Daisy thought back to email exchanges and telephone calls and shook her head. “I don’t remember specific drinks. I remember no bar tonight. Is there a problem?”
“Right. I told you no bar tonight. And I remember talking about it as I showed Irene the space. The wine she brought tonight is going to have to go away.”
Irene shook her head. “The people who are coming tonight are going to expect wine.”
“Not if they’re coming here.” Calla crossed her arms over her chest. “Period.”
Daisy quickly put her hand on Irene’s arm as a way to signal her to back off. She couldn’t believe Irene had intentionally brought wine into an establishment that didn’t want it. However, she contained her anger over it. “That is completely fine. You have done so much for us, Calla, and we wouldn’t want to risk your restaurant by breaking any rules. We’ll have the wine removed and put it in my car. Did you brand a drink for dinner tonight?”
Calla jutted her chin out, and Daisy could see that she hadn’t completely appeased her yet. “I did—a sangria style drink made from sparkling grape juice. I have someone who will serve it here as part of the dinner. We’ll have water and tea, too.”
“That sounds perfect.” Daisy looked around and spotted Irene’s son Nate and waved him over. Nate often worked the events for Gálatas Seis as a way to earn some extra money. “Nate, do you mind carrying the boxes of wine out to my car?”
He exuded a pout only capable of a seventeen-year-old boy. “I just carried them in.”
“I know. That’s what your mom said. I appreciate that. We aren’t going to need them after all.” She opened her purse and pulled out her spare key fob. “They should fit just fine into my trunk.”
Calla headed back to the kitchen, and Daisy turned and faced Irene. “Irene, you and I both know she didn’t want any kind of alcohol here.”
“You and I both know we needed to serve wine tonight.” Irene jutted out her jaw. “We have the president of the Atlanta wine Society attending. How can we have him here without wine to serve to him?”
Daisy held up both hands and shrugged her shoulders. “Irene, it was talked about ahead of time. You knew. If you didn’t want to have him here without wine, you should’ve invited him to the next event where wine would be served. She said she didn’t want to have a bar. And just because you thought you could bring in a table of wine is really out of line.” She rubbed her forehead. “Why would you want to damage this new relationship?”
Irene set her jaw. “I thought she just didn’t have the staff to handle it. I was going to staff and handle it.”
Daisy shook her head. “No, I think you thought you could just get away with it by bringing it in anyway and thinking that no one would dare say anything. I appreciate your enthusiasm and desire to cater to our guests, and I have always admired your tenacity. However, this crosses a bit of a line.”
Irene had pressured an event host to accommodate what she wanted twice before. She had a passion for fundraising and got tunnel vision at times in the quest for that check written by a donor. Daisy considered relationships with hosts like Calla just as important as donors.
“Daisy, I’m not going to argue with you about this. You’ve already embarrassed me in front of Calla and in front of my own son.”
She clenched her teeth together and withheld the retort that she didn’t do anything embarrassing. “You’re right. We have guests arriving in thirty minutes. We don’t need to argue about this now. This can be talked about later.”
Daisy spun around and stormed to the restaurant’s entrance, where they’d placed a sign-in table in place of the hostess stand. She glanced up as the door opened, and the two college girls she had hired for the night came in. “Good timing,” she said. “I was just about to call you and find out where you were.”
“Two-ninety-five was more of a mess than usual. I think we’re lucky we arrived at all.” Brittany set her book bag on top of the table. “So, just like last time?”
Daisy nodded. She unlocked the tablet. “It’s all been prepaid, and we sold out. If they’re not on this list, one of you text me, and I’ll come and personally handle it. When guests arrive, just hit the little button next to their name.”
She slipped her phone into her pocket and hid her purse under the skirt of the table. Brittany and Tina took their seats. “Our friends are so jealous we get to eat here tonight.”
“I know! I can’t believe I get to eat here, either!”
They had worked for her for several events, so Daisy left the greeting of her guests in good hands and went back into the restaurant.
She could not find Irene anywhere. A part of her hoped she had left, but only a small part. Irene had a bad temper, but after she reacted, she usually cooled off pretty quickly. Daisy saw no need to make lifelong decisions in the heat of the moment tonight. This fundraiser meant a lot to Gálatas Seis. Specifically, it meant furniture for the Osborne family. She saw Irene come out of the bathroom. Relief coursed through her. “There you are. Tina and Brittany are here. I got them set up.”
With a hard mouth and an edge in her eyes, Irene clearly decided to play pleasant. “Terrific. They’ve done this enough times to know what to do.”
“I agree. They were a great find.”
“Thank you.”
A voice came from behind her. “Place looks great.”
Heart in her chest, she spun and watched Ken saunter into the dining room. He wore a pair of navy-blue dress pants and a light-yellow shirt with a blue and yellow striped tie. “Well, don’t you look nice?”
He approached her and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “Can’t even begin to compare. You look amazing.”
