Bold and Simful

“You don’t know anything about running a restaurant,” Maxine protested when her husband revealed his latest idea.

“I made this meal, didn’t I?” Robert defended. He and Maxine weren’t arguing, arguments were rare in their house, they were discussing.

“True,” Maxine hesitated. Maybe a restaurant wasn’t such a bad idea. It would give her something to do now that the girls were grown and out of the house, but still, opening a restaurant would cost a small fortune. “Let me meditate on it,” she relented, “then we’ll see.”

It is surprising that Robert, who had made the Bettencourt fortune, would relent and allow his wife to run their bank account but once you realize that Maxine is the more practical of the two and that Robert has had more than his share of big-ideas-gone-bust, their arrangement makes a lot of sense.

Robert cursed the judge, “who doesn’t like Santa cookies, you pretentious puffer fish.” Robert had decided that a blue ribbon from Sue’s Kitchen would be the final nail in Maxine’s coffin of doubt but it was becoming apparent that there wasn’t a blue ribbon in his future.

When the guy who invited people to join the Kitchen won with a burnt rack of lamb, Robert suspected the fix was in, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

He would just have to wait until Maxine analyzed his restaurant concept from every available angle, which would allow her to feel comfortable with taking the risk. Seeing possible problems and their fixes before they popped up wasn’t Robert’s strong suit, he was more the gung-ho idea man.

“I am this close,” Robert told Jay Gibson when Jay arrived to discuss his position as executive chef in a restaurant that didn’t exist yet. “I’ve already found a little cafe in Rigel Heights…”

“Oh! I live in Rigel Heights! That would be perfect for me,” Jay was more than excited, “I wouldn’t be far from home if Brenda needed me for something. Did I tell you we adopted that little girl after all?”

“You did? That’s great! This is an even better idea than I thought,” Robert congratulated himself.

Back home, Jay explained to Brenda that it would only be a few more days until they were able to afford adding a third bedroom to the house. That time couldn’t come soon enough, little Jacob’s already small bedroom was now crowded with a second crib for Lydia and with all the new toys it was getting harder to navigate through the room.

Opening day at Court’s Cafe, named for the owner not the nearby courthouse, was a rousing success. The first customers arrived just as Maxine unlocked the door and the phone began ringing for reservations immediately.

Robert, always a people person, took on the role of waiter while Maxine, the ultimate organizer, played host. Jay Gibson was in the kitchen as planned.

Jay’s wife Brenda was in the dining room as the Cafe’s first official customer. Looking around her, she couldn’t believe how generous the Bettencourt’s were to have given Jay such a prestigious position when he had never cooked professionally.

‘Maybe I should have ordered the pancakes,’ she thought, struggling to swallow the burnt pork chops.

At the close of business, Robert and Maxine celebrated the success of Court’s Cafe.

Veronica stopped by for a visit and announced her latest news, “I dumped him, Mom. Naturally, he was upset but I told him it’s for the best.”

Maxine nodded but didn’t comment. She hadn’t thought Veronica and Xavier would make it through college, especially after Xavier took a stand and refused to continue doing Veronica’s homework but she was surprised to hear that they had broken up so early.

“I’m fine, don’t look so concerned,” Veronica added when she saw the look on her mother’s face. “So what’s going on around here?” she changed the topic.

“Well,” Maxine started slowly, unsure if she should tell her daughter about Catherine Mendenhall’s recent relocation to rehab, but just then Robert came in from his regular job as a CSI. Maxine had insisted he keep it until they knew that the restaurant was going to take off.

“Girls, I have great news!” Robert told his daughters excitedly after gathering them together in the living room, “Your mother and I have opened a restaurant down in Rigel Heights.”

“Ewww…the Heights?” Veronica shuddered.

“Where poor people live?” Maleena interjected, staring up as if not comprehending.

“Yes, the Heights and it’s doing really well. Apparently poor people have to eat too,” Robert sounded a little deflated.

Not so long ago he and Maxine had shared a small house in Rigel Heights while he worked to grow his little start up company. Veronica and Maleena had come along after they were able to move to Orion Bay and they had been given everything they ever wanted. Was it his fault that his daughters were such snobs?

Maxine wasn’t as snobby as her daughters and she was beginning to think of the Gibsons as more than employees so when Brenda Gibson invited her and Robert over to celebrate their new daughter’s birthday a few days later, she readily accepted.

Lydia aged into a cute little girl with black hair and blue eyes that matched her lovely dress. Looking at the toddler, Maxine thought for a moment that she didn’t look like either of her parents.

Note: The opening of the restaurant went much more smoothly than I anticipated. Maxine’s penchant for planning foiled my hopes for disastrous drama.

Posted on June 8th, 2008 under Bettencourt. Tags: Bettencourt, brenda, gibson, jay, lydia, maxine, robert. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.