Page 7 of A Table for Two
“Ah. Oh, yeah, you were supposed to have dinner at the neighbor’s house. How did that go?”
“Food was off the chain. The woman can cook, and, Darius, she’s far from pushing fifty. More like thirties.”
Darius’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Is she fine?” He stroked his chin. “We might have to make another visit soon.”
Gabriel recalled Serenity’s beautiful face and sexy body. “Yeah. So are her three friends who were there. Anyway, let’s get down to business.” He decided to hold off on telling them about the grocery store encounter or the mixed vibes she’d given him at dinner. “The new recruiting company needs a system to scan résumés, track applicants…” he said, reading the notes he’d taken during the initial meeting.
Brent nodded. “Right now they’re doing everything old-school—by fax or mail—and if an applicant wants to know where they are in the process, it’s a phone call, which is taking up a lot of the employees’ time. Is this something you and Darius can fit in with building the Luxura Jewels online store?” Brent handled the business side of their business, along with their administrative assistant, while Gabriel and Darius did the actual development of the various systems.
“I think we can get it done,” Darius said. “I’m just about finished with the mobile app, so that’ll free up some time. Gabe and I will get together to work out the details and timeline.”
“Sounds good.”
They discussed the next things on their list. Gabriel worried it would be difficult to maintain the workflow long distance and already missed being able to just walk twenty feet to Darius’s or Brent’s office. However, by the end of the meeting, he felt confident they would be able to continue their weekly staff meetings without any interruptions.
Darius held up a finger. “Gabe, I’ll text you later to set up a time to talk.”
He nodded. The three men talked a few minutes longer, made plans for next week’s meeting, and ended the call.
For the next several hours, Gabriel got lost in coding. When he looked up again, the sun had begun to set. He was tempted to just grab a protein bar and water to stave off the hunger and continue working, but he was supposed to be learning balance. Reluctantly, he shut down everything and went to heat up his dinner.
The weather had cooled some, but it was still warm enough to enjoy his meal outside on the patio in the backyard with his favorite jazz playlist and the mystery thriller his sister had left for him. The patio was much smaller than his next-door neighbor’s, and large enough only for a table and four cushioned chairs, but it would fit his needs just fine. Maybe the temporary change in locale would turn out to be what he needed to reduce his stress level. If he could just straighten things out with his new neighbor.
***
Serenity rushed into Ms. Ida’s and searched for Natasha.
“Hey, Serenity.”
“Hi, Ms. Bernice.”
“Natasha’s on the left near the back. You want your usual Caesar salad with shrimp?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She wove her way through the restaurant and slid into the booth across from her friend. “Hey, girl. Sorry I’m late. The office was beyond busy this morning. Did you order already?”
“I’ve only been here five minutes, and yes, I ordered. I come here so much, Ms. Bernice already knows what I want,” Natasha added with a laugh.
“I know. I love being able to eat someone else’s food for a change.”
“So, what’s up with you and Gabriel?”
Serenity stared at Natasha. “Okay, that was out of left field, and I don’t know what you mean.” She should have known something was up when Natasha wanted to change their typical Friday lunch date to Wednesday.
Natasha leaned forward. “You just met the man, and you were pretty frosty during dinner, especially with that crack about the corn being dry.”
Her friend knew her well and didn’t miss anything. “He’s the same guy from the grocery store.” And every time he’d seen her since then, he’d waved as if nothing had happened. She wondered why he was trying to be nice all of a sudden. He hadn’t even apologized.
“Ha! I knew it. But that still doesn’t tell me why you were all upset. He seems to be a nice guy, based on the conversation, so I can’t imagine he was purposely trying to be rude. And he even complimented you on how good the corn tasted.”
“Whose side are you on anyway?” Natasha didn’t say anything, just waited. Serenity let out a sigh. “Yes, he complimented the corn, but right after, he asked about putting bacon in it, as if how I’d prepared it wasn’t good enough.”
“I see. Serenity, Gabriel is not Lloyd, and I don’t think he meant it that way.”
Just the mention of her ex put a bad taste in Serenity’s mouth. “Maybe not, but it felt the same.” Over the year or so they’d dated, somehow it became less about them building a loving relationship and more about her cooking and playing hostess to his many parties and how she could have always done something a little better. Three months after their one-year anniversary, she’d had enough and ended it. “You’re probably right.” Had she automatically lumped Gabriel in with her ex when his comments could have been totally innocent? Reluctantly, she admitted to herself that might have been the case.I need to apologize.
“I talked to Andrea last night. She asked how dinner went. I told her it was fine. You might want to straighten things out with her brother before she calls, since you did kind of promise to help him out.”
Serenity had totally forgotten about that promise. Now she really felt bad. The server brought their food to the table. “Thanks.” She picked up her fork and stabbed at the salad, but her appetite had waned. After forcing down half her food, she asked the server to box up the rest.
