Turn up the Heat

antiharassment agency, but I hugged her back, nonetheless.
    “Now, before you leave, you must tell me what’s going on with you. How are you handling finals? Are you reaching out for support from your fellow students? And from your friends and family?”
    “Finals are looking okay. I think I’m ready, but we’ll see when I actually get into the room to take those tests.” I considered telling her about my goal of correcting sexism in the culinary industry, but I couldn’t face the hyperenthusiastic response I’d be doomed to endure. Naomi was the sort of person who would fly onto the bandwagon and have me calling senators and organizing boycotts of restaurants before I knew it. As she’d just pointed out, we had very different styles. “But there is actually something bigger going on. Do you and Eliot know what’s been going on at Simmer?”
    Naomi’s boyfriend, or “partner” as she preferred to call him, owned an art gallery right near Simmer. His name was Eliot Davis. Now that Naomi and Eliot were together, she was a frequent visitor to Newbury Street. Naomi was not Newbury Street material, and I was always deathly afraid that some Prada-wearing, size-zero woman would point and scream at the sight of my tree-hugging supervisor and that the fashion police would then scoop Naomi up and haul her off for an extreme makeover. So far, I’d heard no reports of any such happenings, but it was only a matter of time.
    “Eliot told me about the tragedy. Everyone must be in incredible pain right now. This is a perfect opportunity for you to hone your skills by making yourself available as a resource to everyone at the restaurant. You may want to organize a few support meetings with the staff until the immediate feelings of anguish pass.” Always the social worker! It was vintage Naomi advice.
    “Oh, of course. I’m definitely doing that.” I nodded my head sincerely. “How is Eliot? How are you and Eliot?”
    “Thank you for asking. I appreciate that.” Naomi patted my arm and squinted her eyes in thanks. “Our relationship is taking a lovely path. The journey we are sharing together is such a positive experience for us both. We’ve enrolled in a couples’ class in aromatherapy deep-tissue massage. Oh, you and Josh should take this with us! So you can do some massage work together! I have a pamphlet somewhere here.” As Naomi rummaged through her massive folder in search of the dreaded pamphlet, I made faces at the thought of the two of them doing “massage work.”
    I cleared my throat. “Josh is very busy at the restaurant, though, and he’s exhausted, so I’m not sure we’d have time right now. Maybe when things ease up.” Or when pigs fly. Whenever.
    “Oh, in that case you should definitely work this into your schedule, because they teach a fabulous black pepper rub to counteract exhaustion.”
    “That sounds very... unusual.”
    Naomi temporarily abandoned her search. “You know, Eliot eats at Simmer quite often. He adores the food there. In fact, he’s taking me there tomorrow for a late lunch. Around two o’clock. You should stop by and see us.” She reached out and grabbed my hands enthusiastically.
    “I’ll see if I can do that,” I promised. I wondered what in the world Naomi would eat at Simmer. Her strictly organic, politically correct vegan diet left her consuming almost nothing besides locally grown bean sprouts.
    “We’re going with his gallery assistant, Penelope, because we are actually trying to do a little matchmaking.” She sang the word matchmaking as if the activity were slightly naughty and daring.
    “Who are you trying to set her up with?” I asked. “Someone at Simmer?”
    Naomi bobbed her head up and down dramatically. “Yes, with that nice bartender there. Kevin. He seems to have developed quite the crush on Penelope. Eliot told me that Kevin has come into the gallery with flowers and other little gifts for her on a few occasions. He is very sweet. I don’t have the impression that Penelope is quite as smitten, and, according to Eliot, she has lots of men who find her alluring. But we thought we’d give it a try. Kevin seems so interested.” I could practically see the lightbulb go on in Naomi’s head as she added, “Maybe they might like this massage class. I’ll have to give them the information, too. Couples massage could be a profound way for Kevin and Penelope to connect with each other. A little myrrh, a little orange blossom... Who knows