Taste (Cloverleigh Farms, #7)(14)
Fiona turned to me like she’d forgotten I was there. “Oh! The kitchen, I suppose.”
“Do you have a back door we can use? I don’t want to get your floors wet.” I glanced at the gleaming dark wood. “They’re so beautiful—your whole house is beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Fiona said. “We do have a back door. Maybe you could pull into the driveway and drive around?”
“Sure.” Gianni glanced behind us. “And if you have a shovel, I don’t mind shoveling your front walk and maybe the steps—I’d hate for your dinner guests to slip.”
Fiona laughed girlishly as she reached out to pat Gianni’s cheek. “Aren’t you adorable? You don’t have to do that.”
“I really don’t mind.”
“I might take you up on it since Malcolm isn’t here. He’d normally be the one I sent out there in the cold.”
“It’s no problem at all,” Gianni assured her.
She beamed. “You’re an absolute doll.”
I took a deep breath and counted to ten.
Fifteen minutes later, Gianni headed outside to shovel while I added flute wineglasses to each of ten place settings on the Duffs’ long, rectangular dining room table. It was a beautiful, dramatic room—high ceilings, walls painted a deep gray, a huge gold candle-style chandelier, chairs upholstered in navy velvet. I’d changed from my snow boots into high heels, and they sank into the plush Persian rug under the table.
Nearly one entire wall was windows, and through them I could see the snow coming down hard and fast. I could also hear the scrape of plastic against cement as Gianni shoveled the Duffs’ front walk, and the noise was shredding what was left of my nerves. It was obvious Fiona and Hadley Duff were completely starstruck, and I felt like a total jerk for being upset about it, but I was. He was stealing my thunder without even trying!
After I had everything in place for the first course—which would be Gianni’s dumplings as well as the clam chowder with warmed radishes Fiona had made—I returned to the kitchen through the old-fashioned butler’s pantry, which included a wet bar. In the kitchen, Fiona was spooning her soup into tiny white mugs placed on a cast iron serving tray.
It was a beautiful space, of course—in contrast to the dining room, it was decorated in bright colors and glossy textures. Cabinets in a pale ash color, white marble counters veined with silver, mirrored subway tile backsplash, gleaming chrome hardware. It smelled delicious too, like roasting beef tenderloin and fresh thyme, which would be the main course.
“Can I help you with anything?” I asked.
“Well, if you wouldn’t mind placing these in the warming oven, that would be great. The guests should arrive shortly, and I just need a few minutes upstairs to finish getting ready. Hadley was supposed to help me in here, but she’s probably tearing her room apart looking for something that doesn’t look like she found it in the rag bin at a thrift shop.”
“Of course,” I said, unbuttoning my cuffs and rolling up the sleeves of my blouse.
“And usually Malcolm is on hand to show everyone in and make cocktails, but since the big galoot didn’t fly home yesterday like I told him to, I have to do everything on my own—cook, host, serve.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what he was thinking trying to get out of Denver today.”
“Gianni and I would be glad to serve.”
“Would you?” She gave me a relieved smile. “That would make my evening so much more enjoyable.”
“Absolutely. You don’t want to be getting up and down all night. Gianni and I can take care of everything. We’re used to working as a team.”
“I’m just so ecstatic he’s here,” she gushed, untying her apron. “Usually we just talk about food and wine at these things, and the conversation can feel stale. But tonight we’ll have something more fun to talk about! He’s even better looking in person than he is on TV, don’t you think?”
The smile was frozen on my face, but my hopes were melting. “Sure.”
“And that was so sweet of him to bring something. I’m dying to taste his dumplings.” She laughed and whispered scandalously, “I bet they’re as delicious as he is.”
I ignored that. “Um, other than the dumplings, are there any changes to the menu?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s exactly as I emailed you. After the soup and dumplings will be the beet salad, then the tenderloin and vegetables, then the cheese—you did receive the list of cheeses I’ll serve?”
“Yes. I think the wine I brought to serve with them will really complement the—”
“There you are!” Fiona squealed as Gianni entered the mudroom through the back door and stomped snow from his boots. “Are you frozen solid?”
“Nah.” He brushed snow off his coat. “It wasn’t bad.”
“I was just saying to Kelly how excited I am that you came tonight.” She sent him a dazzling smile.
“Ellie,” he corrected.
She looked perplexed for a moment, then laughed and glanced in my direction. “Ellie. Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” I said through my teeth.
“I’ll just excuse myself to finish getting ready. Use anything you need, and if someone comes to the door, please let them in and direct them to the living room.”