AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No way. No way we’re taking a buyout…”
“So… we just roll over and play dead….”
“Dude, have you lost your goddamn mind…”
“It’s just one setback. We can’t throw in the towel yet…”
Weston lets the three of us throw a multitude of objections his way, both polite and indignant. His pleasant expression never falters, as if he has an invisible shield protecting him. It’s only when the bitching dies down that he starts talking again, like the whole conversation is choreographed.
But no one’s really listening, I can tell. I know I’m not, lost in thought as I am. It’s like someone put cotton in my ears and I can hear blah-blah-blah, and that’s it. I watch Enzo’s gaze dart back and forth between Weston and Owen like he’s waiting for one of them to take the first swing. Business partnerships have broken up over less.
I’m torn. Torn between logic and stubborn pride, between new possibilities and suffocating doubt. There are no easy answers, as evidenced not only by the rising voices at our table, but also my own silent retreat from the conversation and the matter as a whole.
If I shrink away quietly enough, I can hide, and none of this bullshit can reach me.
Right?
33
ENZO
Before we breakup our meeting at the coffee shop—the one that went from bad to worse with every passing minute—we invite Livvy for dinner. She waffles, so I offer to do it at my house. Maybe she’s getting sick of EastSide.
But she ultimately shoots us down. No big surprise. Poor thing is so dejected I don’t know how she got out of bed this morning. We walk back to our block, dropping her at Pawsh Pets. I give her the biggest, juiciest hug I can muster and wonder if she can hear the heart thumping in my chest.
Yes, I’m a sensitive guy. I’ll admit it.
“Hey,” I say, hooking a finger under her chin until she’s looking at me, “if you need anything, and I mean anything, you know how to reach me.”
She responds with a wan smile, the kind someone with the flu gives you when they want you to think they don’t really feel that badly.
“Look. I’ll come over with a snack later, okay?”
She nods and we guys get back to work.
The rest of the day I just go through the motions, overseeing the cooks and all the dishes they put together, but my heart’s not really in it. Instead, I have vegetarian ingredients running through my thoughts, creating all sorts of combinations—ones that will appeal to Livvy, of course. I scribble down a recipe and pass it to my best cook, telling him it’s an experiment I want to try.
A couple hours later, when things quiet down, I sneak out of the restaurant with my new creation in hand, violet aspic with goat cheese mousse.
In my chef whites, I run to Pawsh Pets before anyone can see me. It’s not that I’m sneaking, per se, I just don’t want a shitload of questions raining down on my head from the guys, our patrons, or anyone in the neighborhood who might see me walking down the street. I don’t want to be away from the restaurant for long and can’t afford to shoot the shit with anyone.
Anyone other than Livvy, that is.
I duck inside the shop just as someone with three little rat dogs is coming out, laden with two large shopping bags.
Way to go, Pawsh Pets.
“Hey, Livvy.”
She looks up from her computer and something in her face changes. I can’t say exactly what, but it borders on some kind of happiness, which in turn makes me happy.
“Enzo, how’s it going?”
I place my box with the aspic and goat cheese on the counter and retrieve a little fork and napkin from my pocket. “I made you something special. I think you’ll really like it.”
Her face brightens and she claps her hands together like a little girl. “You made something forme?”
“Oh, well, you know, I had an idea for a vegetarian dish for the restaurant and thought I’d test it out. I had one of the cooks put it together. I sampled it, of course, but I had to have a real veg give it a test.”
