“I couldn’t either,” said Will, who worked as a cookbook editor. “But we still work in the industry. We’re just showing off our expertise in different ways.”
“And you write for one of the most-read food websites in New York,” said Evan.
That was true, although writing restaurant reviews for two cents a word was no way to get rich. She’d been supplementing her income with other freelance writing, but the truth was, she loved writing about food. Her culinary degree gave her an expertise few other food writers had, and she loved being able to apply that expertise to finding new ways to talk about food. Anyone could write a review of a steak house by talking about how good the food tasted, but Lindsay liked to take in the atmosphere and think critically about how the dishes were put together. Hell, she loved food, loved cooking, loved making elaborate meals for her friends. She hadn’t done much of that lately because she’d been working so much to make ends meet. She sighed and picked up her phone, pretending to read her email while her friends teased her.
She mentally shoved Brad aside while conversation around her drifted toward something else. She focused on her phone while Evan told some story about something that happened at work that she half listened to. She knew she was being rude, but she had to recalibrate and try not to think too hard about what Brad working for Lauren would mean. Then an interesting email snagged her attention. It was from her editor at the food website. “Oh my god.”
“What?” asked Lauren.
“You will never guess what’s opening in the old Star Café space.” The Star Café was a coffee shop that had been across the street from the Whitman Street Cat Café. It closed a couple of years ago when a real estate developer bought the building. Since then, the first floor of the building had been occupied from such a long series of failed businesses that everyone on the block was starting to think the space was cursed. There’d been a shop owned by a national chain clothing store that had gone out of business, a fast-food taco place, a stationery store, and even a retail store for a cellular phone company, and none of them had lasted more than three months.
Evan leaned forward. “It’s a restaurant, right? It looks like a restaurant. I walked by there on my way here.”
“Not just any restaurant. This one is owned by one of the singers from the Bayside Boys.”
“Ooh, which one?”
“Little Joey Maguire.”
Evan laughed. “I had such a crush on him when I was twelve. Joey was the dreamiest.”
Will elbowed him.
“Which one is Joey?” asked Lauren. “The one with curly hair or the one with the tattoos?”
“Curly hair,” said Evan and Lindsay in unison.
“I know you were going through your disaffected tween stage when the Bayside Boys were popular,” said Evan, “but they wereeverywherein the early aughts. Surely you know their names. And Joey’s had a decent solo career. Remember that song ‘Love like a River’?”
Lauren shrugged. “Sure.”
“You don’t. Philistine.”
“Anyway,” said Lindsay. “This email from my boss says he’s from Georgia originally, so he’s ‘going back to his roots’ and invested in this restaurant that is supposed to be refined soul food, whatever that means.”
“Fried chicken, but make it fashion,” Evan suggested.
“Anyway, they want me to review it next week.”
“Youhaveto let me come with you,” said Evan. “Will Joey be there? Can I meet him? Do you think he would sign a napkin? Or my body? Oh my god, I would die.”
“I’m sitting right here,” said Will.
“Yes, but sweetie, it’s Joey Maguire. I mean, if you had an opportunity to meet someone from your celebrity cheat list, I would let you.”
“Joey Maguire’s on your celebrity cheat list?” asked Lindsay.
“Of course. And you have nothing to worry about, Will. He’s in a very dramatic relationship with that blond actress with weird eyebrows from that CW show you like. But I can at least try to get a selfie with him. After he signs something on me.”
Will narrowed his eyes. “Nothing below the belt.”
Evan laughed and kissed Will on the cheek. “I’ll be an angel, I swear.” He turned back to Lindsay. “I can come, right?”
“Oh, all right.” Lindsay was pretty excited about the—unlikely—possibility of meeting Joey Maguire, too. He’d starred in a lot of her teenage fantasies as well. Usually, these celebrity restaurateurs were pretty hands off, but maybe he’d show up for the opening week. “I’ll make a reservation for all of us,” she added.
“Oh, that will be fun!” said Lauren. “A night out, good company, judging food.”
Itwouldbe fun, but Lindsay was clearly still mad because she said, “I love you, Lauren, but you still hired my ex-boyfriend.”
