekend in New York. Delany rambled about the basketball game and how much fun Helene had. He remembered the rest, his chest warming. He hid his smile behind his fist. Just let him see Alice again. He wanted to whisk her away for her birthday to somewhere warm and private. Maybe he could surprise her, surely Carver would help.

“Are we all set?” Moe asked. Delany glanced over who was there, not seeing Bobbie. He reached for his BlackBerry, no text that he was running late. Katy lifted her hands when he glanced over his shoulder. After the meeting he’d talk to Bobbie. If it wasn’t Alice, it was his place at Macon, or that Delany kept things from him, or that he felt hemmed in. Delany had no idea what was going on but he was over Bobbie’s sulking.

The head of IT dimmed the lights and Moe started his presentation on Tabby’s second app: BackDoor, which backed-up company cellphones on a main server, allowing leadership to access an employee’s contacts, text messages, and emails if needed.

“Think of it like a digital cloud we can access,” Moe said. “We are going to beta test the app on Macon’s mobiles, loading it automatically as part of the next software push. We’re not spying on people. This is our ability to pull and save data and information should an employee leave or be fired,” Moe added. “It is added protection for our intellectual property.”

Delany went to Bobbie’s office, still dark. Delany thought about texting him, but didn’t want to hear his excuses. He stopped by Katy’s desk, who checked Bobbie’s calendar and, as he suspected, there was nothing scheduled.

“Has Bobbie seemed off to you?”

Katy laughed and then caught herself. “Maybe a bit more moody than usual.”

It was more than that. He’d been brooding since Delany announced he was coming in full-time. Delany went to his office, ready to focus on something else.

#

BOBBIE WALKED INTO THE cliched French bakery with a line out the door. He went to the coffee bar, asking if Alice was there. She sat at her desk, her head on her fist, talking on the phone. She sniffed and said she’d hold. Pathetic. He knocked on the door. Alice looked up, scowling.

“Can I help you, Mr. Dunn?” She tilted the phone down, her face red like she’d been crying. In the office! How had he not been able to banish this field mouse?

“I was hoping we could talk about your work with Macon.”

“Well, I’m on a call and then have a lunch meeting…”

“This won’t take long.” He crossed his arms and widened his stance. Alice must have realized he wasn’t leaving because she sighed and hung up the phone.

“Whatever,” she said loud enough for him to hear. He drew in his breath to let out the anger around the mess she and her dowdy sister created in his life but no, eye on the goal. He knew about Delany taking her to New York, Nadia had texted him everything Helene said. If they both didn’t need this girl gone, there was no way they’d be talking. What was the line about your enemy’s enemy? They both had the same objective.

With Bulldog holding the contract for The Cora hostage, Bobbie went to the new GM who told him they wanted to hire Alice. No way in the hell that was going to happen. He was not going to lose what he’d invested getting Jonas into that space to this broad. Carrie said Alice never stood up for herself. Jonas mentioned she always cowered. Bobbie would ensure Alice couldn’t work fast food in the area. And now she didn’t even have her pathetic food truck to run back to.

They got into line, Bobbie pulling out his BlackBerry. A reminder came up for a meeting at HQ. Who gave a crap about Array and some stupid program?

“Do you want your usual, Alice?” the cashier asked. She nodded. “And for you?”

“A double espresso.” He looked at Alice, who took a step back. The broad expected him to pay at her bakery. “Can I add a butter croissant to the order?” He reached for his wallet. Alice found a stool beside a bar in the window. He sat beside her, Alice leaning back.

“How was your weekend?” He watched the street outside.

“What do you want?”

“I just asked a question.” He chuckled. Maybe things didn’t go well. He did a slow once over on her. Bulldog should really take his advice on women. “How much would it take to buy Hasty Pudding?” Bobbie decided to be direct.

Alice laughed. “My company is not for sale.”

“Everyone has their price.” He stared at her, hoping he relayed bored indifference. “The thing is, Hasty Pudding would be better if it belonged to Macon. We could scale it, control the brand, give it credibility. We are working to broker a deal with Jonas. He’d love to add Hasty Pudding to his fleet of restaurants.”

A barista put their order down, asking if they needed anything else before leaving them alone. Alice tried to reset her face, but he’d seen what he needed. The field mouse’s kryptonite.

“Hasty Pudding is not for sale.” Alice reached for her cup and turned to leave.

“After all we’ve done for you. How good Delany’s been to you. This is how you’re going to repay him? Suddenly you’re too good for us after using us to redeem your name?” Bobbie had learned to play the bad cop, relished it.

“Apparently you still don’t know the details of our deal.”

A rush of anger flushed through him; Bobbie not able to stop the annoyed grunt from escaping. Alice smirked. Bobbie chuckled. He wasn’t giving up. Like a cat with a mouse, Bobbie always got what he wanted. He took a bite of his croissant and rubbed his hands together.

“Nothing is free in this world, Alice. In business we call it a quid pro quo. Delany helped launch your company, so when the time came, we’d have an established catering arm to merge with Jonas’ companies. Well, that time has come. ”

“Then let Delany tell me that. I have other places to be.”

“You leave, I’ll buy this building and push you and Carver out. Cooperate and maybe Jonas will let you keep catering—under his direction, of course.” Surely Jonas could buy the building, this dump could not cost that much. Or Macon could if Delany let him do his freaking job! Alice shook her head and started to walk away.

“Macon won’t be using you anymore anyway,” Bobbie reached for his drink. “We’ve retained Jonas to do our events until The Cora is operational.”

“Wait, Macon bought the Old Post Office building?” Her eyes went wide. He set his drink down, another pressure point. He wasn’t sure why the broad cared about that stupid building, but it mattered and Jonas being there, maybe he found the wedge he needed.

“Jonas is very excited to go into the space.”

“I want to hear this from Delany.” She could barely get the words out.

He stood and got close, making sure he pulled his height. He’d waited three months to be rid of this pain in the ass. He pulled the boilerplate contract he’d modified from his jacket pocket and held it between them.

“I told you—you were the help. I told you not to get attached. You might think your weekend away meant something, but Delany sent me to tell you the news. He couldn’t be bothered. So sorry, field mouse, your time has run out.”

#

ALICE TOOK THE SET OF PAPERS and walked away, going to the office before unfolding the contract and slowly sitting. Her sister was right. What a dupe she’d been. She reached for her wallet and cell phone, taking the contract off the desk before sneaking out the back and walking to E Street to hail a cab. As the city passed, she tried to process the news: Macon bought the Old Post Office building. She told Delany it was her ideal local, and he said nothing. He let her blather on about what Jonas did and all the while intending for that man to get a flagship restaurant in the building she loved. That along with the contract he’d been too cowardly to deliver himself. Did Alice know him at all?

She took the elevator to his office. If he thought she would just let him take over what she’d fought to make. Was this always his plan? Get tentacles into every aspect of her business, tie her to him via events, being his private chef, working for his nonprofit. Make her business indistinguishable from his and then subsume it all.

Delany stood when she walked into his office. “What are you doing here?” His wide smile faded. “Alice?”

“How stupid do you think I am?” She tossed the contract onto the desk. “Bobbie came to see me this morning, told me about the Old Post Office Pavilion and Jonas’ new restaurant.”

“He did what?” He didn’t reach for the contract.

“I thought you were different. For a moment I believed you were.”

“Alice, I have no idea…”

“You let me sit there in New Mexico and go on like an idiot the whole time knowing who was going into your hotel.” Her body heat rose, tears threatening to drown her. “I told you what Jonas did, and you said nothing.”

“Alice, he isn’t….”

“You think you could do all the legwork of getting Jonas into your hotel and I would never find out? How stupid do you think I am? I won’t be treated like shit again.”

He came around his desk and started to reach his hand out to touch her but then thought better of it.

“I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you’re brilliant and incredible and gorgeous and worthy of every opportunity out there. ”

She scoffed and shook her head, reaching for the contract discarded on his desk.

“So I guess Bobbie telling me Macon was going to buy Hasty Pudding and that my services were no longer needed because Jones is now handling things was a lie?”

“What did Bobbie do?” He sat on the edge of his desk, setting the contract on the desk.

“Are you this out of touch with your own company?” She studied his eyes. Either he had no idea, or he was a damn good actor. How could a man who amassed a company worth billions not know? “Doesn’t matter. I’m done. Don’t contact me again.” She walked out. Her heart wanted to race out of her chest, her skin hypersensitive. She got onto the elevator and pinched her eyes closed. She would not cry here. It was time to cut ties with Macon, Jonas could have it. Alice didn’t want it anymore. For Delany to let her be so vulnerable, to know what Jonas did, and to say nothing even as they got closer, and she slept with him. Her chest constricted. Alice leveraged her relationship with her sister on a man who’d been a mirage.