GiGi

GiGi barely registered what her cousin and best friend Rosemary was saying. It was so loud up here.

The idea of a rooftop engagement party overlooking Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras might have been the best or the worst idea ever. But that was Rosemary and Ash in a nutshell. Tonight, Rosemary was wearing a mask, and a dress entirely made out of beads. That’s right, all Mardi Gras beads. That girl was a wrecking ball and Ash was here for it, 100 percent.

But GiGi was good at rolling with the punches for her Rosemary, and the advance paycheck for catering tonight’s shindig was going to come in pretty damn handy. Maybe she could go all out and buy a fancier chef jacket for special events, rather than this one she wore tonight that was starting to fray at the edges.

Rosemary, slightly buzzed from some signature drink that Ash’s bartender friend Bobby had concocted for the night, had been lamenting to GiGi about one of Ash’s friends who was missing from the party that night. GiGi couldn’t hear half of it over the noise of this “gumbo-ya-ya,” but apparently said person had a crush on Ash. The whole idea was laughable; as if anything or anybody could get between Ash and Rosemary in the midst of their whirlwind — or hurricane — romance. GiGi, who didn’t have much experience in relationships, nodded and smiled and tried to change the subject by pointing out the amazing view of the French Quarter from up here on the rooftop.

“GiGi, these beignets are a-fucking-maze-balls, darlin’,” Rosemary said, finally moving on from the subject of missing party guest.

GiGi had also made, from scratch, mini-king cakes and cookies in the shape of wedding rings. For something savory, she went with homemade sausage and goat cheese wrapped in mini-pancakes. Everything was disappearing as fast as she and her sous chef and extra help could refill the serving trays.

GiGi smiled and shouted at her cousin over the din. “Rosie, I’m so happy for you and Ash, I had to do something special.”

Rosemary hugged her and said she had a few more requests. “I want you to do the cake for the wedding. Will you do it? Ash and I will pay whatever it takes to get it done. It’s got to be insane and only you know what I like.”

GiGi expected nothing less. “Absolutely. Anything you want. It would be an honor and I’ll do it as my gift to you.”

Rosie shook her head. “We’ll argue about that later. And since we’re in a bit of a rush to plan this thing in five months, can I lock down your people to do the catering as well?”

GiGi realized that when Rosemary said. “your people” she assumed that GiGi’s little struggling cafe had a staff of dozens of servers and extra help waiting in the wings just for big events. The truth was, GiGi had her sous chef, a line cook, about three servers, one host that doubled as a wait staff manager, and an out-sourced cleaning crew that came once a week.

As Rosemary shouted her requests over the loud music and revelry, GiGi smiled and nodded while anxiously doing acrobatic logistics and math in her head.

She knew she was going to throw herself into some extra debt for one big splashy event, but hopefully the payoff would be worth it. Word of mouth that rippled around from a DuChamps wedding was invaluable.

She’d just have to manage her time very closely. And hire more people. But the cakes? That would be all 100 percent her. Nobody was going to touch a DuChamps wedding cake but GiGi herself. Cake and pastry were her heart and soul.

Suddenly, there was a mood shift in the party. Rosemary turned, and GiGi followed her gaze. The hum of activity was coming from the rooftop’s doorway leading to the stairwell. GiGi heard excited shouts and claps and even some whistles. And then she got a view of flowing blond locks glinting under the torchlights. Vann West was in the house.

The crowd was freaking out. All GiGi could do was roll her eyes. Fuck. Me.

That over-built showboating barbecue-grill man who now thought he was an expert in world affairs had decided to crash her best friend’s engagement party because…why? And everyone was OK with this because he was male, blond, and spent most of his time cashing checks and yammering on TV about Vietnamese street food.

Yeah, she admitted it to herself. She was jealous. She wanted to go to Vietnam and eat street food and climb mountains and sleep on the beach and collect a paycheck from some anonymous subsidiary property management company that ran a restaurant with her name on it. Living his life that way certainly seemed to be good for his skin and hair.

“Oh, slap my mama, I heard he might be coming, but I didn’t believe it. Can you believe that’s one of Ash’s oldest friends?” Rosemary was ecstatic.

“I didn’t know,” GiGi replied, trying to look enthused.

The crowd that gathered around the blond behemoth finally calmed down. A little chick with fake boobs and a Barbie-thin waist was hanging on his every word and giggling at what GiGi assumed could not possibly have been that funny.

GiGi rolled her eyes and tried to focus on refilling her tray of appetizers.

As she worked her way through the crowd, with an excited Rosemary on her tail chattering way, GiGi couldn’t help but glance back at the celebrity chef. Soon, it seemed to GiGi that the famous Vann West did not seem at all interested in this Barbie-style woman. If GiGi was not mistaken, this world-traveling slab of too-perfect manhood was eyeing her. GiGi. In fact, every time she glanced over, his piercing blue eyes seemed to become more and more intense.

And, if GiGi was not mistaken, her dormant nether regions were waking up at all this attention. As time passed and this strange behavior of his continued, she felt herself blushing, and despite her feelings about the idea of this man, felt herself becoming aroused.

Aroused was putting it mildly. Just being in the same room with a stare like that, she was afraid her panties were about to become sentient and remove themselves on their own.

Come on, GiGi, don’t be an idiot. He’s not staring at you. He’s probably hungry and staring at this platter of appetizers you’re holding.

She may not like the guy’s TV persona, but GiGi never turned away any creature who was hungry.