‘Yes. She said you passed your test with flying colors.’
I pretended I didn’t know what she was talking about. ‘Test? Wait! That was the test?’
Natalie gave me the smile that I imagine a female praying mantis gives before she bites the head off her mate. ‘Absolutely! I’ve been trying to tell her for years that she’d get the same wonderful service in the casual dining room as she receives in the formal dining room.’
Huh?
‘And you proved me right! She said she was very impressed that despite how many extra tables you have, nothing much changed.’
‘Wait, the test was just …’ I looked at the coffeepots again. ‘Doing my job?’
‘Yes!’ Natalie continued. ‘You’ve completed the first two tasks, so when I have everything squared away on my end, we’ll talk about your final task.’ She put a singsong lilt to her voice. ‘You’re very nearly there!’ And with that, she spun around and left.
So this whole task that I had been worried about – I could have done it easily, any day of the week, whenever I wanted. And I didn’t even need to make this pour-over coffee?
What in the yellow-brick bullshit?
About a week and a half later, a week before Christmas, Gabe called me after dinner.
I had already seen him at work and told him I’d be working on my recipe for my supplemental video. We even got a date down for our first – and hopefullyonly– day of shooting: January 7.
‘I’ve got puff pastries in the oven,’ I said as I answered. I decided not to tell him I was also staring at my La Mère essay. Well, the blank page thatshouldhave been the La Mère essay. ‘And I’m about to make the cream base and see what kind of flavors I should add to make it pop. So I can’t watch anything until this is done.’
I had decided to go with the croquembouche for the video. But I wanted the cream in the puff pastries to be different colors and flavors. The admissions people wouldn’t be able to taste the flavor, obviously, but I thought maybe if we recorded a few reaction videos from my mom and friends they could explain how it stood out.
I was going to do a strawberry, blueberry, salted caramel, chocolate ganache, and a bananas Foster.
Gabe sounded weird when he spoke. ‘How much longer?’
I turned on the oven light. ‘About three minutes?’ The timer said five, but they were starting to brown. I’d have to keep an eye on them.
‘Want to take an ice cream break?’
I laughed. ‘It’s twenty degrees tonight.’
‘The ice cream place I want to go to has seating inside.’
‘Are you okay?’
‘Not really. Can I come pick you up? You can bring all the cream and pastries and keep working. I’ll even help you fill them if you want. I just don’t want to sit at a table like a sad sack eating ice cream alone.’
Why wasn’t he calling Vic? Or Kevin, or the whole crew of Murphy friends he had? He was calling me, for ice cream, at eight forty-five p.m. on a Monday night.
Maybe it was related to Vic and their relationship. Plus, the pastries could be stored for a day. Then I could do all the cream tomorrow when I got home from school, since I didn’t have work, and Mom would taste test for me and help figure out which cream recipes to go with.
‘Yeah,’ I said, looking back at the blank page on my laptop screen. ‘I can take a break.’
He picked me up and we talked about work on the drive. After twenty minutes, Gabe pulled to a stop in a parking lot with a P.F. Chang’s, a Fine Wine & Good Spirits, a Trader Joe’s and a handful of other smaller stores. I had been to the Trader Joe’s a few times but not the others, so I followed him toward the place with the gold lit sign that saidOscar’s Ice Cream.
He opened the door for me, and I ducked in quickly to get out of the cold.
And so he couldn’t see me smile.
Oscar’s had reclaimed wood lining the walls and uncomfortable-but-fashionable-looking wooden booths. We were the only people in there. Of course. Because it was a twenty-degree night in December.
I followed Gabe toward the counter, glancing at the framed pictures on the walls. Each one was a famous actress holding an Academy Award in her hands.
‘Hey, Tommy.’ I turned to see Grant Feldman behind the counter in a black T-shirt with the poster for a movie calledLast Night in Sohoon it.
