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“Yeah, but it was from easyrecipes.com.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t have a sophisticated palate like everyone else, so maybe it’s much better than I thought.”
“Okay,” I said hopefully. “Maybe. Right?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Maybe. And just tell Finn and the other guests that this is how they like the food in France.”
“But one of the guys already told me that he’s been to France.”
“Well, then just say it’s from the little region in France you were at or whatever. Just lie.”
“How many lies am I going to tell? I’m feeling like a frigging fool already. I basically told them they were going to be impressed and now…”
“Maybe they will be impressed. Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I haven’t even tried all the food yet. It might be amazing.”
“Okay,” I said, not feeling hopeful. “Let me get out there and see if I can charm them all and make them forget the food.”
“Yeah, and at least we have Red Lobster coming.”
“Yeah,” I said, though that wasn’t exciting to me. It wasn’t like Red Lobster was a three-star Michelin seafood restaurant. It was like the basic bitch restaurant of seafood. No one was going to be that impressed with Red Lobster. But maybe they’d be more impressed than the cooking we’d done ourselves? I hurried out of the room and tried to think of what I could do.
“There’s no way Finn is going to be okay with a shitty dinner,” I mumbled as I entered the grand ballroom. Everyone was mingling and chatting, and I was grateful that I didn’t have to go and talk to anyone and make small talk right away.
I saw Benedict standing in the corner of the room and walked over to him. “Hi,” I said.
“Ma’am,” he said and nodded his head.
“How are you this evening, Benedict?” I wanted to get on his good side. I wanted us to be friends. If we were the only two domestic servants in the house, it should be that we had a united front and not that he hated me or thought I was a weirdo or whatever his issue was.
“How are you doing in your position so far, ma’am?”
“You can call me Harriet,” I said. “Okay?”
He nodded. “So how are you doing in your position so far, Harriet?”
“I think it’s going great, don’t you? I mean, we’re at this dinner party. Everyone seems to be having fun.”
“Indeed, they do. I’m very much looking forward to having some leftovers from the meal,” he said. “I’ve heard you’re doing lamb. Lamb is my favorite.”
“Great,” I said.
“And I do suppose you’ve done it rare, of course?”
“What?”
“The lamb?” he said. “Lamb should always be cooked rare.”
I thought about the burned-to-a-crisp lamb that was currently in the oven and just smiled.
“Well, in France we do it slightly different, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it just as much.”
He smirked at me. “Okay then, this shall be interesting.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I licked my lips nervously. “Anyway, I should go and speak to Finn and let him know the appetizers are nearly up.”
“Indeed. You should let Mr. Joseph know. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to get the evening going.”
“Okay,” I said. “It’s not like they haven’t had drinks and stuff.”
