Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(49)

Two


It had been a very long day for Parker. He’d woken up hung over, and it was a very busy night at Wild Eats. The restaurant was switching to a new theme for the year. The past two years, it had been a dinner theater. Over the winter, the island had opened its own theater, and now dinner theater was becoming fine island dining. Each week would be structured around a different animal. The weekly specials would be based on the animal’s diet.

Parker preferred it to the old style. He’d gotten sick of hearing the same songs each night. The new theme was also much classier. They’d let him have a hand in designing the new look, and it was similar to what he’d do with his own places. The corporate suits had thought his idea was too upscale for their kitschy restaurant, but as soon as the new theme was announced and new pictures went up, the place had been booked solid.

This week they were doing giraffes. All the wait staff were wearing very sexy giraffe costumes and the special was based around leaves. Parker was making sure the sous chefs had the special down, but diners kept requesting to speak with him. By the middle of the night, he’d given up on perfecting the dish and was walking around the room. He didn’t seek the public’s adulation, but he wasn’t about to turn it down, either. It made him feel good to hear diner after diner telling him how wonderful the food was. He’d worked hard on the menu and he had a great team.

As he was walking around, he heard one of the waitresses talking about the big wedding. That piqued his curiosity. He didn’t know one of his staff was getting married.

“What are you talking about?” he asked a young redheaded giraffe.

“There’s another company wedding,” she said. “I’m dying to get a job at the reception. It means overtime, and you might get to be in a magazine or on the website.”

“Who’s getting married?”

This was the first he’d heard about a company wedding. That wasn’t very good. He’d missed out on the first one because the couple weren’t vegetarians and had no desire to have a meatless menu. Privately, he’d been very glad when it had turned into a bit of a debacle. The chef didn’t get any mention since the story was about the attempted murder at the rehearsal dinner.

“One of the park workers and some girl from his hometown. You haven’t heard about it yet?”

He shook his head. “I must have forgotten.”

If they didn’t have a chef yet, it could be the opportunity he was looking for. It was already after eight at night, but he decided to call Ward Langston anyway. Ward was the PR head on the island and an acquaintance. They weren’t exactly friends, but they were friendly. He’d always admired the gazelle shifter and Parker was sure that if they ever they had time to hang out, they would be fast friends.

He didn’t beat around the bush after Ward picked up the phone. “I heard there’s a wedding going down. They have a chef yet?”

Ward laughed. “Hello to you, too. No, they don’t have a chef yet. They have a tasting with someone day after tomorrow, though.”

“Just one chef? What if they don’t like him? Couldn’t hurt to have a backup.”

“Her. And I guess so. The bride seems pretty excited about this gal. I don’t know if we’ll need a backup.”

“But it couldn’t hurt to let me give it a shot. I am the premier chef on the island, after all. I don’t think the happy couple will turn down the chance to have a world-class chef do a tasting for them.”

Ward chuckled. “They are getting a world-class chef.”

“Who?” Irritation was creeping into his voice. Someone was moving in on his territory without even a warning.

“Clementine Blue.”

“I’ve never heard of her, whoever she is. But I have to say that I’m very disappointed that you wouldn’t even give me a heads-up about this.”

“You work at Wild Eats. You aren’t a caterer. I believe that’s what you said about the last wedding, anyway. Have you ever catered an event before?”

“A few times. I’ve done private events. If I did say that, I don’t remember. I was likely blowing off steam.”

There was a long silence. Parker had no idea what Ward was thinking, but he didn’t want to piss off his best connection to Safari Corp. He’d be fine with whatever Ward decided and wouldn’t push the issue.

“I guess you can do a little tasting,” Ward said finally. “I’m not promising anything, and you’ll go after Clem.”

“Fine. Thanks for the opportunity.”

Parker got the details about the tasting and hung up with mixed feelings. The couple had given no specifications for the tasting. They’d said they were willing to try whatever Clementine Blue made. It was a good opportunity, but it wasn’t a done deal.

He told the staff goodnight early. He hated to do it this week, but he had no choice. There was an entire tasting to put together.

In his golf cart outside, he looked up his rival chef on his tablet. He was too impatient to wait until he got home. One glance at her picture and he was sure he was going to have to go back inside and have private time in the men’s room. She looked nothing like he’d imagined. There were a lot of pretty chefs, but most of them kept their look very neutral when they were at work. This woman was in a whole different league. She was by far the most beautiful woman he’d seen in a long time.