Kaye Dacus - Menu for Romance

To the real-life Corie, Lori, and Pamwonderful sisters-of-the-heart whore always there for me.

This book wouldnt be here if it werent for my brilliant agent, Chip MacGregor, and my incomparable editor, Rebecca Germany. My sincerest thanks to both of you for believing in me. Most sincere thanks go to my copyeditor, Becky Fish. Thanks for everything you do! As always, my deepest gratitude goes to my family who are my biggest supporters and greatest fans. And greatest of all, praises to God for granting me the desire of my heart: the opportunity to stay home and write.

Happy New Year!

Her thirty-fourth New Year and still no kiss at the stroke of midnight ... or any other day or time. Meredith Guidry stood in the doorway leading into Vue de Cielthe cavernous, sky-view event venue at the top of the tallest building in downtown Bonneterre, Louisianaand swallowed back her longing as she watched hundreds of couples kiss.

A short burst of static over the earpiece startled her out of her regrets.

Mere, were going to set up the coffee stations and dessert tables. The executive chef s rich, mellow voice filled her ear.

She clicked the button on the side of the wireless headset. Thanks, Major. Turning her gaze back to the main room, she tapped the button again. Lets slowly start bringing the houselights back up. I want us at full illumination around twelve thirty. She strolled into the ballroom, the floor now covered with shiny metallic confetti, the hundreds of guests milling about wishing each other a happy New Year. Out on the dance floor, a large group of men stood swaying, arms about shoulders, singing Auld Lang Syne at the top of their lungs, accompanied by the jazz band.

Lets make sure tables are bussed. Pressing her finger to the earpiece to speak over the network made her feel like those secret service agents in the movies who were always talking into their shirt cuffs. Im seeing several tables with empty plates and glasses.

She kept to the perimeter of the room, doing her best to blend in with the starlit sky beyond the glass walls, barely repressing the feeling of being the loner, the schoolgirl no one else paid any attention to ... the woman no man ever gave a second glance.

You look like a kid staring through a candy store window, wishing you could go inside.

Merediths heart thumped at the sudden voice behind her. She turned. Major OHara grinned his lopsided grin, his chef s coat nearly fluorescent with its pristine whiteness.

Howre you holding up? He squeezed her shoulder in a brotherly way, his indigo eyes gentle.

She sighed. You know meI operate on pure adrenaline at these things no matter how little sleep Ive gotten the night before. So long as I stay busy and dont slow down, the fatigue cant catch up with me.

And stopping to grab a bite to eat would have meant slowing down?

Yep.

Coldness embraced her shoulder when Major lifted his hand away. I set aside a few take-home boxes for youand Anne. I told her Id be sure to save a little of everything.

Anne. Merediths cousin and best friend. Her inspiration and mentor. Owner of a stellarly successful wedding- and event-planning business, Happy Endings, Inc. And friends with Major OHara on a level Meredith could never attain.

If you see George, tell him Ive been experimenting with that plum pudding recipe he gave me. Ill need his expert opinion before I can officially add it to my repertoire.

Ill tell himbut you see him more often than I do.

Yeah, I guess so. Im glad we convinced Anne to fall in love with him. Finally, having another mans opinion when were all working an event together. He winked.

Meredith quickly turned her eyes toward the milling crowd so he wouldnt see how he affected her. It would only embarrass himand mortify her.

He tweaked her chin. Come on. Back to work for the bosses.

Over the next hour, Meredith poured herself into her work to try to keep exhaustion at bay. The last few guests meandered out just after one thirty. Meredith turned on all of the lights, their glare on the glass walls and ceiling nearly blinding her. She tasked her staff to stack chairs, pull linen from tables, and clear the room.

She directed the sorting of the rented decorations and materials into different dump sites around the room. Early Tuesday morning she would meet all of the vendors here to have their stuff carted away so the building maintenance staff could get in for a final cleaning before resetting the room for lunch service.

Miss Guidry, are these your shoes? Halfway across the room, one of the black-and-white-clad workers held aloft a pair of strappy, spike-heeled sandals. Merediths medium-height, pointy-toed brown pumps rubbed her feet in a couple of places after six hoursbut nothing like the pain those sandals would have caused.

Lost and found, she called over the music throbbing through the rooms built-in PA system. Not what she would choose to listen to, but it kept the staffmostly college studentshappy and working at a brisk clip. That made three pairs and two stray shoes, five purses, sixteen cellular phones, and one very gaudy ruby ringand those were only the items Meredith had seen herself. Her assistant would be fielding phone calls for days.

Vacuum cleaners roared to lifea wonderful sound, as it meant they were getting close to quitting time. A couple of guys loaded the last of the large round tables onto a cart and wheeled it down the hall to the freight elevator, followed by several more pushing tall stacks of dark blue upholstered chairs on hand trucks.

Vue de Ciel expanded in all directions around her. She hugged her arms around her middle. Shed survived another New Years Eve Masked Balland the eight hundred guests seemed to have enjoyed themselves immensely. Hopefully her parents would deem it a success.

The soprano of flatware, alto of china, tenor of voices, and bass rumble of the dish sterilizers created a jubilant symphony that thrilled Major OHaras heart.

Simply from the questions the food-and-wine columnist from the Reserve had asked, the review in the morning newspaper wouldnt be good. It would be glowing.

Chef, stations are clean, ready for inspection. Steven LeBlanc, sous chef, wiped his hands on the towel draped over his shoulder. Though Stevens white Nichols State University T-shirt was sweat-soakedmuch like Majors own University of LouisianaBonneterre tributethe kids blond hair still stood stiff and tall in mini spikes all over his head.

Major hadnt yet been able to find anything that would keep his own hair from going curly and flopping down onto his forehead in the heat and humidity of a working kitchen. Yet asking Steven for hair-styling tipsMajor grunted. Hed rather slice his hand open and stick it in a vat of lemon juice.

He followed Steven through the kitchen, inspecting each surface and utensil, releasing some of the staff to clock out, pointing out spots missed to others.

Civilian in the kitchen, rang out from one of the line cooks.

Meredith, stately and graceful, light hair set off to perfection by her brown velvet dresslike strawberries served with chocolate ganacheswept into the kitchen, drawing the attention of every man present. If she knew she had that effect on his crew, she would laugh her head off and call them all nuts.

Im ready to release my staff, unless you need any help in here. Meredith came over and leaned against the stainless-steel counter beside him. She even smelled vaguely of strawberries and chocolateor maybe that was just his imagination.

He cleared his throat. I think weve got it covered.