The Restaurant(47)

Dear Diary, Jay wrote to let me know that he’s married and he and his wife are moving to Nantucket! His family owns several businesses and restaurants in Boston and they bought one on Nantucket and gave it to Jay as a wedding gift. It’s going to be an Italian restaurant, called Mimi’s Place, named after his grandmother and featuring many of her recipes. Charlie and I can’t wait to go try it out.



And then a few months after the restaurant opened there was an entry.

Dearest Diary, It’s so wonderful having Jay and Brenda here on Nantucket. She’s very sweet and we’ve become friends. Charlie and Jay get along well too. The four of us go out occasionally, on the rare time that Jay isn’t working at the restaurant. We see him there more often, as Charlie and I have become regulars. It’s a cozy spot and the food is good and of course Jay always visits with us.



A year later though, things took a darker turn.

Dear Diary, The saddest thing has happened. I feel just awful. My heart is breaking for Jay. He and Brenda were so excited about their first baby. Everything went so well with her pregnancy. She hardly even had morning sickness, but when she went to deliver, something went very wrong. I don’t really understand exactly what happened but Brenda died in childbirth and the baby didn’t make it either. Jay is devastated of course. I’ve never seen him look so lost and lonely. Well, that’s not quite true. He had the same look in his eyes when I first saw him and he learned I was married. I’m really worried for him.



There were several entries after that talking about how she and Charlie tried to help Jay, bringing him food and spending time with him, but he was so depressed. He focused on work and eventually seemed a little better, but then everything fell apart.



Dear Diary, Jay just let us know that he’s sick, really sick. The doctor’s say he has an inoperable brain cancer and there’s nothing they can do for him. Chemotherapy won’t reach the brain. He said he feels fine, just has the occasional headache, but I’ve noticed that he’s lost weight and seems tired. I wish there was something that I could do.

Dear Diary, We had Jay over for dinner tonight and it was a fun night. He seems to be feeling better and was like the old Jay, laughing and teasing us as we played cards. He’s a very good card player, though I am too and that surprised him. I’ve always loved a good poker game and it’s kind of fun to be underestimated. Jay actually bet the restaurant on our final hand, he was so sure of himself. But I had a better hand, and won. Of course I told him I wasn’t going to take his restaurant, as that was ridiculous. He just smiled and said he’d see about that and that when he passed, he would leave Mimi’s Place to me. I told him I didn’t want to hear that kind of talk and he wasn’t going anywhere.

But two weeks later, Jay left us suddenly. He went to sleep and didn’t wake up. And we got a call from his attorney. He really did change his will and left Mimi’s Place to me. Charlie and I were shocked. It was the sweetest, most outrageous thing to do. I met with his manager, and he assured me that the restaurant is a well-oiled machine. When I asked if I could be a silent owner, and they run it, he assured me that was possible.

I want to respect both Charlie and Jay by keeping my ownership private. I don’t want there to be any talk of anything inappropriate—that wouldn’t be true or fair to Charlie and people aways assume the worst. Charlie wasn’t so sure about that. He thought we could just say we bought the place, but I insisted. I’d rather have people think of us as regular customers than owners. In my mind, Mimi’s Place is really Jay’s place. It’s a lovely piece of him and I want to take care of it as best I can.



Mandy sighed as she closed the diary. There were no more entries and she was happy to hear that her grandfather had supported Grams decision to keep her ownership a secret. She felt sorry for Jay, who had so much tragedy in his short life. She was glad that they had Mimi’s Place renovated and the new menu created. She wanted the restaurant to be a success, and to honor her grandmother’s memory.





Chapter 20





The next few weeks saw a steep increase in reservations and sales which was a welcome relief to Jill, Mandy, Emma and Paul. The new menu was a hit, and they were seeing a steady stream of new customers coming from local hotels and bed and breakfasts. Mandy had some loyalty cards and coupons printed up and distributed them at the local businesses and they were starting to see them being used. The regulars liked the idea of the loyalty cards, which they stamped each time they came in and then on their tenth visit, they would receive a free entree. The coupons were for ten dollars off the bill and that got a lot of new people in to try the restaurant.

“Mac really did have some good ideas,” Jill said Thursday morning while Emma ate her breakfast and they were talking about how successful the coupons and loyalty cards seemed to be.

“Will you see him this weekend?” Emma asked.

“Yes, I told him I’d meet him after work tomorrow night.” Jill was flying out later that day and planning to work in the New York office on Friday.

“Will you see Billy too? Are you staying through the weekend?”

Jill nodded. “Yes. When he found out I have plans with Mac tomorrow night, he insisted I stay until Sunday so we can go out Saturday night.”

Emma raised her eyebrows. “You’re sure you’re not dating?”