For a moment, she looked uneasy, then she smiled and unrolled her tableware. “Me, too. I’ve hardly eaten all day in preparation for this.”
Ken leaned close so they could hear him. “Great turnout. I know how nervous Ian was before tonight. Can’t imagine how Calla felt.”
“She felt so nervous that she could barely chop an onion this morning,” Calla said, standing at their table.
Brad smiled and stood, holding his hand out to her husband, Ian. They shook hands as Valerie and Calla hugged. “This is amazing,” Valerie said, resting her hands on Calla’s shoulders. “I can’t believe how beautiful this all is.”
Calla laughed and slipped an arm around Ian’s waist. “That’s his fault. He did the design. My input started and ended in the kitchen.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “She told me how she wanted everything, not just the kitchen,” he said, clearly proud.
Calla gestured toward their table. “Please, eat and enjoy. I’m going to keep working my way through the room.” She put a hand on Valerie’s shoulder. “I’d love to do breakfast Saturday, if you’re free.”
“Sure. Give me a call.”
After sitting back down, Brad took a small bite of the plantain dish. He closed his eyes and savored the flavors of goat cheese, lamb, and plantain.
“What did I tell you?” Jon said as he slipped into the seat next to him. “I could eat these morning, noon, and night.”
Brad looked at the mixture sitting in a black plantain skin that looked like a boat. “Yeah. Wow.”
“I know where I’ll be eating my next thousand dinners,” Jon said. He looked at Valerie. “You didn’t get the boat.”
“Yeah,” she said, wrinkling her nose, “I don’t much like lamb. Or feta.” She speared a carrot with her fork and held it up. “These roasted vegetables, though. My word. To die for.”
Phillip smiled his thanks as a waiter cleared his plate. “I’m going to head out. Your mom had a meeting at church tonight that conflicted with this. I told her I’d pick her up on my way home.”
Jon stood, too. “I’m out, too. I’ve eaten three boats. I think if I get another one, they’ll make me leave.”
“See you soon,” Valerie said, waving and smiling.
Ken’s eyes caught something across the room. “I need to go talk to someone.” He stood and pushed his chair back in. “Don’t worry about holding my seat. I have already eaten.” He rushed off.
Brad ate half of the food on his plate before Valerie leaned toward him and said, “Calla’s got herself a winner on her hands, doesn’t she?”
He looked around. Happy people. Smiles, laughter, hugs. Empty plates. “Assuming the management’s up to par, then yes. The food is amazing. The colors, ambiance, furniture. She has done everything right so far.”
Valerie gestured toward the serving table. “The staff seems to be really on the ball. They act like they’ve worked together for years instead of a week.”
He nodded. “They depend on the success, too.”
They ate some more. Just as he took his last bite, he heard the strum of guitar strings. They both looked up at the stage as someone began tapping out a rhythm on drums. Soon, an entire band had taken up instruments and played a very lively, island sounding song. Brad watched as Hettie and Emmanuel moved to empty floor space in front of the band and started dancing rhythmically.
Valerie grinned and started clapping her hands. Remembering prom night twelve years ago and how she never left the dance floor, he gestured with his head. “Do you want to dance?”
The frown that crossed her face confused him until she spoke, then he understood. “I don’t know if I can anymore. My hip…” her voice trailed off and she slowly quit clapping.
“Tell you what. Let’s try, and if you can’t, we’ll stop. You used to love to dance.” He stood and held out his hand. She hesitated about two seconds longer than he anticipated, then put her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet.
Like always when she first stood, she walked with a slightly more pronounced limp, but by the time they got to the area where couples had started coming together to dance, it had almost entirely disappeared.
He turned and held his arms out and she easily stepped into them, putting one hand in his and the other on his shoulder. He gripped her waist with one hand and smiled down at her as they slowly started moving.
Letting her set the pace, they gradually sped up until they danced in rhythm with the band and the other dancers. He watched her face fill with joy, a look he hadn’t seen in over a decade. He grinned and continued dancing.
She lasted maybe twenty minutes before she held up her hand. “I can’t or I’ll be in a wheelchair tomorrow.” Despite her words, her smile lit up her face from the inside.
“Do you need to sit?”
