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"Scarlett, it's a gift. Something I wanted to do for you."
She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. I truly couldn't believe that she was so surprised by this. What kind of idiotic people had she met all her life? Well, if the story about her ex was anything to go by... I had my answer.
"Thank you so much," she said so sincerely that I wanted to jump across the table and hold her.
"So, what did you do over the weekend?" I asked her, needing to change the subject.
"I explored." She lit up and grinned. "The city is so amazing."
I chuckled. "Many people have a thing for New Orleans, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone with your enthusiasm."
"I still can't believe that I'm here, you know? And I spoke to my parents and my best friend, Ariana, of course. They wanted to hear how things were going. What did you do?"
"On Friday evening, I devoured the beignets with Bella. We watchedMoana, and I painted her nails with this glitter polish she loves."Why on earth am I sharing this with her?
She put a hand on her chest. "Okay, that is adorable."
"Anyway, on Saturday morning, I dropped her off at her mom's house and had some time to decompress."
“Sounds like a very relaxing weekend, and—”
Scarlett fell silent as Mia, the marketing manager, and Aurelia, the social media specialist, stepped into the room. She quickly hid the king cake box underneath the table.
"Oh, hello!” Mia said.
“Mia, Aurelia, this is Scarlett. Scarlett, meet the brightest from our marketing department.”
"It's nice to meet you," Scarlett said as she beamed at both women. "Look, I'll be honest. I have no experience talking about the menu with the marketing team. So if I'm completely off base, you’ll let me know, all right?"
Her honesty was refreshing. Chefs often had huge egos, like her ex. But Scarlett was clearly different, which was a nice change of pace.
"This is all very informal. We like to know what you plan to do with the menu so we can communicate that to our customers properly and entice them into dining with us. And since we're placing advertisements in a wide range of publications, we need to know ahead of time about any changes so we can prep accordingly. We assure you that we don't plan to interfere in the menu at all. We’ll meet once more so we can show you the actual ads and get your approval."
"All right," Scarlett said, chewing her lower lip. It took a lot of willpower to glance away. I was obsessing over her lips, andthat wasn’t good. "First things first, I want to incorporate more shrimp into the menu. A lot of people love seafood, and there's quite a bit I can do with shrimp."
"Do you have anything in particular in mind?" Aurelia asked.
Scarlett got her phone out. "Yes, I made a few notes. I'd like to offer an entrée of a creamed shrimp soup along with a shrimp étouffée for the main course. And I’d also love to offer a veal option...”
For the next half hour, Scarlett talked us through the changes she wanted to make. She was a pro, and the items she was describing were making my mouth water. The grams would be so proud.
Even though I was at the meeting, I didn’t actually run it, just listened in as the three of them discussed. I believed in leaving my employees a wide berth and trusting that they knew what they were doing. But I wanted to be in the know about everything.
I cleared my throat after Scarlett finished. "This all sounds great. The shrimp could be problematic, though. All the good suppliers are booked into the next century."
She deflated a bit. "Oh. I didn't think that might be a problem.”
“Between now and the next meeting on Thursday, let’s figure out if adding more shrimp to the menu is possible at all. Then we'll go from there."
"Sounds good to us," Mia said.
We all stood up. Mia and Aurelia left the meeting room first.
"I hope we didn't scare you," I said once we were alone.
"No, this was quite nice. It's fascinating to hear things from your point of view and how you might present things to customers and advertisers. I've never had this experience before.” She checked the time. “I should go down to the kitchen. Must be madness by now."
"Don't forget that king cake," I said, pointing at the small box under the table.
