Catering to the CEO (3 page)

Conversation stopped briefly but Stephen pulled out the chair that was beside him and offered it to Adam.  Grateful to not have to speak, he sat quietly and soon the conversation was lively again.

“Cassie, this dip is fabulous!” Bev gushed.  “Adam sent me on a vacation to Greece a couple of years ago and I have to tell you, this is as good as anything I ate while I was there!  You’re a genius!”

Seeing his daughter blush at the praise, Stephen went on to talk about all of the ways that Cassie had come to start her own business; from cooking with her mother and grandmother when she was a little girl, to having to host a business dinner or two for him when she was in her teens.  “She just has a knack for it,” he said.  “She doesn’t need any recipes, you just tell her what you want and she can create it!”

“Dad, please,” she murmured, not wanting to draw attention to her business while the enemy was sitting right there. 

Adam sensed more than saw, Matt sit next to him.  He didn’t turn to acknowledge him; he was too wrapped up in watching as Cassie tossed the rice in a large skillet one handed without spilling any of it. 

“Lauren, grab me that lemon, please,” she said and in a flash had the pan back on the stove and had the lemon cut and was squeezing the fresh juice over the salad greens.  Like a well choreographed dance, the three sisters were moving about the kitchen, each knowing what to do without speaking and soon there was a complete dinner set before them at the large kitchen table. 

“Well, well, well,” Bev said with a bright smile, “what have you made for us, Cassie?”

Not really wanting the attention on her again, Cassie cast a glance at Katie who took over.  “We’ve got spinach and feta cheese stuffed boneless chicken breasts with a balsamic glaze, rice pilaf, and of course, a Greek salad.”  She smiled at her sister.  “This is one of dad’s favorites.”

“Oh, I can see why.  Everything is fabulous, girls, thank you for preparing such a treat.”  She took a small bite of her chicken and when she had finished chewing she looked at her son and said, “Isn’t it wonderful, Adam?”

He nodded and grunted an agreement, afraid to say too much around this crowd.  “Adam has always said that Cassie is an amazing chef.  After every event that he has, he’s always praised your cooking,” Bev said, glancing between Cassie and Adam, hoping to ease some of the tension.

“Really?” Cassie asked.  “Funny, I don’t remember hearing that hell had frozen over…”

“Cassandra!”
Stephen hissed.  “That is enough!  I could see if you were twelve and you were behaving like this but you are a grown woman and Adam is our guest.  Granted, I know this has been a rough day for you both but really…”

“Please, Mr. Jacobs,” Adam began, “there’s no need to intercede on my behalf.  I’m afraid that I handled things poorly this afternoon.  I just don’t see where three days makes that much of a difference and…”

That was it.  It seemed as if everyone started talking at once.

“Three days
does
make a difference…”

“
You
were the one who broke the contract!”

“Do you have any idea how much planning and ordering goes in to an event like yours?”

“You’ll never get anyone to do this job on such short notice…”

“ENOUGH!”

All heads turned to look at Stephen.  He reached for Bev’s hand and they held on tightly to one another.  “You should all be ashamed of yourselves.  There will be no more talk of this contract here tonight.  The two of you can talk it out to your hearts content tomorrow but as of right now, you are done.  Am I clear?”

Everyone nodded.  “Good.  Now pass me the rice.”

For an hour, there was peace.  To Adam’s way of thinking, the Jacobs’ family was sneaky in their attack.  No one said anything directly to him but the conversation did seem to continually find its way back to Cassie and her business.  With each comment in her favor, the speaking sibling would give him an accusing glance.  Fine, if they wanted to believe him to be Hitler, Scrooge and an Ogre rolled in to one, then so be it.  Maybe after dinner he’d find some puppies to kick just to prove their point.

Cassie’s laughter broke through his train of thoughts and caused a slight clench in his stomach.  Why had he never noticed what a great laugh she had?  Probably because he never gave her a reason to laugh when they were working together.  Come to think of it, no one laughed around him.  This was the first time in he couldn’t remember when that he was actually surrounded by people having a good time.  Geez, when had his life become such a misery?

Matt slapped his hands together, startling everyone in to silence.  “What’s for dessert, Cass?”

All eyes turned expectantly to Cassie as she cried out, “Oh, no!”

“What?  What’s the matter?”

“I had some lovely pies and pastries and I left them back at the shop.”  Standing, Cassie began clearing the table quickly followed by her sisters.  Once again, Adam couldn’t help but admire the way in which the siblings worked together, and seemingly enjoying the domestic task.

He held in the shudder that wanted to overtake his body at the thought.

“Cass, go and get the dessert; we’ll do the cleanup, right Kate?”  Katie nodded and continued to clear the table, all the while answering Bev’s question about baby Ella.

Untying the apron that she’d forgotten to take off before sitting down to eat, Cassie tossed it into the laundry room and walked through the kitchen while telling everyone she’d be right back.  Grabbing her purse from the living room sofa, she called to Lauren that she was taking her car since it was behind Cassie’s and walked out the door.  It was pitch black outside and it wasn’t until she stepped around to the driver’s side of her car that she saw Adam.

If there was a single thought that was prevalent in her mind as she was heading out it was that it would be good to have a few minutes reprieve from the man.  Apparently, it was to be a short-lived one.

“What are you doing out here?”

“I thought that I’d take the ride with you so that maybe we can clear the air a little and try and salvage this night.”

A mirthless laugh came out before Cassie could stop it.  “You mean you want to make me fall in line like one of your employees so that my family will stop shooting daggers at you, don’t you?”

With a shrug, Adam stepped aside as she
came around the car to climb into the driver’s seat.  Leaving him standing there, Cassie started the car and buckled herself in before rolling the window down.  “It’ll be mighty hard for you to take the ride with me while you’re standing in the driveway…”

With that, he walked around to the passenger side and climbed in.

Cassie’s shop was only ten minutes away and they spent nine of it in silence.  “I’ve never been to your facility before,” Adam said, noting it’s proximity to her family home as well as downtown Raleigh.  “How long have you been here?”

Parking the car right in front, Cassie turned it off before answering him.  “It’s been almost three years.  Although, most of the first year was spent renovating the place before I could use it to it’s full potential.”  She climbed out and Adam followed. 

From the outside, it didn’t look like much; it was a brick façade with a large window display and a pretty wood door with a stained glass design.  Walking inside, however, found Adam impressed.  The showroom, for lack of a better word, was set up to show different table settings; each table was done in a different color scheme with different china and flowers.  Around the room there were shelves that held displays of baskets, silk flowers and an assortment of pictures from what he guessed were events that Cassie had done. 

Walking further in, he stepped
under an archway that led into a smaller room with pocket doors that felt open and inviting.  There was a large desk off to the left sitting on an angle and in front of it were two large upholstered chairs, presumably for clients.  This must be her office.  Very clever, he thought to himself.  Bring the customer through the showroom before actually sitting down with them. 

Adam heard Cassie moving around in the room behind her office.  The door to it was wide and had swung as one would find in a restaurant leading to the kitchen and once he stepped through, he realized that was exactly where he was.

There was glimmering stainless steal everywhere and the smell of bleach was strong enough to know that it was used and that the place was clean but not enough to be overpowering.  He saw Cassie stepping out of what he saw to be a walk in refrigerator.  There was a row of stoves, four of them, on the right hand wall.  In the center of the room were work islands, to the left were cabinets and shelves and towards the back were the sinks.  Again, Adam found himself impressed with the overall layout for it to be efficient. 

Cassie had several pink cake boxes in her hands and she placed them on the nearest island before turning to shut the walk-in refrigerator door.  Rubbing her hands together, she walked over to one of the cabinets to find a bag to place the boxes in for easier transport.

“You’ve got a great set up here, Cassandra; truly impressive.”

She had to stop herself from turning and giving him a snarky remark.  After all, he sounded sincere and if what he said earlier about wanting to clear the air was true, it seemed as if now was not the time for sarcasm.

“Thank you.  It took a while to get it just right so that we can all work back here without bumping in to one another but I finally worked out all of the kinks and I’m pleased with it.”

“You should be.  I guess I never put much thought in to
where
you worked, just how it all looked once it arrived.”  Looking around the kitchen he noticed two doors in the back corner; one clearly led to the outside and the other into an alcove.  Cassie saw where he was looking.

“We load everything out the back door.  I have our truck back there in a small parking lot.  There’s also a storage shed back there for extra tables, chairs and whatnot.  The other door leads to my apartment upstairs.”

“You
live
here?” 

His tone put her back up; he sounded a bit appalled at the prospect.  “I don’t live here in the kitchen, Adam.  My apartment is completely separate and soundproofed and it makes things easier for me when we have to pull a late night.”

“I can drive the truck back here, have the staff help me unload and merely walk up the stairs and be done with the day.  Don’t tell me you don’t have something similar in your building because I happen to know for a fact that you do.” 

“True enough but this is such a…a commercial space.  I spend the occasional night at the office when I’m dealing with over seas accounts but I wouldn’t want to live there full time.”

“Well,” she replied tartly, “lucky for you that you have the kind of income that you can afford both.  Most of us in the
real
world only have one place of residence.”  She scooped up the bag with the dessert in it and walked past him when Adam reached out and gently touched her arm to stop her.

“Okay, okay, truce.  I was out of line,” he said wearily.  He had no idea why he had to explain himself to this woman but clearly it would make things easier when they got back to the house if they were playing nice.  “Look, things got out of hand today at the office.”

“You think?” She liked the fact that her tone had him arching an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, I think,” he said with equal sarcasm.  “The thing is, you were right.” 
Dammit.
  “If the tables were turned I would not break the terms of my contract for any client and that was what I was expecting you to do.”

Cassie stood in stunned silence unsure of finding her voice.

“Your company has done nothing but a good job for mine, Cassandra, and I respect you as a business associate.  I think that you are a fine cook; nothing that you’ve ever made for any of my events has disappointed and I would very much like it if you would continue on with the Fall Retreat plan and just maybe…forget what happened earlier today.”

Adam stood and waited…patiently, for Cassie to say something.  He became quickly irritated when she, like earlier, did not immediately respond.  Taking a deep breath, he was ready to speak when…

“Alright, Adam, I’ll continue on with this project.”  He released the breath.  “But there are some things that need to be said if we’re going to move forward and work together again beyond this event.”

When he nodded, she continued.  “For starters, I can’t speak for your staff but I can tell you that I, personally, do not appreciate being spoken to like I’m an idiot.”

“I’ve never…”

She held up a hand to silence him.  “You do.  All the time.  To everyone.  As you can see here, I own my own business and I know how to run it.  I’m not operating out of the back of a van so clearly I know what I am doing.  I would trust you if I hired you for some sort of security thing because that’s what you do for a living.  As an act of simple common courtesy, I expect you to trust me when it comes to event planning and catering because this is what I do for a living.”

“Now just a minute…”

“I’m not done!” she snapped, pleased to see his mouth snap shut.  “I am damn good at what I do, Adam, you’ve said so yourself.  I appreciate you wanting to give your input, I honestly do, but I expect it to be given in a respectful tone; I’m a grown woman not a child.”