First Class Menu (6 page)

David spent every waking minute at the gallery making sure
everything was ready for Friday’s big opening. By lunch time on Friday, he was
exhausted but thrilled with the way the space looked.

Lou Borsten’s pieces were front and center in the expanded
gallery. David was confident that most of her pieces would sell in the first
couple of nights. He was sure she would be a sought after commodity in the
years to come and he was glad he could be instrumental in her ascension into
the Manhattan art world.

Audrey arrived dressed to the nines a little after lunch.
Several newspaper critics would be arriving shortly to get a sneak preview of
what the public would see in just a few hours and Audrey wanted to make her
best impression.

“You aren’t dressed!” she frowned as she walked in David’s
office.

“My suit is hanging on the back of the door. I can be ready
in five minutes,” he casually replied.

Of all the Lathem men, David was the most even tempered.
Little riled him and disappointments were just a fact of life that didn’t
deserve getting depressed over. Maybe it had something to do with his older
brothers’ passion. Matt was a go-getter, definitely a type A personality. Mark
threw himself into anything he did with one hundred percent gusto and
determination. Whether it was sports or work or vacations, he gave it his all.
Andrew was a combination of his two older brothers and then there was David;
reserved, introspective and a bit of a loner. They all looked alike, but were
all very different.

“They said they’d be here at two and I need you to be ready
to dazzle them with your brilliance,” Audrey smiled at her friend.

David dropped the pen in his hand onto the desk and shut the
three-ring binder. “Then you’d better get out of her so I can change,” he
grinned.

Audrey hustled from his office, practically slamming the
door on her way out. Not feeling any time constraints at all, David removed his
shoes and socks and placed them neatly in the bottom file cabinet drawer. Then
he pulled his polo shirt over his head and unthreaded his belt from his jeans.
Grabbing some deodorant from the same drawer, he freshened himself up and then
sprayed some cologne over his bare chest and neck. As he bent over to replace
the glass Calvin Klein bottle, a quick rap on the door came and then it opened.
Still bent over, David glanced back to see blue sparkly clogs all but hidden
under denim jeans.

“Oh! Sorry!”

David stood and twisted his head to see Lindsey in a state
of shock. David turned to face her, barefooted and bare chested, the top button
of his jeans undone and hanging low on his hips.

“This is a surprise,” he smiled. “Come on in.”

*****

Lindsey froze! Her eyes were focused on the smooth rigid
chest in front of her. David’s muscles were chiseled and on display and she
found it difficult to tear her eyes away.

Finally she managed to look up. He had that crooked grin on
his face and was enjoying her ogling. David took a step towards her and once
again her eyes dropped, this time to the open button at the top of his jeans.
There was a trail of hair that began just below his belly button and
disappeared underneath the denim. David stopped next to her and pushed the door
shut behind her.

“I was just getting changed,” he informed her.

“Oh,” she managed to spit out.
Shit! I’m an idiot! Speak,
dammit!
“I came to talk to you about the set up for the food…for
tonight…the gallery opening.”

Chuckling, David walked back to his desk, the garment bag in
his hand. “Yes, I know tonight is the gallery opening. I’ve been working on it
for months now.

Shit! Say something intelligent would you?
“There was
a young woman at the front who told me I should talk to you about setting up.”

David unzipped the bag that held his suit and pulled out his
black dress shoes from the bottom and put them on the floor next to his chair.
Lindsey watched his every move, mouth slightly open, eyes
wide
open.

“There are tables already set up for you and the bar should
be up by now too. If you want to hang on a minute I can show you.” David pulled
out a crisp white dress shirt and flung it over his shoulders, pushing his arms
through each sleeve.

“I’ll let you get dressed and I’ll meet you out there,”
Lindsey pointed through the door. And then she disappeared, closing the door
quickly behind her.

Once on the other side, she closed her eyes and leaned back
on the door, exhaling the breath that had caught in her throat the minute she
had walked into David’s office. She had not been prepared for that. She covered
her mouth with her hand as his half naked image burned itself into her brain.
Lindsey had thought he looked very nice dressed, but undressed?
Wow!
She
could only imagine what the rest of him looked like and her brain was working
overtime to finish the picture in her head. 

“Everything alright?”

Lindsey’s eyes flew open and her cheeks blushed bright red.
“Umm, yes, fine thank you.” And she all but ran right past Audrey down the hall
and into the gallery.

*****

After babysitting the critics from the newspapers for over
an hour, David needed a drink. He hoped the bar was already stocked. As he
popped the top off a bottle of beer, he watched the staff Aaron had sent over
placing tablecloths and serving utensils on the tables. He looked around for
Lindsey but didn’t see her. He smiled at the memory of her in his office, obviously
pleased with what she saw. David didn’t work out for others to enjoy. He spent
hours at the gym each week because it made him feel better. He hadn’t played
sports in high school but a good run on the treadmill and thirty minutes on the
bowflex and his body felt healthier and his brain worked faster. And filling
out a shirt nicely was just an added bonus, one he was glad of today.

Audrey plodded up next to him. “Any more of those?” she
asked.

David grabbed another bottle and removed the top and handed
it over. “I thought you thrived on that,” David nodded over to the last of the
reporters scribbling in a notebook.

Audrey sighed. “I’m happy to schmooze a reporter from
anywhere, but that one? He doesn’t know a paint brush from a toilet brush! How
he got a job on the arts and entertainment beat is anyone’s guess.”

David grinned and Audrey took a long sip of her drink.
“Doors open in ninety minutes. I think we’re ready,” he said encouraged by
their hard work. “Just need the food to be ready before the first guests arrive
and we’re good to go.”

*****

Lindsey sat in the front of the delivery van…hiding. She
didn’t need to be here. Her staff was completely competent and didn’t need her
hovering around. In fact, she suspected, it made them a bit nervous. This wasn’t
a society wedding, or a political event. Just an ordinary catering job they did
all the time. Nothing special today. Except it was…for Lindsey. She had come
under the pretense that it was a “Lathem” event, therefore Aaron would expect
that it received her highest attention. Only the very best was good enough for
the Lathem’s and she would ensure it, although she really came because she
wanted to ask David why he’d dropped out of the cooking class. Was it her? Was
it Gwen, his cooking partner? She wanted to know. The curiosity was killing
her.

All of the hors d'oeuvres were cold or room temperature.
Gary had it all under control. He was filling trays with ice and pulling
serving trays from the back of the van. If she tried to help she’d just get in
his way so she stayed in the front seat. The rear door of the gallery had been
propped open with a crate and bodies dressed in white jackets were going in an
out…Lindsey had stopped paying attention.

“Are you hiding?”

Her head whipped up to see David standing in front of her,
his shoulder leaning on the open van door.

“What?”

“What are you doing out here?” he grinned. “I’m all dressed.
You can come inside.”

Lindsey blushed again and tried to hold her head up. “Of
course I’m not hiding. I’m supervising.”

His laugh filled the alley. Lindsey smiled. Awkwardness
gone.

“Come in,” he held out his hand. “Come see what your staff
has done. Everything looks terrific.”

Lindsey took his hand and followed him back inside. She
looked over the refreshment tables and nodded in approval. “Looks good.”

“Feel free to look around,” David offered. “Lou is a
terrific new artist and her work is amazing.”

Lindsey smiled and was about to speak when Audrey hurried
over to David and grabbed his hand.

“He’s here!” she mouthed.

“Who?” David asked his boss.

“My father-in-law! Come on!” Audrey dragged David to the
front door and the very important looking man…the man who owned the gallery.

Lindsey turned her attention to the food and gave her staff
the once over, making sure they would give the proper impression for the
evening ahead.

*****

Janie Lathem stood in front of a large painting of the
Statue of Liberty. “I want that!” she told her husband, Matt.

He grinned and went off to find David and make the purchase
for his wife.

Katy stood next to Janie and tilted her head. “It’s not a…a
typical painting is it?”

They both studied the colors; blues, greys and browns with
just a hint of green on the statue, the lines a tad more abstract than a
traditional painting.

“It’s different, yes,” nodded Janie. “But it speaks to me.
And Matt and I have a, umm, a fondness for the old lady.”

“Yes, I know,” grinned Katy. “I know all about your
fondness
!”

Matt returned, David in tow. “I’m really happy you like
this,” David smiled. “The artist is quite brilliant.”

“She is certainly unique,” added Katy.

Mark returned to the group and handed Katy, his wife, her
drink. “Pretty good, David!” he smiled. “Some of these pieces are spectacular.”

“You’ve only seen the first few,” David grinned. “I’d like
to hear what you think of the rest.”

“I’ll tell you what I think,” Katy replied.

“I know you will,” David chuckled. “I can always count on
you to tell me what’s on your mind.” He left them to continue wandering through
the gallery as another interested buyer caught his arm.

David was being pulled in all different directions; Audrey
needed him to speak to a good friend of her father-in-law, Lou needed to be,
once again, encouraged to mingle with the patrons, his mother, Maureen, wanted
to tell him how wonderful the evening was for the fifth time, and then there
were those actually interested in purchasing pieces on display. His head was
spinning but for all the right reasons. It was a joyously successful evening.

*****

Lindsey had done as David suggested and had viewed the gallery.
She had admired several paintings and a sculpture in the middle of the room had
grabbed her attention for several minutes as she tried to decide what it was
supposed to be. But for the last little while she had been focused on a
charcoal sketch on the wall in front of her. She was mesmerized by it,
enraptured actually.

Depicted in front of her was a homeless man, huddled in the
doorway of a brick building, old and haggard, stringy hair under a holey
baseball cap. His clothes were torn and his toes were peeking out of ripped
tennis shoes and he gripped a half-full garbage bag under his arm. But it was
the expression on his face, in his eyes, that had sucked her in. The artist had
captured the look of despair that would haunt her dreams she was sure.

Lindsey had seen hundreds, thousands of homeless people in
the city, and she had done as most do and ignored them, after a while not
really seeing them at all. But this drawing screamed “SEE ME” and she did.

She didn’t know how long she’d been staring at it when
Audrey approached her. She smiled and nodded at the sketch.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

Lindsey nodded. “I’d like to have this. Is it for sale?”

“It hasn’t sold yet so it’s all yours if you’d like it.”

“I would.”

“He’s quite fabulous, isn’t he?”

Lindsey turned to Audrey. “Who?”

“David.”

“Um, yes?”

“He’s the artist,” replied Audrey, sensing her confusion.

“David? He drew this?” Lindsey was stunned.

“Yep. All the charcoals are David’s, although there are only
four of them here tonight. I’m quite disappointed he didn’t add more. He is a
brilliant
artist.”

Now she really had to have it! “Yes I want to buy it.”

Audrey smiled. “Of course. Let me get David and…”

“No! We don’t need to involve him do we?”

Audrey studied Lindsey for a moment. Lindsey lowered her
head and fiddled with the button on her chef’s jacket.

“I suppose I can handle everything. Would you prefer to
remain an anonymous buyer?”

Lindsey nodded and closed her eyes. “Yes. That would be
good.”

Audrey pulled a ‘SOLD’ sticker from the pad in her hand and
placed it on the wall next to the framed sketch. “Done,” she smiled. “Come by
on Monday after lunch and we can take care of it.” She eyed Lindsey
suspiciously but didn’t say anything more as she was summoned by another guest.

Lindsey remained in front of her new sketch, lost in the
face of the charcoal man. There was a lot more to David than a god-like body
and a beautiful head of hair. He was articulate and had a wonderful sense of
humor and was an extremely talented artist. Anyone who could capture this kind
of emotion on paper had to be intrinsically sensitive and attuned to the world
around him. David Lathem went much deeper than she had initially supposed and
that realization only reinforced her desire to know him better.

Lou Borsten was all but giddy when she arrived to see David
at the gallery on Monday morning. She had given him twenty-five pieces for the
gallery opening and seventeen had sold on Friday and Saturday night. She had
brought six more pieces with her at his request.

David smiled as she ran into his office. “I’m happy to see
you so cheery this morning.”

“Seventeen!!” she exclaimed. “I sold seventeen!”

He chuckled. “Yep. And I expect you’ll sell the rest too.
What did you bring me?”

Lou placed the box on his desk and David pulled out each
framed piece one at a time.

“These are wonderful,” he smiled. “I’m so glad I found you.”

“I’m glad you found me too,” she laughed. “Although I have
to admit, I was wary of you at first. I thought you were one of those creepy
old guys.”

“Old?” David grinned. “I am
not
old!”

“It’s all relative. To me you’re old,” she grinned.

“Thanks!” David laughed. “This old man’ll have a check for
you on Friday for the pieces you’ve sold so far.”

“Well, I’ll come by and pick it up in the morning if that’s
okay. I want to use it to buy a new wheelchair for dad. We have the loaner
which we’re supposed to give back, so this money is coming at a great time.”

“You’re a good daughter,” David nodded as he patted her on
the shoulder. “I know your dad is proud of you.”

Lou smiled and said goodbye and headed off with an obvious
spring in her step. David gathered up the new pieces Lou had left on his desk
and headed down the hall to arrange them in the display. As he reached the
reception area, he saw Audrey and Lindsey in deep conversation. He stood for a
moment, wondering what they were discussing. Lindsey held one of the gallery
pieces wrapped in brown paper in her arm.
She must have bought one
,
David thought. He smiled and walked towards the women. They immediately stopped
talking as he approached.

“Which one did you buy?” he asked.

Lindsey lowered her eyes to the item in her arms and bit her
bottom lip.

“Um…one of Lou’s,” Audrey answered.

“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” David smiled. “I have more
here I’m going to hang. It’s good to see you, Lindsey.” And he wandered off
into the gallery.

“Thank you,” Lindsey sighed.

“He’s clueless. Typical. He always has been. He has no idea
when it comes to women.”

Lindsey smiled and thanked Audrey and left the gallery. She
had to formulate a plan and then put it into action. There was work to be done.

*****

Stepping back, Lindsey admired the framed sketch now hanging
on her bedroom wall. It was the first piece of art she had purchased and it had
sat leaning against the wall for over a week because she didn’t know where to
put it. Her apartment was comfortable but most of the walls were bare, with the
exception of a few photographs of her and Trudy. She really wasn’t home enough
to worry about decorating. But now it was up and it would be the first thing
she saw every morning.

Picking up the phone, she dialed the Atherton Gallery and
asked to speak to David. She was only on hold for a second or two.

“David Lathem.”

“Hi David. It’s Lindsey. Dardin. The chef?”

David chuckled. “I know who you are. Hi.”

I’m a moron! Speak like a normal person!
“Are you
planning on returning to the cooking class?”

“Well,” he began. “I’ve missed a few weeks so probably not.”

Lindsey opened her mouth to speak but didn’t know what to
say. “Oh,” was all she could muster.

“With work and the opening I just couldn’t do it all. But
just so you don’t feel bad for me I’ve found a great new Thai place that
delivers. They know me by name now,” he laughed.

“You paid for a twelve-week course though.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well you should get twelve weeks of instruction then.”

“I’m not going to ask for a refund!” David scoffed. “I may
not have money like my brothers but I do okay and I’m not that put out.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Lindsey sighed. This conversation
was not going the way she’d planned. “I could give you the nine weeks of
instruction that you’re missing…privately.” There was silence on the other end
of the phone and Lindsey waited…and waited for a response. It didn’t come
quickly enough. “I mean, if you’re really interested in learning how to cook,
that is.”

“I was serious about learning when I signed up,” David
replied. “I just had no idea at the time that I would be showing my pieces in
the gallery and I ended up not having enough time. I didn’t quit because I
couldn’t cut it if that’s what you think.”

“No! No I don’t think that!”
Why is this going so badly?
she wondered. “I understand. I just thought that I could give you the rest of
your lessons…one on one…maybe at your apartment where you feel comfortable…at
your convenience.”

“Oh,” David responded. “That actually would be pretty cool.”

Lindsey exhaled in relief. “Great! When would you like your
first lesson to be?”

“How about Saturday?”

“As in tomorrow?”

“Well, yeah. During the day of that works best for you.”

“Sure! I can do that. How about we make something for
lunch?”

“Okay,”

“So, let’s say 11:30?”

“Great.”

“Give me your address and I’ll see you then.”

Lindsey hung up the phone after writing down David’s
address. She had her foot in the door. The plan was in motion!

*****

David stood in his office as Audrey gave him the rundown of
the guests they were expecting at the gallery that evening. Only two more days
and the evening events would come to a close. All of David’s sketches had sold
the first night. But to be fair, he only had shown four. Most of Reggie’s
pieces had sold and all of Lou’s had now sold. Next week, she would be bringing
more in. The gallery would be selling them for her. No more sidewalk haggling.
Because of David, Lou had been launched into the art world and she wasn’t
planning on looking back.

“Are you listening to me?” Audrey frowned.

“Umm, sort of,” David grinned.

“What’s on your mind?”

David shook his head.

“I can see it David! What is it?”

“Lindsey called.”

“Oh really?” Audrey raised her eyebrows.

“She’s offered to give me private cooking lessons seeing as
though I didn’t finish the course I’d signed up for.”

“That’s great!” Audrey clapped.

“Yeah. Just out of the blue she called and offered.”

“Lindsey is very generous.”

David nodded in agreement.

“And an excellent chef,” Audrey added.

He nodded again.

“And she’s very attractive.”

David turned to look at Audrey.

“She is!” She defended her statement. “That long dark hair
and perfectly shaped mouth. Women would kill for those lips.”

“Kill?” David asked.

“Well, maybe not kill,” Audrey admitted. “But at least pay
good money to one of the gazillion doctors in this town to get them full and
plump like hers.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” he chuckled.

“And even in those ugly chef jackets she wears you can see
she has a great figure.”

He swung around to Audrey. “Are you a lesbian?” He was
seriously asking. The way she was talking he thought maybe she had a thing for
Lindsey.

“Of course not! I’m married! To a man!” Audrey yelled. “I
was just saying that she was a woman that was worth getting to know better.”

“You want to get to know her better because she has full
lips and a great body?”

“No you idiot! YOU should get to know her better because she
has full lips and a great body! Good grief, David! You really are clueless!”

And Audrey stomped out of the office and slammed the door
leaving David to wonder what the hell was wrong with his boss.