“Top shelf?” the server asks.
I shrug, “Sure.” I have no idea what ‘top shelf’ even means but sounds better than bottom shelf. I snort to myself and look up to see Gabriel scowling at me a little bit and Tanya glaring daggers. Geesh, what’d I do now?
I ignore the looks and open up the menu. Oh, crud. The entire thing is in French. I look through the titles of each section and hold my breath as I read silently and struggle internally. Okay, I know Plats Premiers is listed first so it must mean appetizers. Deuxieme? I have no idea what those are. Les Poissons and Les Viandes et Les Volalles are the next two headings. Heck, even the descriptions of the food are in French.
“Uh, do you think they have an English version of the menu?” I say peeking up over the top of my ginormous menu.
Without looking up from his menu, Gabriel asks, “Would you like me to order for you, sweetheart?”
I sigh in relief but before I can answer Tanya interrupts. “Oh, Gabriel. Would you?”
Uh, um, I’m confused. He was talking to me, right? Should I also respond or just wing it?
“Lexie?”
Okay, he was talking to me. “Yes, please.”
When the waiter returns with our drinks, I take a big gulp of my whiskey and nearly choke. Coughing and wheezing, I look up and see that expression again on Gabriel’s face. You know the one? The one where his eyes are pushed together causing deep lines to appear on his forehead and his nose to scrunch up? In case you can’t see it. I’ll tell you what it is. Annoyance. It’s definitely annoyance. I shrug because, honestly, there’s nothing I can do about it now. Ooh, I think the whiskey is already working. My intrinsic need to be a people pleaser is evaporating. Awesome.
I sip my drink and listen as Gabriel orders our dinners in fluent French. Tanya is practically on his lap by the time he finishes the instructions to the waiter. I look over at Bill who isn’t pleased with Tanya either. “So, Bill. What kind of business are you in?”
Tanya almost chokes on her cocktail. I roll my eyes and look back at Bill. “Cosmetics.”
“Cosmetics?”
“That’s what I said.”
“So, you want Gabriel to design a building for your headquarters?”
“I want a new building. I’m just not sure if I want…”
“Oh, that reminds me of that Brady Bunch episode where Mr. Brady is hired to design a building for a cosmetics lady. I think her name was something silly like Baby or no! Beebe. Did you ever see that one?”
Bill blinks at me as I speak. “No? Well, it was hilarious. First, she wanted a building that was shaped like a powder compact.” I giggle.
“Lexie?” Gabriel asks like it’s a warning.
No longer a people pleaser. Remember? I ignore him because I’m on a roll. “But she was fussy and didn’t want that one, so she demanded that he design one that looked like a lipstick.” I snort a laugh as I take another sip of my whiskey. Wow, this stuff is strong. I’ve barely finished the glass, and I’m loopy. I guess I should have eaten something today. It’s hitting me hard.
“In the end, she was way too difficult to work with so Mr. Brady just told her he wouldn’t design her building.” I drink the last gulp down and plop the glass down on the table with a little too much force. “Oops.”
“Wow, that was riveting,” snaps Tonya.
“Well, it is if you watched the Brady Bunch, but you’re not old enough to know about the Brady Bunch. It was a classic.” I turn to Gabriel. “Right, Gabriel?”
“I’ve never seen the Brady Bunch. I was busy doing more important things.”
I snort loudly, “Whatever, Mr. Fancypants. Like you were doing important stuff when you were ten.” I scoff then feel the flush of heat on my face and sweat suddenly appears on my forehead. “I think I drank that too fast.”
“You think?” snaps Tonya again.
“Sorry,” I mutter as I sip water. As soon as the food comes, I’ll eat, and it’ll absorb some of the alcohol from my body. But when the food arrives, it comes with a glass of wine. I sip on the delicious dry wine and stare at my plate. I can’t seem to find a way to eat it. It’s a small plate with little black balls in a pile on one side, some pink mushy stuff on the other and some kind of foam in the middle. Thank goodness there’s bread on the table.
I look over at his plate and see he’s got a selection of cheeses and some of the black balls like mine. “Uh, Gabriel?”
“Yes?”
“What is this?” I say pointing at my plate.
