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“Cherise,” I growled. “I’ve told you to call me Alex. How are we doing today?”
“Just fine,” said Cherise. “Two parties of ten and a party of four still left to arrive. And Zeke asked if you could spare him a second. I’ll call him down.”
“No need,” I said. “He’s in his office, right? I’ll go up now.”
But the truth was that I could have spent all day watchingThe Blue Orchid’sdining room.
Most people think of restaurants as being chaotic places, filled with noisy crowds and shouting chefs. But the truth was, those were only the bad ones. Really great restaurants were places of harmony, where everyone was working together and the diners were having a great time. So despite the voices of a hundred people chattering away around me, it felt peaceful to be back here. The Blue Orchid was like my home away from home.
But as my eyes strayed to a nearby table, who were currently being presented with a sharing platter of a whole roasted duck with spring vegetables, I was stunned by a familiar scent in the air. And it wasn’t the food.
I turned my head, searching for the intoxicating smell. It was a perfume. Where had I smelt it before?
Then, my head was reeling with a memory from the past. A smoky bar in Bali. A beautiful woman, with an elegant, slim waist, gorgeous shoulders, red tresses and green eyes. Graceful movements, as though she were a trained dancer. And an irrepressibly cheerful, beaming smile, so unlike me.
I thought about her for a moment—that woman from long ago, who sang for me one night in a bar halfway across the world. The woman with whom I’d spent a long night, making love in a dark room as the world stood still outside. There was no one like her. And nothing I could do now, after what I did to her. I still remembered the voicemail I’d gotten six years ago, the worried tone of the speaker. The last remaining trace that she and I had ever been in the same room.
“Alex? It’s Lola. We met in Denpasar. I need your help. I don’t want anything from you, but please, get in touch with me.”
I felt a pang of shame. The memory fizzled out as I walked through a discreet door at the back of the restaurant. I jogged up the old wooden staircase—I’d preserved the original fixtures and fittings ofThe Blue Orchidmeticulously. At the landing, I rounded the staircase and kept on going, past the breakroom for my staff to the very top. To the office of Zeke Wilcox.
I knocked on the door—a distinctive knock, five times, that Zeke knew meant I was coming in. It was sort of a shared code between us.
But when I opened the door, Zeke wasn’t there. Instead, I saw my business partner, Luca, sitting at his desk. With his feet up on the walnut desk.
Luca turned and looked at me. There was news playing on the computer, and he had a plate of spaghetti from the kitchen perched on his lap. He looked a little startled, but almost as soon as I saw him, his expression softened, and he smiled that big, brazen smile I knew so well.
“’Lex,” he said, his voice oozing charm. I might have a good head for business, but I couldn’t match Luca for sheer suavity. He took his feet quickly off the desk, and stood up. “How are you, man? Ain’t seen you here in…well, a while.”
“I’m in almost every day, Luca!” I said. “Maybe if you came by a little earlier in the day, you’d catch me round.”
“I hear you, buddy,” laughed Luca, and nudged a stack of papers out the way for his lunch, perching his ass on the desk. “But I’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up with me and my friends. Can’t wait to tell you about it, Big A.”
“I’m sure,” I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Luca always had some kind of scheme up his sleeve. His latest obsession was casinos, and the company expense account had already financed several expensive ‘market research’ trips to Las Vegas. Still, he had his uses. If an industrial air conditioning unit broke and you needed a new one, Luca had you covered. Chef needed twenty pounds of prime rib delivered at short notice? Luca could get thirty, and probably at half the price the restaurant normally paid. He was sly, I gave him that.
“Well, if you’re not too busy working on these exciting things, could you do the forms to renew our liquor license? You’re the signatory, remember?”
“I’ll get Zeke to do it,” muttered Luca, looking at his phone.
“Zeke,” I said calmly, “isn’t going to be here forever to fudge all the paperwork for you. How about you do it yourself, huh? Before I start taking a look at all those dinners you got comped for last month?”
Luca rolled his eyes, and for a moment, I thought I saw a flash of anger cross his face. But then it was gone.
“Your wish is my command, pal,” he said snidely.
He swished through the door, pausing only to pull one of his fancy pocket squares from his jacket and wiped the corners of his mouth. “Boss wants to see you,” he said to someone on the stairs, and I turned and grinned, as Zeke came up. I stepped out of the door and we fist-bumped on the landing.
“How’s it going, ‘Lex?”
“Never better, brother. At least if I can get Luca to do some work around here.”
“Hey, if our accounts prove anything, it’s that even miracles are possible, huh? You do theTimesinterview today?”
“Yeah. Some lady who kept asking about whether I have a girlfriend or not.”
“But Alex,” said Zeke innocently, scratching his mop of ginger hair. “You’re married.”
I looked askance at him. “No, I’m not!” I huffed.
