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‘Also, I’ve been meaning to ask you … Who taught you that pizza-dough recipe?’ He shot an eyebrow up.
‘Oh, my dad did.’ I smiled as I thought of Dad teaching me the perfect ratios of his secret pizza-dough recipe.
‘Daniel was sure lucky to have that dough in his restaurant.’ He looked down at his blue-and-gold Rolex watch, then looked up at me. ‘Well, it looks like it’s time for me to go, but it was truly lovely seeing you.’
‘Thanks, Patrick.’ I twisted the silver clasp on my clutch and pulled out my wallet.
Patrick shook his head. ‘It’s all covered, Naomi.’ He finished the rest of his coffee, then stood up from the table.
I stood, and he ushered me out of the restaurant with his hand on my lower back and escorted me to my car. He was very old-fashioned, which felt nice for a change.Thanks, Deb, I thought to myself. She was the one who convinced Daniel to hire me as a waitress for Patrick’s function. Now I could have the job of a lifetime.Fingers crossed.
15
Another Favour
As I walked through the garage door into the lounge room, I noticed Deb sitting in her usual spot drinking a glass of pinot grigio. She wore a black mini dress that covered half her thighs and matching sandals. Her foundation was thick enough to cover her freckles, and her lips were burgundy. The ceiling fan whooshed above her, and the air con was set to at least twenty degrees as the room was freezing compared to the humid garage. My stomach sank with sadness seeing her morning coffee being replaced with wine, and an image of my dad came into my mind. I shook my head to banish the thought of him dead with a wine bottle in hand and forced myself to focus on the good news of today.
‘Woot-woo, look at you.’ Her ebony eyes widened as she looked me up and down. ‘Seb would be jealous. Where have you been? You seriously look incredible.’
‘I’ve got news,’ I announced as I walked towards her and padded across the shaggy rug.
‘Good, I hope?’ She gave a pained face.
‘Yes, good at last.’ I let out a sigh of relief and smiled as I took a seat beside her and sank into the couch.
‘Well, come on. Spit it out.’ She faced me, grinning over the rim of her lipstick-stained wineglass.
‘I have a job trial at Patrick Vitello’s restaurant.’ I pulled my phone from my bag and rested it on the arm of the chair, ready in case anyone was to text me.
‘What?’ Her eyes widened, and her face displayed a look of disbelief.
‘He messaged me to have coffee this morning and asked if I wanted to come in for a trial, and how could I resist?’ I smiled and ran my hand through my hair.
‘Hemessagedyou? Or did you message him?’ Her eyes narrowed.
‘No, he randomly messaged me last night. It was so out of the blue.’ I lifted my hand and rested it under my chin and used my thigh to support my elbow.
Deb’s mouth dropped open.
‘Are you joking? Naomi, please don’t fuck around right now.’ She drew her brows together, causing her forehead to wrinkle with annoyance.
‘No, of course not,’ I assured her with a shake of my head.
‘Well, I hope all goes well for you.’ She glanced at me and poured chilled wine down her throat.
‘Thanks.’ I held my hands together in my lap and gave her a slight nod.
I could sense she was annoyed at me for getting a job trial before her and could tell she was still upset about Patrick rejecting her drinks offer, but there was no way I was bringing that up again. She’d be hysterical, and we’d get into an unnecessary fight. The air suddenly felt dense, and I noticed Deb had stiffened and was looking at the floor, deeply ruminating about something. I looked away and hoped she wouldn’t bringup that drink rejection or the fact that she was the reason for me getting the trial.
Today was certainly my lucky day as Deb didn’t mention it again and instead said, ‘So, anyway, Kelly from work messaged me this morning. Woke me up, actually.’
‘Oh really? What did she say? Did she ask why we both left?’ It was strange – working at Mon Amour was already beginning to feel like a distant memory.Shows what distraction does, but I’m sure that’ll change once I slip back into negative thoughts of Daniel.
‘Oh yeah. I explained Daniel went psycho, and you’re not going to believe this, chicka.’ Her eyes were serious now.
‘Oh, God, it’s something else to do with Daniel, isn’t it?’ I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his name.
‘Yep, you guessed it. So, Kelly also said she had an argument with Daniel a few weeks back, and guess what it was regarding?’
