Christmas at the Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #2)(33)

“Oh, look what they just brought in,” Todd said excitedly. “Come on everyone, you have to try this. It’s insane. Cory had the vodka and caviar bar last year too. Go easy, though. I had five shots last year and didn’t feel a thing and then it suddenly hit me.”

They all followed Todd over to the long side table that had elaborate ice sculptures, five different kinds of top shelf vodka and bowls of caviar, tiny buttered toasts or miniature blini pancakes and toppings, like minced onion, egg, and sour cream.

Gina had never tried caviar and watched Todd as he built the perfect caviar bite, with a little of everything on the buttered toast.

“So, first you pop this in your mouth and then you wash it down with an ice-cold vodka.”

The attendant picked up the bottle of vodka that Todd selected, poured a shot sized portion into the ice luge and collected the icy vodka at the bottom in a chilled shot glass.

“You have to try this,” Alex said to Gina.

“I’m not much of a vodka drinker,” she protested. “But the caviar looks interesting.”

Todd overheard her and grinned.

“Trust me. You’ll like vodka this way. Just try a small shot, ask for half the normal amount. They’ll do that, right?” He glanced at the attendant who nodded.

Gina stepped up and put some caviar on toast the way she’d seen Todd do it, with a bit of onion, egg and sour cream. She took a tentative bite and it was much better than she expected, an explosion of slightly salty flavor. She finished it, accepted the half-size chilled vodka shot and swallowed it quickly. And was surprised to find that Todd was absolutely right. If she wasn’t driving, she would have been tempted to have another and maybe even a full shot. The vodka and caviar complemented each other and made everything taste better.

All the guys and Bethany and Jessica went through the line twice. Stacy had tried a smaller amount, like Gina, as she was also driving.

Gina thought they were done, but then Todd excitedly said, “One more shot!”

All the girls went back to the table while the guys went through the line again for more vodka and caviar. They returned to the table a few minutes later and the talk quickly grew louder and looser as dollar amounts began flying around. Stacy and Gina glanced at each other.

“You two guys are lucky you landed here. You’ll do well enough now, but in a few years when you move into the PM role, you’ll see what I mean.” Todd glanced at Stacy. “You won’t have to worry about working ever again, unless you want to.”

“We just moved into a new, waterfront house and paid cash. Todd’s year-end bonus money,” Bethany said.

“It was just north of two mil last year,” Todd said proudly.

“And this year we did even better,” Jim added. “We might come close to three, based on the numbers.”

“Wow. That’s incredible.” Alex was in awe.

Todd grinned. “It doesn’t suck. That will be you two someday, if you work hard.”

Gina excused herself to use the ladies’ room. When she was washing her hands, she heard a horrible wrenching sound, followed by what sounded like tears.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Whoever it was sounded deeply unhappy.

A moment later, the stall door opened and Cory’s fiancée, Hannah walked out. She was a beautiful girl with long, shiny blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a model figure, with long legs, and her silver dress was stunning.

Hannah sniffled and reached for a tissue. “It’s fine. I just wish I could enjoy this party more. I recently found out that I’m almost three months pregnant and I’m just sick all the time. I didn’t know it would be like this.”

Gina had never been pregnant, but she’d been around enough people to know that the morning sickness was usually the worst in the first trimester.

“I’m no expert, but I think it will probably ease up in another week or two.”

“I hope so.” Hannah tried to smile, but Gina could see it was a real effort. “I know we were introduced, but I’m terrible with names. I’m Hannah.”

“I’m Gina.”

“Thanks for trying to make me feel better. I’m going to see if I can fix my face before heading back out there.” She pulled a tube of concealer and lipstick out of her purse.

“Hope you feel better, Hannah.”

Gina headed back to the table, feeling sympathy for Hannah. She couldn’t imagine being so young and getting pregnant and engaged so quickly. She hoped it would work out for them. It made her appreciate that she’d never rushed into a relationship and gotten so serious so fast. Sometimes she felt a little sad that she was still single when everyone around her seemed to be paired up or having kids, but she knew it was the right choice for her. She had faith that true love—kids and family—might still happen for her. She didn’t generally focus on it, but suddenly, with two men that seemed interested, she’d been thinking about it more and trying to picture what her life would be like with both of them.

She liked Alex, but his world of flashy wealth and a sixty to seventy-hour work week was all-consuming. She remembered a conversation she’d had with Mandy once where she’d said one of the frustrations in her marriage was that Cory was so focused on appearances and that he had strongly discouraged her working. She could see that with Todd and Jim’s relationships. Bethany and Jessica seemed happy to not work, but Gina knew she’d miss it.