Sandy's Offer, page 14
“Tomorrow is perfect.”
Chapter Sixteen
With their hands clasped, Sandy and Paige walk into the crowded pub. There are at least twenty people standing in small loud groups waiting for tables, but Sandy pushes through all of them and points to a table, telling the hostess their group is already here. The pub is dimly lit with single orange bulbs hanging above each table and the walls are covered with vintage beer and liquor signs.
As they reach the end of a six-person table, three younger women and a younger man stand up, and Sandy’s face beams brighter. “Hey! Everyone, this is Paige.” She looks at Paige and loops her arms with her, then looks at her friends again.
A short and stocky girl with rich red-brown skin and short spiky black hair, says, “Hey, I’m Cami.” She jerks a thumb to the girl directly next to her, who is of average height and weight and has a full head of beautiful red curly hair, and says, “This is Angie, the blonde is Megan, and the babyface who can’t grow a proper beard is Liam.”
The guy rubs a hand over the light stubble on his pointed jaw with a grin, and says, “You just wish my problem was your blessing so you didn’t have to worry about whacking your bush every few days.”
Sandy laughs, covering her mouth and blushing beet red, as she whispers, “Oh, my god,” and looks at Paige to see her reaction to her friends. Paige just laughs and pulls out the chair next to Liam so Sandy can sit. The gesture is like an unheard order or invitation and all of Sandy’s friends sit down. As soon as Paige sits, she catches the eyes of a waitress and holds them just long enough that she changes directions and immediately walks to their table.
The waitress looks once around the table with a friendly smile, then settles on Paige, saying, “Good evening, I’m Sasha. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Yes, please. Do you have espresso?”
“We do.”
“Great.” Motioning to herself and Sandy, she says, “We’ll take a double espresso bourbon with one pump of cane syrup.”
Sasha smiles as she cocks her hip to the side and pulls a pad of paper out to write it down. “I’ve never heard of that, but it sounds amazing. I’ve never thought to mix espresso and bourbon, but I love them both.”
“It has a nice smooth finish if it’s done correctly.”
Sasha nods, and reassures her, “I will make sure I tell the guys behind the bar to make sure it’s extra smooth for you.”
“Thank you.”
Holding Paige’s eyes for a moment, she says, “No problem,” with the corner of her mouth twitching up into the slightest of flirty smiles before she looks around the table, asking, “What can I get for the rest of you?” After each of Sandy’s friends order a drink, Sasha meets Paige’s eyes again. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
Cami looks over her shoulder to see if Sasha is out of earshot, then looks at Paige with narrowed eyes, and asks, “How did you get her over here so quickly? We’ve been waiting for her to notice us for ten minutes. You sleep with her before or something?”
Angie, the beautiful redhead sitting next to her, smacks her arm, and snaps, “Cami, shut up.”
Paige just gives her a patient smile, and says, “No, I’ve never met her. All I did was make direct eye contact.”
“Right. So, you’re Sandy’s boss? Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to prey on your assistant like that, especially one so much younger than you?”
Angie hits her again, saying “Oh, my god, Cami, shut up! Sandy already told us she made the first move. God, why do you have to act like Uncle Buck every time one of us is dating? It’s just crazy. Sandy is happy. Leave her alone.”
“Excuse me for caring about you bitches and not wanting any of you to get hurt.”
Liam waves a hand, saying, “Don’t mind her. She’s just sexually frustrated and attacks anyone getting laid when she’s not. Cami, why don’t you go sit at the bar and buy a chick a drink so you can get some tonight?”
“Suck on a dick, Liam.”
He grins and leans forward, saying, “My pleasure.”
Cami grunts in frustration and rolls her eyes at him, then turns her attention back on Paige, gruffly asking, “Are you going to fire Sandy if this weird relationship doesn’t work out?”
“To ask me that, you obviously have never suffered the frustrations and loss of productivity caused by an inadequate or down right incompetent assistant.”
Sandy smiles brightly as she leans over to kiss Paige on the cheek. Paige places a hand on her thigh to acknowledge her, but she keeps her eyes locked with Cami with stern authority blazing in the slate-gray fissures of her irises.
With the words drawn out, Liam says, “So, anyway,” and laughs a little, before adding, “I personally love the boss banging the assistant trope. I think it’s hot as fuck. And when it’s an LGBTQ couple working in such a prestigious company, it’s like a major victory over the bigoted conservatives that run the world.”
Cami is still determinedly staring in Paige’s eyes, but Paige is a master of her composure and wields non-verbal authority and power better than most. Cami is no match and falls under the effortless intimidation. She blinks and looks away, glancing around the bar trying to appear suddenly disinterested in their table.
“Here you go.”
The waitress leans over the table to set glasses down around each of Sandy’s friends, and as she sets Sandy’s and Paige’s espresso bourbons down in front of them, she looks in Paige’s eyes, and asks, “Will you give it a try and tell me if it meets your expectations? If not, I’ll have Freddy make them again.”
Paige and Sandy lift their glasses in unison and take a sip, and while Sandy gives a small moaning nod of approval, Paige says, “Well done. Thank you, Sasha.”
She smiles brightly as she brushes her long black hair behind her ear. “Excellent. Are you ordering dinner or are you just out for drinks?”
“Yes, I’m starving.” Sasha breaks eye contact with Paige to look at Liam, and he continues, “I think we’re ready, right? Are you ladies ready?”
Speaking for the first time, Megan, the woman with a blonde pixie cut sitting on Liam’s other side, says, “Yes, let’s feed the beast so Cami will chill out. Can I have the veggie burger on a gluten free roll with sweet potato fries?”
“Sure. Do you want the hickory barbeque or the cinnamon marshmallow dipping sauce for the fries?”
“The barbeque.”
Sasha nods as she writes it down, then looks at Liam. After he orders, she moves to Angie and Cami before looking expectantly at Sandy, who looks to Paige to order for them. As Paige lifts the menu, Sandy runs a hand up her thigh and grips it, causing a spark of arousal in both of them.
Paige gives her a momentary look, meeting her eyes with such intensity that Sandy’s thighs twitch together from the powerful spark she causes. Then she looks up at Sasha, who has noticed the exchange and is wearing an intrigued smile.
“I want to know what’s on the secret menu.”
Everyone looks between each other confused, then quickly lift their menus to look for a mention about a secret menu but don’t find anything.
Sasha releases a small laugh and licks her full lips, asking, “Have you ever been here before?”
“They have. I haven’t.”
“So, how do you know about the secret menu if you’ve never been here?” She looks around at the confused faces, and adds, “Because they clearly don’t even know about it.”
“Almost every restaurant has one. So, do I get to see it?”
“You have to pass a test, then I can tell you what’s on the secret menu tonight.”
Paige smiles as she sets the menu down and lifts her glass. She savors a sip of her espresso bourbon, then nods. “Okay, I’m ready. Ask me anything.”
With a flirty grin, Sasha says, “Oh, it’s not that kind of test. I’ll be right back.”
After Sasha walks away, Sandy grips Paige’s thigh with a small laugh, and asks, “What if you have to do something crazy to see the menu and you don’t end up liking what’s on it?”
Paige shrugs a shoulder as she lifts her glass to take a sip. “Then I’ll pick something from the standard menu.”
Liam leans forward with his forearms on the table, and with excitement on his face and in his voice, he asks, “How did we not know they have a secret menu? We come here all the time. I might end up having to change my order. What do you think is on the menu?” He looks up, then scoots back, tapping the table and saying, “Never mind. She’s coming back.”
Sasha has a tray in her hands with a few shots of liquor and three small sampling size glasses of beer. “Okay, here is the test. You have to properly identify at least four of the six drinks I have. Then I can tell you about the secret menu.”
Paige laughs a little and teases, “Oh, you play dirty, Sasha,” making the waitress smile. “Okay, let me have it.”
“Here is your first.”
She sets a shot glass of a dark brown liquor down in front of her. Paige lifts the glass and smells it before she takes a sip.
“Caribbean rum.”
“Okay, that was an easy one. This one won’t be as easy.”
Paige lifts the second glass, smells it, then takes a sip and smiles before drinking the rest of the shot. “Cognac, and a very good one at that.”
“Damn, I really thought I would stump you with that one. Okay, how about this one?”
Paige takes a sip and scrunches her nose then drinks from her own glass. “I should have known you would give me that. It’s Malört, which was created here in Chicago in the thirties. It’s also considered one of the nastiest tasting spirits ever created. It tastes like the bottom of an apothecary’s unwashed cauldron and is extremely bitter.”
Sasha laughs hard, and says, “Damn, I’m impressed. Almost no one ever knows that one. Okay, I give.” She sets the three beers down on the table and tucks her tray under her arm. “You don’t have to drink the beers. You don’t seem like much of a beer drinker anyway.”
Paige laughs and shakes her head, saying, “No, I’ve never really cared much for it. So, what’s my reward?”
Sasha licks her lips as she pulls a pad of paper and a pen from her apron, and while looking in Paige’s eyes, she says, “You impressed me, which is very difficult to do. Tell me whatever you want to eat and I’ll make it happen.”
“Anything at all?”
With a sparkle in her eyes, Sasha confirms, “Anything at all.”
“In that case, I’d like an espresso-crusted filet mignon with a maple bourbon demi glaze, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, and a garden salad lightly drizzled with olive oil and lemon.”
With a scoff, Cami blurts, “You do know this is a pub, right?”
Angie slaps Cami’s arm, saying, “Shut up. That sounds amazing. Am I able to change my order?”
Unrelenting, Cami doubles-down, assuming, “They probably can’t even make that here.”
Sasha jabs the pen down on the pad after finishing writing Paige’s order down, then looks up with a smile, and says, “We have those ingredients. And the head chef is pretty brilliant. It shouldn’t be a problem. I have three orders. Does anyone else want to change orders?”
Grinning at Cami to get under her skin, Liam says, “I like steak. I’ll change my order.”
Sasha looks between Cami and Megan to see if either of them want to change their orders, and since neither say anything, she looks at Paige, and says, “Okay, I’ll put in your special order. Can I get you any appetizers while you wait?”
“If Paige orders it, can we have anything at all?”
Sasha laughs at Liam’s question and tilts her head to look at Paige. “Sure, if Paige orders it, I’ll see what I can do.”
Liam leans over Sandy and whispers in Paige’s ear, “Ask her for macaroni balls. They only serve them on Wednesday nights.”
“It seems we would like macaroni balls.”
“Oh, you are really trying to get me in trouble in the kitchen.” Sasha laughs as she runs a hand through her hair. She groans indecisively, then concedes, “Okay, I’ll ask. But if they won’t make them, what’s your second choice?”
Liam leans back in his seat, and says, “Soft pretzel bites.”
“Okay, I’ll put your order in.”
After she walks away, Sandy places a hand on Paige’s cheek and pulls her into a full mouth kiss. After a few moments, she pulls away smiling. She gives her another brief kiss on the lips, then presses her lips against her ear to whisper, “You’re so hot.”
Looking curious, Megan asks, “So, the alcohol test – do you just drink a lot or were you a bartender or something before?”
Paige shakes her head, and says, “Neither. It’s just something I’ve picked up over the years from work.” They look between her and Sandy with quirked and pinched brows, so Paige explains, “In our world, business is discussed over drinks and a meal more often than not.”
“In your world? What, like you are living in some other world than the rest of us? You think you’re better than us?”
Liam groans dramatically with a hard eyeroll, and says, “For fucks sake, Cami. What the hell crawled up your ass tonight? Just lay off it, alright? None of us nominated you as our stand-in bigoted father, so get the hell over yourself. Who are you to judge who any of us can date? You fucked your mom’s best friend on spring break our senior year and she’s like way older than Paige.”
Before Cami can attempt to defend herself, Paige says, “I think it’s endearing, actually. You obviously care a great deal about Sandy to be stubbornly on the offensive tonight. Either that or you’re jealous. But regardless of your reason, your attacks won’t change anything.”
Cami starts to retort, but Megan grips her arm and leans in, quietly saying, “Seriously, just drop it.”
She tenses her jaw with an odd twitch in her left cheek as she looks away from the table. She scans the bar, then stands up, surprising everyone. As she picks up her mostly empty beer, she says, “I’m going to the bar to get a refill,” then turns on her heels and storms away.
Liam leans over the table to look at Paige, and says, “Sorry about her. She really isn’t always such a prickly bitch. She’s just bitter that Sandy kept your relationship a secret for so long.” He rolls his eyes dramatically. “Cami really has a daddy complex – she thinks she’s like the head of this family.” He motions around the table. “And when we don’t tell her something… well, case in point. She has a big heart though.”
“I’ve met far worse. It’s no problem.”
The waitress suddenly appears at the table with the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth. “The chef asked me to discuss your order with you to make sure you still want it. Each special entrée will be $29.95.”
Angie whispers, “Oh, shit,” and Sasha looks nervously around the table before continuing.
“And since they can’t just make one batch of the macaroni balls, you’ll have to pay for the full batch if you want them. The kitchen isn’t prepared to make those tonight, so the chef isn’t budging on it. I suggested just writing them up on the chalk board as a limited special because they’ll sell in no time, but I think he’s just hoping you’ll change your mind so they don’t have to shift the kitchen staff around so much.”
Paige releases a small laugh, and asks, “How well do they reheat?”
Sasha’s eyes widen in surprise, but before she can answer, Liam says, “They’re amazing.”
“Okay, I guess we’ll take the whole batch. I think we’ll only need a couple of orders brought to the table though. The rest can be boxed up for everyone to take home when we leave.”
“Are you sure?” Sasha holds a pad of paper forward so Paige can see the total for the macaroni balls. It’s over $150.
“Yes, I’m sure. Dinner is on me tonight.”
With an intrigued and slightly aroused looking smile, Sasha scans Paige’s face and torso. “Okay, I’ll get them working on this right away. Any drink refills?”
Everyone says yes, and she nods as she walks away to get their drinks.
“Thanks for treating. That’s really nice of you.”
Cami sits down with a fresh beer, and asks, “What’s Angie talking about?”
“Paige is treating dinner tonight.” Angie deepens her voice with a bit of warning tucked between the words, and adds, “Isn’t that nice, Cami?”
She scoffs as she takes a sip of her fresh beer, and says, “Yeah, nice.” She drinks more beer, and as her eyes lock with Sandy’s slightly narrowed eyes, her cheeks lightly blush and she looks down at the table.
Liam jumps in to get the conversation going on something besides Sandy and Paige, and they’re able to get through the rest of dinner and a few rounds of drinks without Cami ruining it. The dinner is incredibly delicious, the conversations are actually fun and entertaining, even for Paige, and by the time the check is placed in front of Paige, everyone is happy and the tension from the early parts of dinner have nearly been forgotten.
But as Paige pulls out her credit card to pay, Cami snaps again. She pulls her wallet out and tosses a few bills on the table, firmly saying, “I’ve got my share. Tell me if that’s not enough.”
Paige ignores her and the money on the table. She adds her card to the bill fold, then holds it out to Sasha as she’s walking by.
“Thanks, I’ll be right back with this.”
Paige returns her warm smile, then looks straight into Cami’s narrowed eyes. She watches Cami’s jaw shift side to side before she runs a thumb under her nose and looks towards the bar. Paige continues to watch her, while everyone else looks between each other nervously. When Cami meets her eyes again, she slaps a hand down on the table to slide her money off to stuff into her pocket.
With a bit of a growl, she says, “You think you’re something else, don’t you? You made your first million at age twenty-four. You dated a supermodel from Spain for nearly two years. You…” Amused, Paige laughs a little while licking her lips, which causes Cami to glare at her again. “What’s so funny?”
