A Table for Two (17 page)

"Tracy..."

"Dana...," Tracy echoed. "I can't figure you out. She's adorable and sexy and she obviously wants you. You're crazy to turn someone like her down. I sure as hell wouldn't." Tracy grabbed a stock pot from the overhead rack and set it on the counter. Then she went to the refrigerator and brought back two large containers of chicken stock they'd made earlier in the week. As she poured it into the pot, she glanced over her shoulder at Dana. "She's single, you're single and you're both consenting adults, so why not just go for it?"

"That's easy for you to say. What if she gets serious about me?"

"I think what scares you is that you might get serious about her."

For a moment, Dana had no reply. Leave it to Tracy to dig in that deep and extract her most carefully guarded truths. "It's better if Ridley and I are just friends. What if Sarah and I get back together in the future? What would I tell Ridley after I'd used her like that and what would she think of me? What would Karen and Laurie think of me?"

Tracy didn't attempt to answer Dana's questions. Instead, she lifted the pot of chicken stock and set it on one of the gas burners. After she set the burner on low, she went back to the counter and began peeling several large butternut squashes. "Okay, suit yourself. God knows you will anyway, no matter what I say. I still don't see why you can't get to know her better. Why don't you invite Laurie and Karen to brunch tomorrow and ask them to bring Ridley with them? That would be a nice safe way to see her again without any pressure."

"That's a good idea. Maybe I'll call Karen this afternoon."

"You do that. You won't get any answers to your questions by avoiding the situation. You have to take a chance and find the answers for yourself."

"Thanks, Tracy. You're the only person I know who'd dare to be so brutally honest with me and believe it or not, I do appreciate it."

"I'm not trying to be brutal. I just can't stand to see you waste your time clinging to the past. I think it's time you made a new life for yourself and you're going to need more in your life than me and this restaurant."

"I do have a new life and this restaurant keeps me plenty busy. What's wrong with that? Dana asked. "And I'll always need you in my life."

"And you'll always have me, but it's not enough and you know it." Tracy split one of the squashes in half lengthwise and began to chop it into uniform pieces.

Dana washed her hands and dried them on a kitchen towel. "These onions are ready. Why don't you finish making the soup? I have a few things I need to take care of in my office. I'll be back in about an hour. Maybe then I'll be able to get something done around here."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just need to be alone for a while," Dana said as she walked away.

"Dana?" Tracy called her name before she reached the door to her office.

Dana turned around. "What is it?"

"I want to say something to you before you go." Tracy lifted her knife in the air. "I would cut off my right hand with this knife before I'd ever try to hurt you in any way. You're my best friend and I'll always love you." Tracy put the knife down.

Dana walked over to Tracy and stood close to her. "Come here, silly." She hugged her friend and held her in her arms. "I'm grateful that I have you and I wouldn't want you to be anything but honest with me. I love you, too, and I'm all right. It's just that I have a lot to think about and I feel a little overwhelmed at the moment. I'm not running away." What Dana told Tracy was the truth. What she didn't tell her was also the truth and was that Ridley had stirred up a hornet's nest of emotions inside of her and she needed to sort them out if she could. If she couldn't, she needed to follow her heart and buzzing around in her heart was the knowledge that she liked Ridley a whole hell of a lot and wanted to see her again.

"Okay, if you're sure," Tracy said.

"I'm sure. I really do have something I need to take care of in my office and I'll be back soon. Call me if you need me before then."

"I'll be right here. Take all the time you need."

RIDLEY DARTED ACROSS South Street late Sunday morning to meet Karen and Laurie in front of the entrance to Café De Marco. On Saturday afternoon, Karen had called to tell her that Dana had invited them to come to brunch the next day and that Dana had insisted they bring her along. Naturally, Ridley had jumped at the chance. It would have been sweeter if Dana had called her directly, but she was so thrilled about seeing Dana again she decided not to get hung up on how she got invited.

As soon as Ridley caught up with them, Laurie grabbed the sleeve of Ridley's jacket to hold her back. "Honey, why don't you go inside and tell the hostess we're here," she told Karen. "I've got something in my shoe and as soon as I get it out, Ridley and I will be right behind you."

"Can't you wait until we get inside?" Karen asked.

"No, it hurts too much. It must be a sharp stone or something."

"All right, but don't take too long."

"How are you doing?" Laurie asked Ridley once Karen was out of the way.

"I feel a little better now. I picked up the phone to call her at least ten times yesterday, but each time I chickened out at the last second. You can't possibly know what she does to me."

"I think I do," Laurie said. "I was happy she called and asked us to come today. At least you'll get to see her again. How do you feel about it?"

"I'm thrilled and at the same time I'm terrified."

"Why wouldn't you be? If I were you, I'd take it one step at a time. See how she responds to you and if it seems right ask her to go to your mother's for dinner with you like we talked about. Just follow your instincts and your heart."

"I will. I'll be all right once we get in there."

"Speaking of which, I suppose we'd better get inside before Karen comes after us," Laurie said. "She's already suspicious."

The hostess escorted them to their table and as they walked to the back of the dining room, tantalizing aromas teased Ridley's senses. The smell of coffee, cinnamon, and sweet yeasty things baking in the oven registered in her mind and her stomach soon reacted with a series of hunger pangs. The pangs let her know she'd regained her normal appetite, something she'd been sorely lacking all week. "God, it smells good in here. I'm starving," she told Laurie.

"So am I. I can't wait to see the menu," Laurie said.

"There you are," Karen told them as they neared the table. "Did you get that rock out of your shoe, Laurie?"

"Uh...yeah, what a relief." Laurie glanced at Ridley.

"Uh-huh." Karen pursed her lips. "What are the two of you up to?"

"Not a thing," Laurie replied. "I just needed to talk to Ridley about something that happened at work and I didn't want to bore you with work talk." Laurie sat next to Karen and pointed to the chair across from her. "Sit over there, Ridley."

Shortly after they were seated, Dana came over to the table and sat in the chair next to Ridley's. After she spoke to Karen and Laurie briefly, she turned to Ridley and leaned closer to her. "It's so good to see you. I hope you didn't mind that I had Karen ask you to brunch today, but we've been so busy, I never had the chance to call you myself. I would have been very disappointed if you hadn't come."

"I was just happy that you included me."

"I wanted to," Dana said. Then she addressed all three of them. "I don't have to cook while you guys are here, so I thought I'd join you for brunch. Would you like that?"

"Very much," Karen answered. "We were hoping you would, weren't we Laurie?"

"Yes we were," Laurie confirmed. She picked up the menu and started to read it. "Wait until you see this menu, Karen. It's going to be hard to pick just one thing."

"I guess that means we'll have to come here again and again," Karen said.

"I hope you come here a lot," Dana told them.

A young girl from the wait staff came to their table and filled their water glasses with ice cold water. "Your waitress will be right with you," she announced.

Ridley took advantage of the fact that Karen and Laurie were discussing the menu choices and reached over to touch Dana's arm. Touching Dana may have been a poor choice under the circumstances, but she found it intolerable not to. "I'm glad you have time to sit with us." She stole a glimpse of her hand on Dana's arm and envisioned taking Dana's hand and bringing it to her lips. That image not only aroused her, it startled her back to reality.

"I wanted to see you again." Dana carefully withdrew her arm from beneath Ridley's grasp and clasped her hands together on the table. "I had a good time at the shore."

"I'm glad, but I wasn't sure you'd want to see me again, after..." Ridley kept her voice low and leaned closer to Dana. "After what happened."

"I wish you wouldn't worry about that," Dana said.

"I'll try not to. Did you mean what you said about wanting to be friends?"

"I'm not in the habit of saying things I don't mean," Dana assured her. "Besides, you're a nice person and I like you. Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?"

Right then, Ridley made a decision. On Friday, she and Laurie had come up with a few ideas to get her and Dana together and now Dana had supplied her with the perfect opening. She was sick of long agonizing weeks wondering when or if she'd ever see Dana again. After taking in a slow steadying breath, she tested the validity of Dana's words. "Okay, since you say you want to be friends, I'd like you to do something with me. I'm driving to my mother's next Sunday for dinner. It will be a beautiful drive now that the leaves are changing and I know she'd love to meet you."

"She would?" Dana asked.

"Yes. I told her about you and I think she'd enjoy talking to a real chef. Besides, she loves to meet my friends and have guests over for dinner."

"I could go as long as we go after brunch is over."

"That would be perfect timing. I could pick you up around three-thirty or four. Would that give you enough time to get ready or is that pushing it?"

"I think that would be okay," Dana said. "Can I bring anything?"

"You don't have to."

"I'd like to bring your mother a hostess gift. Does she drink wine?"

"Yes. She loves it."

"What's she making? Do you know?"

"No, I don't but I could find out and call you."

"No, don't bother. I'll just bring a red and a white."

"I'm sure my mother won't call the wine police if we drink white wine with meat or red wine with chicken," Ridley said. As long as Dana agreed to go with her, she didn't care if they drank a bottle of dirty dishwater. For the first time since they got there, her muscles relaxed and she felt her insides slow down.

She could breathe again.

"I think people should drink what they like and to hell with the rules," Dana said.

"I'll drink to that." Ridley held her water glass up. "Rules are made to be broken."

"What rules? What are you two talking about?" Laurie asked.

"What wine to drink with what food," Ridley explained.

"Drink what you want. That's what I say." Laurie dismissed the subject with a wave of her hand as if she'd just said the final word and went back to talking to Karen.

"Let's talk about what you guys want," Dana said when the waitress arrived at their table. "If you're in the mood for Tex-Mex, try the frittata with the green chili cheese grits. That's one of our best recipes and everyone goes crazy over it. And before I forget, Tracy told me to tell you that she made her hot cinnamon rolls especially for you. I have to warn you, though, they're totally addictive."

"So that's what we smelled," Ridley said.

"I know I speak for all of us dough addicts when I say, bring on the cinnamon buns," Laurie said. She looked at Karen and Ridley and they both nodded. "We'll all have coffee, too, right?" she asked. Again, Karen and Ridley nodded.

"Why don't you bring us a carafe of coffee for the table while they decide what they want to order," Dana said to the waitress. "Anyone want juice?"

"I'll have a small grapefruit juice," Laurie replied.

"None for me," Karen said.

"Small orange for me," Ridley said.

The waitress scurried off to get the beverages.

"Dana, how's your hollandaise sauce? Is it really rich?" Karen asked.

"I don't think so. We make it a little differently than the classic French version, so it's nice and lemony and quite a bit lighter. I think it's good."

"Well then, I'm having the Café De Marco eggs Benedict," Karen announced.

"You'll like that. It's a variation on the classic. Instead of English muffins we use Italian bread and instead of Canadian bacon, we use Italian ham."

"That sounds good to me," Karen said. "But put the sauce on the side."

"I'm having the Greek omelet," Laurie said.

"Another good choice," Dana said. "What are you having, Ridley?"

"I'll try the Tex-Mex frittata thing."

"Great. I think you'll like it. It's a tiny bit spicy, but very tasty."

"Are you eating with us, Dana?" Karen asked.

"No. I was up early and I got hungry so I had to eat, but I'll have coffee and one of Tracy's cinnamon buns." The waitress came back with coffee and juices and Dana placed their orders. After the waitress left, Dana said, "I'm happy I decided to move back to Philadelphia. It's nice to be here again and to have friends around. I enjoy it when we all get together."

"We're glad you're back, too," Karen said.

"Tracy promised to come out and say hello if there's ever a lull in the kitchen." Dana held up her water glass. "I want to make a toast to all of you." First she faced Laurie and Karen, and said, "Here's to renewing old friendships." And then she held her glass toward Ridley and said, "And here's to making new friends."

"We'll drink to that," Laurie and Karen said in unison.

"Here's to our friendship," Ridley said as she clicked her glass against Dana's. Then she half stood so she could click Karen's and Laurie's glasses since everyone knew it was bad luck to skip a glass during a toast. When she clicked her glass against Laurie's, their eyes met and Laurie gave her a meaningful glance.