It wasn’t going well, or it was going better than she thought. That was the gist of what Beverly told him in the little time they’d had in the morning. She hadn’t confronted her husband and he hadn’t said anything to her. But he hadn’t approached her sexually and she told Bill that her sense was the intimacy they’d once had was gone.
That’s how far they’d gotten. That’s what she’d said and that was all she’d said. Bill sensed she could have said more and he knew he would push her to do so.
For the lunches, although she was in the kitchen with the other waiters and waitresses, actually Nora, the sultry Frenchwoman, was the only other waitress, Beverly was not near to Bill. She worked with her Captain on the banquet she was assigned to while Bill and the other cooks did the work for all the banquets. They, all the waiters and the two waitresses, had their meeting and then went out to their respective party rooms to complete the set up.
Kalista was in the kitchen. She came in to make sure the salads were done and set up on time. Her great-niece Adonia was there too and they were working hard. It wasn’t just the lunches they had to set up. They were setting up the dinner parties too even though Kalista, Bill and Jimmy G would not be there to do the dish-up.
Then it was dish-up and things in the kitchen went into hyper-gear. Jimmy Banquet Chef controlled it all, worked like a seasoned traffic cop. But his crew all knew what they were doing and he had his key people in the key places.
Bill’s station, like the three other stations, did the dish-up and settled all the dinners, actually luncheons, into the warmer trucks. Then, at the service they did the saucing and the plates went out.
Done deal, like every other set of banquets. These two went off just about simultaneously and then they were done and the stewards took away the warmer trucks to clean them while the kitchen crew and their stewards cleaned up the kitchen and began the set up for the night banquets.
Like always, Bill did all he had to do and more. Then he sat with Jimmy G., Victor, Kalista, Adonia and Jimmy Banquet Chef. They drank espresso and rested and talked about the night upcoming. The Greeks talked in Greek. Bill and Adonia talked a bit about how she was doing in college before she joined the rest of her family in the Greek discussion.
Beverly was waiting. Bill found her on the same stair she was on before and he sat right next to her.
“Did you eat?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Beverly said. “I had a piece of fish and some vegetables.”
“Fish was good, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I made it. Victor and I set them up. But I made the sauce.”
“Well you did a good job.”
“I’m a quick study. Jimmy’s been teaching me a lot.”
“What did you eat?”
“I didn’t,” Bill said. “I ate this morning and I’ll eat dinner with everyone out there by Falstaff about four-thirty. You done for the day?”
“Yeah. Just waiting on my sister. She’s done at four. We don’t usually travel together, but the way it worked today, we did. I’m spending a bit more time with her these days.”
“Talking about your situation?”
“She’s my best friend. My only friend really. Except maybe you.”
“You told her about me?”
“Course. And I told her I’m gonna do you.”
“Oh you did huh? And when was this?”
“This morning.”
“What did she say?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“She said she didn’t blame me.”
“You tell her I wasn’t so cooperative? Cause you know I’m not.”
“I told her everything we’ve done, how we kind of stopped doing anything, and everything we’ve talked about.”
“And?”
“And nothing. She just listened. She’s on my side.”
“I would hope so,” Bill said.
