Valerie had a puzzled searching expression for a few minutes. “No, I guess you never did. Your brothers….”
“I’m not Jon and I’m not Ken, Valerie.”
She had to crane her neck to look at him. He watched as her lips, shining from some gloss she’d applied, opened then closed. Finally, she said, “That was a lifetime ago.”
“Yes, it was.” He moved his hand to the small of her back and they stepped toward the door. He almost whispered, as if speaking to himself, “There’s plenty of life still ahead of us.”
The entire front of the restaurant was constructed of a glass wall. Wooden frames gave the glass some depth. Black scrolling words above the door formed the Creole nameBon Manje. Inside, they could see the glow of lights and the crowds of people.
Brad pushed open the door and let Valerie precede him inside. They stepped into the lobby where a tall, thin man in a tuxedo greeted them from the host stand. Brad supplied his name and he smiled and nodded and gestured into the main restaurant. “Please, enjoy,” he said, then greeted the people coming in behind them.
The din of conversation drowned out almost any other noise. Light bulbs hung from the exposed ceiling on silver chains that matched the ductwork nestled inside dark wooden beams. Floor to ceiling curtains of thin silver ropes helped break the room up in sections. Gleaming dark wooden tables sat on top of a floor tiled with large gray squares. Black framed chairs with wooden seats and backs complemented the tables. Valerie stood and soaked in the atmosphere, loving the upscale casual theme Calla had refused to describe to her.
All around them, people made casual conversation as they ate. Along a wall, a buffet table practically bowed under the weight of the dishes and platters of food so artistically arranged that Valerie wondered how people dared to break into it to partake.
As Brad and Valerie worked their way through the crowd, he heard his name and looked up and saw Jon across the room. He lifted his hand in acknowledgment and they headed in that direction.
“Insane turnout,” Jon said when they got close enough to hear him.
“I know!” Valerie grinned and clapped her hands. “Calla is going to be so pleased. She was convinced no one would show.”
Jon gestured toward the buffet. “Incredible food. You can’t go wrong with any choice.”
A loud tapping of metal against crystal echoed through the room. Brad instinctively turned toward it and saw a microphone set up near the doors to the kitchen. Ian stood at it, clinking a fork against a glass into the microphone.
“Hello friends. Thank you for joining us.” After the crowd’s murmur of greeting, he gestured toward the door. “Please say hello to my beautiful bride, and the brilliant mind behindBon Manje.”
The door behind him opened and Calla walked out. She had on her white chef’s jacket, which had two rows of black buttons down the front, and a pair of gray pants. She wore her black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her black-framed glasses stood out from her face.
“Hi, everyone!” she greeted with a huge smile. The building erupted with applause. People whistled, yelled, and clapped and Calla reacted by putting her hands on her hips and smiling at the crowd. “Wow, thank you,” she said. “A few years ago, I spent several months cooking in an orphanage in Haiti. While there, I learned how to make do with what supplies I could get my hands on and how precious every morsel of food is, and became aware of how limited food supplies are to too many people in the world. I also got to experience a whole new palate of spices and flavor combinations. That food is what inspired the food here atBon Manje.
“This restaurant, some of the proceeds from it will go back to that orphanage and to others like it. Hettie? Where are you?” Brad looked in the same direction as Calla and saw a young blonde woman raise her hand. She stood next to a tall black man who had his arm around her. Calla continued, gesturing to the couple. “My cousin-in-law, Hettie, and her husband Emmanuel run the orphanage and I am just so happy and honored that they could be here tonight.”
Applause filled the room again and Calla smiled until it died down. “So, let’s enjoy the food my staff and I have worked so hard to prepare, enjoy the drinks, enjoy the music, and tomorrow, tell all your friends how amazingBon Manjeis.”
She stepped away from the mic but did not go back to the kitchen. Instead, she started working her way through the room. Brad looked at Jon. “Rather impressive.”
“Ian is so proud of her he could bust. Did you see him watching her?” Jon gestured toward the food. “I’m going to get some more. There’s some plantain boat-looking thing that is honestly the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
Brad looked at Valerie. “Want to battle the crowd for food?”
“Definitely!”
He waited until she stepped in front of him, then walked behind her while they slowly made their way to the food line. As they stood there, people in chef’s jackets regularly came out of the kitchen carrying dishes, replenishing the food on the buffet line.
They chatted with each other and with people they knew around them, and slowly moved forward. As they took plates from the stack, Brad listened to the servers stationed behind the table explain the dishes. They sounded like contestants on some televised food challenge with their elaborate descriptions.
Soon, he had his plate piled with roasted chicken, polenta, the plantain dish that Jon had recommended, and some fruit pastries that looked like they should grace the cover of a magazine, and he carried a spiced tea with his other hand. He and Valerie made their way to a table, joining his father and Ken.
“Can we sit here?” Brad asked, gesturing at the empty seats.
“Sure,” Phillip said, gesturing at open chairs with a chicken wing.
After setting down his plate, Brad held a chair out for Valerie. Before sitting down, he said, “Do you need anything?”
She touched the bundle of silverware rolled up in a napkin and looked up at him, smiling. “Nope.”
He sat down next to her, automatically reaching for her hand and bowing his head. Because of the noise, he prayed silently, then gave her hand a gentle squeeze and looked at her. “I’m starving.”
