“That’s right. A $420,000 fee!”
“Congratulations you two! That’s quite an accomplishment.” Tony and Nicole were two of their top performers. Tony, the seasoned recruiter, was grinning like a little kid, and Nicole who was still considered a ‘rookie’ with less than two years of experience was beaming.
“On days like this I really love this job!” Nicole exclaimed, then added, “and it still amazes me sometimes how much we’re paid to just find people. I know there’s way more to it, but still it’s a lot of money.”
Jill was thrilled for all of them and even after her many years in this business, it still amazed her too at times how they were able to command the fees that they did.
“Billy, when you have a minute, could you swing by my office? I need to talk to you about something.”
He immediately looked alarmed. “Is everything okay?” and then, “Am I in trouble?”
Jill chuckled. “Of course not. Nothing’s wrong. I just want to bounce an idea off of you.”
Twenty minutes later, she finished telling Billy about Mimi’s Place and Grams’ request and that she wanted to work from Nantucket for the next year. It didn’t go over very well.
“You want to what? How can you run the business from Nantucket? I need you here?” Tiny beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. He raked his hand through his hair several times and Jill noticed for the first time that there was a smattering of gray along his hairline. It was usually kept undercover by the heavy gel he used to keep it in place.
“I have complete faith in you to run things without me being physically here. I bet you’ll barely notice that I’m gone, and I’ll be fully accessible by email and phone and can conference in for the weekly job order meetings. Depending on my schedule, I might even be able to make those in person from time to time as I’m hoping to be back once or twice every month.”
“You want to do this for a whole year?” He looked miserable at the very thought of it.
“No, I don’t want to. But I don’t have much choice, not if I want to respect Grams’ last wishes and do what’s right for my sisters as well.” She put on her brightest smile. “It’s just a year. It’ll go by in the blink of an eye.”
Chapter 5
Mandy made Cory’s favorite dinner, veal Marsala, and planned to tell him about Mimi’s Place after they’d eaten and maybe had a glass or two of wine. When she spoke to him earlier in the day, he’d sounded exhausted already and distracted. He also said he’d most likely be home by six thirty, seven at the latest.
So, she planned accordingly. She fed the kids at about six, chicken Marsala for them, and then she set about preparing the rest of the meal that she and Cory would share. At six-thirty she put the asparagus on a sheet of tinfoil, sprinkled a little parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil over them and a quick squeeze of lemon. She threw them in the oven, next to a casserole dish of tiny fingerling potatoes that were glistening with butter and starting to brown nicely.
At a quarter to seven, she poured herself a glass of chardonnay and began sautéing the veal cutlets, which only took a few minutes. The sauce came together quickly and was a simple reduction of the pan drippings scraped up from the bottom of the pan and stirred into a bit of Marsala wine, butter and sautéed mushrooms. It smelled heavenly.
By seven, everything was ready, and there was still no sign of Cory. At a quarter past, she called his cellphone, which apparently wasn’t on as it went immediately into voicemail. By eight, the children were tucked into bed, the veal was cold and congealing and Mandy’s wine glass was empty. She refilled it, to the top this time, and grabbed an asparagus spear to nibble on. Finally, at almost nine, Cory walked through the door. Mandy glanced up and tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice as she said, “I was starting to worry about you.”
Cory shrugged his coat off and hung it in the front hall closet before coming into the kitchen.
“I had to stay late, needed to finish up a proposal for a client meeting first thing tomorrow morning. Something smells good.”
“It’s veal Marsala. When you said you’d be home by seven, I told you it would be waiting for you.” She grabbed two plates and reached for the veal.
“Honey, I’m sorry. I totally didn’t hear you say that. We were just crazed today. Kate ordered Chinese takeout for the office.”
“Okay then.” Mandy was fuming inside but trying not to show it. “Well, I’m starving so there’s all the more for me I guess.”
“I feel like an ass.” Cory looked truly sorry but Mandy said nothing in response, just continued to fill her plate. “How can I make it up to you?”
She smiled back. “Well, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Jill walked into her apartment a little after nine-thirty that night. She was bone tired and ready to fall into bed. Billy had wanted to go for drinks and dinner after work to catch up and talk through how they’d manage in the short-term at least until they both got used to her working remotely and probably fewer hours as she was going to be juggling her duties at the restaurant.
By the end of the meal he was still apprehensive but supportive and even a little bit excited for her about the whole idea. Especially when she reminded him that Grams’ house had four bedrooms. He’d been there a few times with her, but it had been several years since they’d gone.
“Maybe I’ll have to plan a weekend trip to Nantucket. You can show me around and I can do a quality check on the food at Mimi’s Place.”
Jill assured him that he was welcome anytime, but she wanted to give it a little time first, for she and her sisters to get their feet wet. She didn’t admit it to Billy, but she was a little nervous about actually working in the restaurant. Aside from some bartending years ago at a college bar, she had no other experience.
Emma stepped out of the cab into a seemingly solid wall of heat. It was one thing she wouldn’t miss. Even though it was a dry heat, a hundred and ten was still hot. Peter was home. His car was in the driveway and he apparently had company. The other car looked familiar, like Tom’s actually, but she wasn’t a hundred percent sure. She hoped not. She didn’t think she was up to seeing the two of them together just yet.
When she walked through the front door they were sitting side by side on her sofa. She thought of it as hers because shortly after they’d gotten married she’d picked it out and it was her dream sofa. A soft vanilla cream shade, it had big puffy cushions that you could sink into. It was a set of two. The other was a larger version and was where Peter usually sprawled out while Emma claimed the smaller one to curl up on. That was where Tom and Peter were sitting, on the love seat.
Peter jumped up as soon as he saw her and ran over to give her an awkward hug.
“I didn’t realize you’d be back so soon. I thought you’d probably stay a few more days to visit with your sisters.” He glanced back at Tom. “He just came in for a minute. We’re heading out shortly. We were just checking the basketball score.” Both of them were huge basketball fans. Emma had always been bored to death by the game.