Simmer Down

you had a good time last night with Sean at Eclipse. Seems like a great guy.” Click.
    That damn Hannah! She obviously had seen me at the bar with Sean. So much for my covert getaway. That bitch had probably waited all of thirty seconds before scampering back to Josh with news of my supposed infidelity and luring him back to her lair to cook her a romantic dinner. Although Josh had no reason to be jealous, I hadn’t planned to tell him about my harmless date-that-wasn’t with Sean. I mean, the conversation had centered around Hannah and the murder. Still, I’d been spotted out with an ex-boyfriend. And what had Josh himself been up to with Hannah? I still didn’t have an explanation about the shopping list in his handwriting. Not that I’d asked him yet.
    “What was that about?” Doug asked me.
    “Long story,” I answered.
    I sampled my shrimp and, as cranky as I now was, knew that it was one of Josh’s best dishes ever. The sweetness of the polenta and com were a delectable match for the spiciness and saltiness of the shrimp. Josh had taught me that to make flavors balance out in a dish, you needed to combine opposites.
    Our salads arrived. Long lengthwise slices of cucumber were wrapped about brightly colored greens to form low cylinders. Enoki mushrooms sprouted out of the tops of the salads, which were covered in a glistening sesame-honey dressing. I took a taste. My salad was as delicious as it was beautiful.
    But until I’d straightened things out with Josh, I was going to be crabby and upset for the rest of the night. And where was Adrianna? She still hadn’t come back from the ladies’ room, and I needed her. In situations like this, I had a tendency to blow things out of proportion and act rashly, whereas Adrianna had a contrasting tendency to retain her sanity.
    I excused myself from the table, but everyone was too occupied in savoring the food to notice. It’s amazing how quickly complete confidence in the solidity of a relationship can change to incredible fear that everything is about to collapse. I just hoped that Josh would believe me when I assured him that nothing nefarious had transpired between Sean and me. I also hoped, of course, that Hannah hadn’t taken advantage of Josh once she’d made him doubt my devotion.
    As I hurried through the restaurant, I was so focused on finding Josh that I barely noticed any of the other diners. Reaching the doors to the kitchen, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t just barge in. This was opening night, the tension was high, meals were now being prepared and served, and, for all my sense of involvement with Simmer, I didn’t work here. For a moment, I stood there helplessly. Then one of the doors flew open, and I nearly collided with a server carrying an overloaded tray of food.
    “Sorry,” I muttered apologetically and ran off to the bathroom to figure out what to do. I was such an idiot! Why hadn’t I just told Josh about meeting up with Sean? Now it just looked like I was hiding something.
    I pushed open the bathroom door to find Adrianna in front of the mirror shaking her hair out and applying lipstick.
    “Where have you been? I need your help,” I whined. “It’s Josh.”
    “Sorry. Just preening, you know. What’s going on?” Ade leaned toward the mirror to get a close-up view of her perfectly applied makeup.
    “Cheater.”
    Ade stood bolt upright. “How do you know?” She stared at me in the mirror, disbelief running across her face.
    “That’s what Josh thinks.” I explained Hannah’s dirty deed and went on to say that not only did I look like a cheater but that Hannah had probably tricked Josh into cheating on me.
    “Oh.” Her face relaxed a little. “That’s ridiculous. You did nothing wrong, and we both know Josh wouldn’t touch that little rat girl again. You’re being silly. Go find him and straighten this mess out. Is our food there yet? I’m starved.”
    “The appetizers came. And the salads. I’ll be back at the table in a minute.”
    “See you then.” Adrianna left me alone.
    Everything was going wrong! The last thing I wanted was to fight with Josh at Simmer’s opening. As I’d gathered from Isabelle when she’d called me, Josh had been in a foul mood all day. Poor Josh! Instead of being free to devote himself exclusively to the preparations for opening night, he’d been plagued by thoughts of my hooking up with Sean! Was it narcissistic to imagine that Josh would be so overwhelmed with misery