Twenty minutes later the three women were seated at tiny tables in a frantically busy deli, eating turkey breast sandwiches.
“So!” Jane said. “I feel a little guilty, having arrived days earlier, so why don’t you tell Debbie all about your fiancé? In fact, I forgot all about the love part of all this.”
At that Kady rolled her eyes. Jane was an accountant, and for the last two days the finances of the restaurant and Kady’s bank account had been Jane’s number one concern.
“Yes, do tell me,” Debbie encouraged. “Tell me all about Gregory. Kady, he really is the most beautiful of men. Is he a model?”
“More important,” Jane said with a secretive look, “how does he look with his face veiled?”
“What?” Debbie asked, leaning forward, looking puzzled.
“Since she was a child, Kady has . . .” Halting, Jane looked at her friend. “Stop sitting there looking like the cat that ate the canary and tell us all. Was it love at first sight?”
“More like ‘love at first bite,’” Kady said, smiling, her eyes dreamy as they always were when she thought of the man she loved. “As you know, Gregory is Mrs. Norman’s only child, but he lives in Los Angeles, where he’s a high-powered real estate agent. He buys and sells those fivemillion-dollar houses for the movie stars, so he’s pretty busy. He’s only
been back to Virginia once in the five years I’ve been here.” After she said this, she glanced at Jane to make sure she’d heard. Financial solvency was what Jane considered a man’s most important feature. “The one time he was here was the week I was in Ohio visiting my parents, so I missed meeting him.”
Kady smiled in memory. “But six months ago, early one Sunday morning, I was at the restaurant with my knives and—”
At this Jane gave a snort of laughter, and Debbie tittered. Kady never, never allowed anyone to touch her precious knives. She kept them sharp enough to split an eyelash, lengthwise, and heaven help anyone who picked up one of her knives and used it to do something like, say, scrape a cutting board.
“Okay,” Kady said, smiling, then turned to Debbie. “My dear friend here has for years been trying to make me believe that there is life outside a kitchen. But I have told her that, due to something called hunger, life comes to the kitchen.” She looked back at Jane. “And it did. It came in the form of one Gregory Norman.”
“Some great form,” Debbie said under her breath, making Kady smile.
“Anyway, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was in the kitchen at the restaurant, and in walked Gregory. Right away I knew who he was, since Mrs. Norman has shown me at least three point one million photos of him and has told me everything about him from the time he was born. But I don’t think he knew who I was.”
“Thought you were the scullery maid, did he?” Jane asked. “And what did you have on? Torn jeans and one of those shapeless coats of yours?”
“Of course. But Gregory didn’t notice. He’d arrived from LA late the night before and he’d been out jogging, so he was sweaty and very hungry. He asked if I knew if there was any cereal or something he could eat for breakfast. So I told him to sit down and I’d make him something.”
After that, Kady took a big bite of her sandwich and looked as though she were planning to say no more.
Debbie broke the silence. “Your pancakes?”
“Actually, crepes. With strawberries.”
“Poor man,” Jane said seriously. “He didn’t have a chance.” She leaned forward. “Kady, dear, I can fully understand that he fell in love with you, but are you in love with him? You aren’t marrying him because he gushes over your food, are you?”
“I haven’t agreed to marry the other men who have eaten my food, then asked me to marry them, now have I?”
Debbie laughed. “Have there been many?”
Jane answered. “According to Mrs. Norman, there’s one a night, men from all over the world. What was it that sultan offered you?”
“Rubies. Mrs. Norman said she was glad he didn’t offer me an herb farm or she feared I might go with him.”
“What did Gregory offer you?”
“Just himself,” Kady said. “Jane, please stop worrying. I love Gregory very much.” For a moment, Kady closed her eyes. “The last six months have been the best of my life. Gregory has courted me like something out of a novel, with flowers and candy and attention. He listens to all my ideas about Onions, and he has told his mother that I’m to have carte blanche when it comes to buying ingredients. I didn’t tell anyone, but in the months before Gregory returned, I was thinking about leaving Onions and opening my own restaurant.”
“But now you’re staying. So does that mean Gregory is going to leave LA and live here with you?” Jane asked.
“Yes. We’re buying a town house in Alexandria, one of those beautiful three-story places with a garden, and Gregory is going to get into real estate here in Virginia. He won’t make as much money as he did in LA, but . . .”
“It’s love,” Debbie said. “Any babies planned?”
“As soon as possible,” Kady said softly, then blushed and looked down at her coleslaw, which had too much fennel in it.