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.It was interesting, hearing the suspicions of a terrible meal spoken right in front of him.Then he realized that putting on serving attire made him invisible; these people wereinsulting the chef to his face and didn’t even know better.As soon as the candles were lit and the Sabbath prayers uttered, Miles served thepumpkin soup.The small squash tureens went over well, as did the chardonnay, to whichMiles helped himself.By the main course half the guests were guffawing to each otherloudly and were clearly buzzed enough that he hoped the lack of meat would slip byunnoticed.To his utter delight, the salmon cakes were greeted with joy and compliments.Even therabbi who had been warming up all night to get a good complaint in changed his tune,declaring the fish “exactly what I wanted tonight.” Someone said the homemade sauerkrautreminded them of their bubbie.Another said the sauerkraut smelled like their bubbie.By the time the course there came to a close there was only one guest still grumblingabout the lack of meat, and his wife promptly shut him up, shouting, “You had a brisket lastnight, and you’ll have another one tomorrow, so shut up and eat your fish!”The dessert course was served next and was highly praised, especially by those who’dbeen to Israel.The only thing Miles worried about was whether he’d prepared enough.Hedidn’t have the ingredients to prepare more doughnuts on site, so the sixty he’d fried wouldhave to make do.When the last of the wine was poured and the guests started to depart, only onedoughnut remained—a perfect triumph, in his mind.And in Rabbi Kevin’s as well.He came into the kitchen as Miles and his staff cleanedup, and congratulated Miles with a slightly inebriated half hug.“Well done, Miles!” he cried.“You showed everyone what kosher vegetarianism canreally offer!”“Thank you,” Miles said, feeling too tired to be thrilled, although he knew tomorrowhe’d want to celebrate.He frowned as the rabbi tilted over slightly.“You have a ridehome?”“Jason’s learning how to drive.Jason, you want to drive your old folks home?”“Aww, in the Volvo? Lame.” He held out his hand, and Rabbi Kevin handed him thekeys.“Oh, there’s one left.” Rabbi Kevin grabbed a platter from the table and offered the lastdoughnut to Miles.“They were delicious.”The idea of eating one after this day made him sick, but Miles thought Itai might like totry it.Or, scratch that.Nic.Nic deserved a doughnut as the minimum for being there to help.By the time he got everything cleaned and packed up, paid the servers, and drove backacross the bridge and home to Ballard, it was a little after one in the morning.And he hadto open the store at eight.There were some good lessons in all this, he realized.One, he’d charged enough butcould have used another staff member for prep, so should add that to the cost next time.Two, he should list all the items he needed to buy, even if they were small items like papertowels that he thought he’d never forget.And three, to not do this and run the deli at the same time.The lights were still on at home.He unloaded Itai’s car and shuffled his way up thestairs, his entire body aching.Itai was in his office when Miles entered.“Hello?” he called out.Itai stopped typing and appeared.“Hey, you’re back late.You okay?”“Fine.Great, actually.” He fell forward and leaned into Itai.Itai gave him a comfortinghug but then stepped back.“You smell like fried food and sauerkraut.It’s a bad combo.”“Yeah.I’m not a fan either.”“Hold on.” Itai stepped back into his office and returned with a boxed present.Even though he’d spent the night immersed in a Sabbath and Hanukkah dinner, Mileshad forgotten about the holiday as it related to him.“Wow.Thanks.”“Open it,” Itai said.Miles opened the box.Itai had bought him a beautiful brown cashmere sweater.It wasthe kind of gift Itai himself would adore, brand name, no doubt expensive as hell, soft andfinely made.And something Miles would never wear.“It’s gorgeous,” Miles said.He gave Itai a kiss.“Thank you.”“I was thinking you could wear it tomorrow, to the launch,” Itai suggested.Miles frowned.“You don’t like my blue shirt?”Itai made a face.“Fine,” Miles gave in.“I’ll wear the sweater.Did you buy me new shoes too, or are mysuede lace-ups acceptable?”“They’ll go great with the sweater.” Itai squeezed Miles’s shoulder.“I have something for you too.Hold on.” Miles put his box down and took off his coat.“The photo session went well today,” Itai started, following behind Miles as he headed tothe bedroom.“You should see the pics Gelia took of us! They look so professional, soamazing.”“That’s awesome.” Miles fished around in his jeans drawer until he found the small giftfor Itai.This one had been wrapped by the lady at the store where he’d bought it.Hehanded it over with no ceremony.“Here you go.Happy Hanukkah.Sorry I’m not doing thecandles or anything.I’m beat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]