Dinner For Two

“Daniel! What are you doing here?”

It was Friday morning and I had the day off. It was slowly becoming my “spend the day with Jonah at work” day.

Jonah had gotten a phone call so I stepped out of his office to give him some privacy. To my surprise Daniel was standing in the busy hallways of Jonah's studio.

“Hey, Lynn” Daniel waved as he walked towards me. He was dressed down in his Ray-Ban eyeglasses and an old t-shirt over dark skinny jeans. His hair was in more a fluff rather than it's iconic quiff. I almost didn't recognize him. He gave me a hug and continued to talk. “We have a meeting with the talent agent for the show.” He pointed behind him where the rest of his band mates were.

“I'm sorry that took forever” Jonah said aloud as he walked out of his office. He hadn't noticed that I wasn't the only one standing in the hall until he looked up from his iPhone. “Oh” He stopped abruptly.

“Jonah, this is Daniel, the leader singer from The Kicks. Daniel, this is my boyfriend Jonah.” I introduced the two.

“Nice to finally meet you, mate.” Daniel said in his South London accent as he held out his hand.

Jonah pointed his finger at Daniel, as if to remember something. “So you're the guy my girl left me for.” He was referring to the picture of me and Daniel that was taken at Kadie's launch party.

“No, no, that wasn't -” Daniel tried to explain himself but Jonah cut him off.

“I'm just fucking with you!” He laughed and winked to show his playfulness. “It's nice to finally meet you.” He shook Daniel's hand. “Are you here to meet with Marci?” He patted Daniel on the shoulder and walked with him down the hall.

It was a little after noon when Kadie called me.

“Hey, K, what's up?” I answered.

“Hey Lynn, I need your help.” She sounded worried.

“What's wrong?” I spoke slowly. “Is everything okay?'

“Yeah, yeah, everything's fine.” It sounded like she was covering her mouth as she talked. “Adam and I never really talked about the whole Poppy thing since it happened. I can tell he's still pretty upset. I wanted to make a gesture to apologize, but I needed your help to figure what I should do?”

We tried brain storming a few ideas until we decided an intimate dinner at home would be the best bet.

Since Kadie was prepping the apartment for her date, I did her a favor by stopping by the market to pick up some salmon and steaks.

It was almost past three when I finally got to her place.

“What took you so long?” She flung the door open and particularly dragged me inside.

“The market was packed with Friday traffic. It took forever to put my order in.” I shouted as Kadie had already disappeared into her room.

She came rushing out with a red dress in one hand and a royal blue in the other. “Which one do you think is a better apology dress?”

“Red always looks good on you.” Kadie nodded and began walking away. “But that blue one is a little more figure fitting.”

She stopped and turned back around again. “Blue or red? BLUE OR RED?” she panicked.

“Blue, definitely blue.” I confirmed to calm her down. “Whats come over you Kadie?”

She was already back in her room. She responded just loud enough for me and everyone else in the complex to hear. “I just feel bad, you know?'

“As you should” I said. I pulled the salmon out of the wrapping paper and placed them onto a dish. I dug around in Kadie's pantry to try and find some seasoning rubs.

Kadie came rushing out of her room wearing the blue dress. She grabbed an apron and wrapped it around herself. “I didn't think it was a big deal, honestly.”

“So than why the sudden change in heart?” I stepped back and watched Kadie as she ran around the kitchen

“Because” She finally slowed down and looked over at me. “I realized what I'd be losing if I didn't apologize.”

I stared at her for a second before I turned a slow gradual clap into an applause. “Wow, it took you long enough!”

Kadie tossed a potato at me. “Oh, whatever! Just hurry up and cut up these up. Adam's gonna be home soon!”

We scrambled around the kitchen as we both made dinner. I cooked the potatoes and green beans while Kadie made the salmon and steak.

Just as Kadie was plating the food there was a shuffling of keys at the door.

“Hide!” Kadie whispered loudly.

“What?” I looked confused.

“It'll kill the mood if you're here! Duck!” She whispered out loud again.

Just then the door swung open. I quickly crouched down into the corner of the kitchen hoping that if I held my shoulders in close enough he wouldn't be able to see me.

In between cooking Kadie managed to step up the dinner table with candles and flowers. Adam walked by and admired it.

“What's all this for?” He asked, placing his keys on the counter just above my head. I sucked in a sharp breath.

Kadie walked out of the kitchen and in front of Adam hoping he wouldn't walk in to find me.

“This is my attempt at an apology.” Kadie's voice sounded a little rehearsed. I couldn't blame her, she'd only gone through the conversation a million times before Adam had gotten home. “We didn't really talk about the whole Poppy thing after it happened.”

“Kadie” Adam tried inferring.

“No, Adam, listen...” She cut him off. “I didn't quiet understand the caliber of disrespect on my part until we'd gone to your mom's place the other night. Being there and feeling a distance between us made me realize how I never want to feel that way again. It put things into perspective for me.”

I felt my body shaking. I was holding in my shoulders for so long my muscles were starting to give out. I released the tension and accidentally knocked my elbow on the cabinet behind me.

There was a silence in the room.

“What was that?' I could sense Adam's eyes wandering into the kitchen. I went back to squeezing my body close against the cabinets.

“Oh” Kadie tried to distract him. “Probably some dishes just shifting around. Anyway, as I was saying, I'm sorry I went behind your back with the Poppy situation. I guess you were right, I just wanted to have my company hit big as fast as possible and didn't really care how I got there.”

“I can't believe you went out of your way to do all this for me.” Adam said.

I hit the cabinet again, this time on purpose.

“Look, I'm sorry I was so harsh with you. I just didn't know how else to get through to you.”

“Let's just try to put it behind us” Kadie said followed by the sound of a kiss. “Alright” Her voice grew loud. “Hurry up and go freshen up so we can eat.”

I heard Adam walk into the room when Kadie came tip toeing around into the kitchen. “Quick!” She gestured for me to get up, but at this point I had been squatting for so long I could barely feel my legs. I tried to move as fast as possible but ended up wobbling out of her apartment instead.

“Good luck!” I whispered as I left.

“Thanks Lynn” Kadie whispered back. “For everything”