“Then I shall help you! After all, who knows the menu better than the man who makes it!” He laughed. “Any allergies I need to be aware of?”
I shook my head, honestly overwhelmed.
“Well, the menu is always different when I come.” Courtney teased, “So I’m not sure having been here before is much help.”
“Can I help with what food is in season? No. All I can do is change my menu to use the best foods.” Chef Daniel laughed. “I will send you the best our kitchen can offer. Can I start you with some wine with your appetizer?”
Courtney shook her head. “We don’t drink.”
“What? Surely you must be joking.” He demanded, his accent more pronounced in his dismay.
“No. Tom… Well, Tom’s father had a problem with alcohol, so they all stayed away from it. And… I can’t even stand the thought of it with how much Brooke…” Courtney trailed off.
“Ah… I understand,” Chef Daniel noted sadly. “A shame. A good pairing can bring the best out of both dish and drink. You are going to be a challenge. A challenge I shall rise to! I must begin!”
He gave a little bow, then retreated to the kitchen, I assumed.
“He seems nice,” I noted, sitting with a grin.
“Oh, Mr. Boulud is a wonderful man. I always loved coming here. Dad would always come and have dinner and donate when he raised money for Meals on Wheels or some other charity. Mom didn’t like me coming… said I’d get fat or something. But I came as often as I could growing up.” Courtney declared. “As soon as I was old enough, Dad would bring me.”
In a bit, the Waitress arrived. As you’d expect, in a high-end establishment, she was wearing a formal-looking pantsuit, and she delivered us our drinks. I was worried that Chef Daniel had disregarded our statement about not drinking alcohol, but the waitress, noting my concern, explained it was a sparkling white wine. I tasted it and it seemed pleasant enough that I figured it couldn’t be alcoholic. After seeing if we needed anything, she turned to go.
“Aren’t you going to give us a menu?” I wondered.
The waitress turned to me in confusion, and Courtney laughed.
“Chef Daniel said he was going to help us with our meal selection.” Courtney reminded me.
“Oh…” I breathed, feeling foolish for not realizing that was what the man had meant.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” The waitress asked.
“No, we’re fine,” Courtney assured her, and the waitress left us.
“Do we need to order anything for Parker and Brin?” I floundered. This was such a new thing for me, I felt like I was fucking everything up.
“They’ll order what they want,” Courtney assured me. “Assuming Mr. Boulud doesn’t just give them the same thing he does for us.”
I’d never had a true four-course meal before. I was used to maybe appetizers and then the entree, or just going straight to the entree. Most of the time growing up, we skipped the appetizers to save money. But we started with my first time trying caviar. I was honestly a bit nervous, but I figured… I liked sushi, so this shouldn’t be that different. The caviar was unique, but with Courtney guiding me, I found it smooth and flavorful. Not salty and overly fishy, like I’d expected. Then there was a summer salad with crab and a delicious vinaigrette. For Courtney, Chef Daniel sent a duck dish that smelled delicious, and for me, he sent an amazing beef filet dish. The beef was tender, perfectly seasoned, and melted in my mouth, making me wish the portions were bigger, but as I was surprisingly getting full, I realized more would probably have just been a waste. Finishing out our meal was the desserts, a chocolate and ice cream dish for me, and a piece of some sort of pastry with ice cream as well for Courtney.
I’d never been a food snob, and I didn’t think I was about to become one, but holy fucking shit, the food was amazing. The drinks were regularly changed out to pair with the next dish we were served, all non-alcoholic drinks as we had requested. The pace was leisurely, and we had plenty of time to talk while we ate.
“It was just as good as I remembered.” Courtney sighed, leaning back to savor a bite and giving me a great view of how amazing she looked in her new dress. I smiled, this had definitely been a good idea.
“So, still not regretting choosing me for your boyfriend?” I chuckled.
“Absolutely not,” Courtney assured me. “Being with you just keeps getting better.”
“Even with more and more girls joining the… er, house?” I asked delicately.
Courtney laughed, “You act like it wasn’t my idea to start with.”
“I know, but… did you think it would get this big? This fast?” I pressed.
“Maybe not this fast,” Courtney admitted. “But I’d be surprised if we’re done growing.”
“Oh, you mean like, more staff coming on?” I guessed.
“Oh, probably.” Courtney agreed. “But I’d be surprised if we don’t just get more… girls.”
I shook my head. “There are already, what…. Sixteen girls? Plus the staff?”
Courtney nodded. “I think that’s right.”
“So… how many is too many?” I wondered.
“I don’t know,” Courtney admitted with a shrug. “It’ll be too many if we start feeling like we have to compete for your attention.”
“And you don’t feel that way yet?” I prodded.
“Nope,” Courtney assured me. “I mean, if I go to bed tonight without some fun first, I’ll be shocked. But in general, all the girls seem pretty happy about the whole thing. Well… except Mary. She won’t be happy until her probation has ended, but she brought that on herself.”
“Aren’t you in the least worried that the new staff will… stretch me too thin?” I worried.
Courtney shrugged. “If they do, we’ll address it then. I doubt it though.”
We needed to keep our conversation safe while the drinks and each dish were brought out. Courtney had seemed anxious about the man with the camera, and if he found anything out from our waitress because we weren’t careful…. It would not be good.
“Anyway,” Courtney continued once we were alone again. “If there are issues, we’ll work through them together. I love you, and we’ll figure out everything together. Besides, it seems like most of the new girls want attention and validation more than copious amounts of sex. A few nymphs could cause problems if they were constantly monopolizing your attention, but so far, so good.”
I was still nervous, but if Courtney was with me, I was confident I could work through anything.
“Sarah watches out for nymphs too,” Courtney assured me. “There are signs that someone might become a nymphomaniac… or so Sarah says. I trust her. She has yet to lead us astray.”
I guess that was good enough for me.
The bill, with the Caviar, drinks, and both our meals as well as the meals for Parker and Brin was pricey. It would have ruined me financially not long ago, but putting down a 30% tip on top of everything still left me feeling surprisingly comfortable. Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness might have been right, but it sure helped make you comfortable while you worked out how to get happiness.
As we finished up, Chef Daniel came back out to chat with us for a minute. He seemed pleased with how taken I was with his food.
“I’m glad you were able to appreciate a measure of French Cuisine! But you must come back. There is more to experience, and remember, or menu changes with time as ingredients are in and out of season.” He told us, and when Parker and Brin rejoined us, he turned to them. “You will want to call for your car. There are a few paparazzi gathered outside to try to get a picture of Robert’s heiress with her new boyfriend.”
Parker contacted Elaina, and Courtney sighed. “I’d forgotten how annoying it can be… when the vultures figure out where you are.”
“I admit, I’m looking forward to everyone scratching their heads, trying to figure out who your boyfriend is.” Chef Daniel laughed.
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll figure it out,” Courtney grumbled. “They always do.”
“Well, if we’re going to be getting married, it will get out eventually, one way or another.” I conceded. “It can’t be that bad. Right?”
Chef Daniel and Courtney raised their eyebrows at me.
“He does not highly value his privacy, does he?” Chef Daniel mused.
It took a few minutes for Elaina to arrive, and we walked out to a blinding barrage of cameras and incoherently yelling. I could tell people were yelling questions, but they were so busy yelling over each other not a single one was understandable, and had we even tried to answer we wouldn’t have been heard.
Parker and Brin showed that while they weren’t the largest women, they could still make space around us and they got us to the car quickly, pushing me inside first, then body-blocking the cameras as Courtney climbed in, trying to cover herself to avoid any pictures getting a flash of anything they shouldn’t. Then Parker got in up front and Brin ran around to get in on the street side.
“Holy fuck.” I groaned, seeing stars. It was summer so the sun wasn’t setting yet, but with all the massive buildings throwing shade everywhere, the paparazzi seemed to have decided flash was the way to go. “What is the point of all of that?”
“They sell the pictures,” Courtney informed me. “If that first guy that got the picture of us before dinner was quick, he might have gotten good money for it from whatever internet troll media he sold it to, and the rest were hoping to get a good picture of us they can sell too, or a panty or nipple shot they can sell as porn.”
“That’s disgusting.” I snapped.
“That’s paparazzi.” She shrugged. “Just remember, if you are someone the paparazzi want to talk to, then you don’t want to talk to the paparazzi. Nothing good ever comes of it. If you want to set the record straight on something, Dad says always set up an interview with a reasonable and respectable journalist, not a paparazzi trying to get dirt on you to sell to TMZ.”
The legendary traffic in the Big Apple was just as shitty as people said, and it seemed to take forever to get out of the city. I didn’t mind too much with Courtney leaning up against me as we chatted.