“As you know,” Francoise began, “there will be twelve clients. To this point in time everything has gone precisely as planned and I want to keep it that away! See to it that the tablecloths are immaculate and the cutlery spotless. Be polite to everyone. And remove any spare chairs.”
Spike nodded.
“Have the hor d’oerves ready on the table.” Francoise continued, as she directed him toward the fridge and swung its doors open. “Here on these top two shelves we have Moselle and Chablis. And here is the Pinot Noir. Down there in the small carafes is chilled Evian. Not that they’ll be drinking too much of that!” she grinned.
“Don’t rush. But I want them out of here by 2. There is an important meeting.” She said with a dim gleam in her eyes, and added. “By the way, you’ll never get anywhere with a haircut like that!”
Refocusing, she walked away, flicking open her phone.
Spike ignored the jibe. He could see the humor in it because he knew that despite her obsession with efficiency she’d made the mistake of ordering plenty of food while under-purchasing on the wine. No doubt an attempt to gain points from management by being thrifty, which could work against her because the luncheon was the final act in her first solo seminar and she needed good reports from the participants. Francoise wanted everyone to be happy because the success of the course wouldn’t be measured by bums-on-seats as much as smile-on-faces.
Spike knew she shouldn’t encourage her girls to eat too much of what they could consider to be a free meal. Especially a few of them who hadn’t worked very hard at the course. If they did, they’d feel bloated and guilty. Where as it was almost their duty to drink, and if they ran out of wine they wouldn’t be pleased, at all, and their displeasure could affect her future, so as soon as she was back on the phone and speeding toward her office to refer to a file, Spike got busy.
Firstly he reduced the amount of hor d’oerves by returning half the salty salmon and caviar to the fridge so the gals wouldn’t exercise their thirsts too much before the main course was served, and after some consideration he also turned down the temperature on the air-conditioner by a couple of degrees.
Next, Spike pulled all four trays from the fridge and slid them onto bench-top. The clients would be there very soon so he quickly emptied one of the small carafes of water and filled it with a mix of all three wines by pouring small but slightly increasing amounts of wine from each of the large carafes. He then topped-up the wine with water from the other small carafes until they were all full of the mixture.
Within a few minutes all of the water had been mixed into the progressively diluted Pinot Noir, Chablis and Moselle and the four smaller carafes had been slipped back onto the bottom shelf on the fridge.
When the young women began arriving Spike checked them out from his workbench and began to adjust the chicken salad accordingly, “She’s a good eater! In go two extra drumsticks. Skinny nervous one on slimming piles. Take one back out.”
The girls was busy chatting and nibbling until Spike began serving the main course, when he took the opportunity to mention 0.5, in a roundabout way. The dinner progressed well and there were many appreciative comments as the girls cleared their plates, and of course by the end of the meal they’d consumed almost all of the wine, so, looking through the little round window in the swinging door, Francoise was panicking while talking on her mobile to a confidante or mentor.
“I’ve done it again! The wines almost finished.” Pause. “They’re going to hate me!”
Spike stood a respectful distance away, holding out the tray of small carafes, trying to gently interrupt.
“It’s just about time to present the diplomas”, Francoise rushly spoke to her mobile, “And they’ve almost empty glasses! I don’t need this!” Pause. “OK. Gotta go.”
Spike presented Francoise with a misted glass. “Try it”, he said with a smile. She gave him a patronizing look which changed as she sipped, to a fascinated smile. So crisp and dry! “Where did this come from?…. Never mind.” She said as she backed through the swinging doors with the tray of small carafes and resumed her role as host.
A short time later Spike was listening to her making a brief speech as he started stacking the pots.
“It’s been a real pleasure to have shared in this January seminar with you all and I accept your gift with gratitude, but, I also wish to remind you how much each of you contributed to its success by your keenness, enthusiasm, and punctuality.”
The big blonde declared a toast to Francoise, “Our grooviest ever teacher!” agreed a dozen lasses as they clanked glasses. Smiles all around.
Spike returned to the dining room just in time for a second toast, “To all of us”, and cleared away the plates, and then the empty carafes and glasses. It was almost time to go.
As the girls filed out, saying their last goodbyes, Francoise caught a glimpse of Spike in the kitchen washing dishes. He looked so young wearing that plastic apron, humming with suds around his forearms. “Adorably efficient”, thought Francoise. She could see that he knew he had work to do. And she had a meeting to attend.
Coming back from the meeting, having been praised and promoted in one fabulous half hour Francoise strode across the parquetry feeling like a million dollars, but, as she came around the corner she saw a bright reflection of Spike mopping the floor with intense zeal, and it affected her.
She’d developed a silicon kind of approach to people from her involvement in the sharp end of the business world but her shallow heart filled with sympathy, and like a child exploring the basement of her family home with a dull torch she recognized her own derelict compassion, so on the spur of the moment invited Spike for lunch at the restaurant in a nearby park. He was quite good looking but she didn’t really want anyone to see them together.
The restaurant was set amongst tall trees from which burst flocks of lorikeets. Spanning the panoramic view of the harbor was a rainbow. Francoise ordered an expensive bottle of champagne. “Thank you Spike” she said lightly clanking glasses. The promotion means a lot to me, and with your help I overcame a problem which could have spoiled everything.” She said with geniune gratitude.
“It was no problem. I knew it was important for you, but you seemed so elated and stressed at the same time. If you want to keep getting promoted, and climb your way to the top, that’s your ambition. But life is short and there are plenty of other things to do.”
He made some sense to Francoise so she let him talk to see where the conversation might lead them, and later they moved out into the park.
Relaxing on the trimmed lawn with her hand resting in his, looking out at the silken sunlight shimmering on the salt water, the ends of his blonde curling hair into and out of her field of vision. Faint music drifted down from a distant gazebo, settling in amongst the birdsong that filled the air like the scent of blossoms.
Two golden puppies ran by, nipping playfully at each other’s coats, and then rolled over and over, making excited growls and yelps while chasing each other in circles with two young children in pursuit.
She casually rubbed her shoe against the edge of his, completely reclaiming his attention from the puppies. “Spike?” she said to him in such a soft whisper that he had to raise himself on one elbow to see her lips and her lightly closed eyelids.
“Spike. Did you hear me? Do you want to work in the kitchen forever? You’re smart enough to apply for a management position.”
“Is it really that important?” he replied, “I like to see people enjoying themselves, especially when they are eating food that I’ve prepared.”
Several years later...
In the early morning Spike lay there and watched her sleep. The satin sheet flowed across the contours of her body, her soft hair falling across the pillow, her lovely eyes, though seeing things in dreams unknown to him were just as beautiful closed as when she was awake. A peach tree they’d planted two springs before displayed its first blossoms. A pair of blue wrens flew into it, chirped at each other and flew away.
How wonderful it was the way his love for her had grown with each day they’d been together. Even the sound of her name caused him to realize how completely he loved her, and though he regretted the fear that rose inside him at the thought that he may sometime lose her, it was just one facet of the jewel which shone and glowed when he held her in his arms knowing that she loved him in return.
The greatest gift and most enchanting knowledge was that they were growing ever closer. Their intimacy was not derived from an infatuation that would flare and die like a pile of leaves set afire. It was not just selfish lust that would survive only as long as the selfish lust survived. It was more like a river grown from a thousand tiny streams of respect and admiration, spawned by countless incidents and shared experiences.
Their love was the most natural thing in the world, and their marriage, as an enmeshment of two minds and bodies that made each of them richer, more human, and more truly alive, caused them to feel greater love, deeper tenderness, and more perfect understanding. He considered himself to be more than just a lucky man sharing his children and all of the other wonderful things that life had to offer them, because he also knew without doubt, that he’d taken part in an astounding miracle.
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