"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
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The first time Don Whittaker heard those infamous words was on January 26th, 1998, when then president Bill Clinton went on national television to deliver his verbal rejection of the notion that a...
Another fully unedited chapter cause I forgot to do my finances? Yes ma'am lol Enjoy, lovelies! xoxo
Carson
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This dinner was absolutely not turning out how I envisoned it.
At all.
For starters, Don wasn't lying when he said he did his research. Throughout the serving of the main course, he kept the most fluid conversation going about Collin's time in culinary school, right down to the three schools he had attended and transferred between.
As soon as Collin had returned to the kitchen after setting down our main course, I leant forward a bit as I said "you weren't fucking lying about reading up on the guy."
Don leant in a bit himself as he replied "yeah no fucking shit you dumbass. I play to win."
And while the man was more than successfully winning the heart, body and soul of Collin with such smooth conversation, I was realizing something even more fucked.
Don's efforts at first were working, don't get me wrong, but after the third drink, we had pretty much diverged into this weird fucking world of our own at this restaurant, doing our best to critique the food without hurting Collin, and to critique the restaurant customers without calling too much attention on ourselves from the laughter that was getting harder and harder to control.
And that was the thing, Don was actually being incredibly considerate with Collin.
Like I think he genuinely felt bad for putting these pressures on a restaurant, and such a new one at that. He was incredibly friendly to all the staff, insisting that no items given today are to be covered by the House, regardless of whether or not he liked the meal.
There was also something else that had rewired my brain chemistry, and that was Don's cooking. When I asked where he even found the time to be a critic, he explained to me all that was the great chef John Terry. I had no idea these two were such food fanatics until now.
I think I was starting to understand more how their dynamic worked, even with John seemingly having the exact opposite personality.
I had also found out just a bit more about his family, but the way he described them from just that one sentence..
My mum passed when I was young, and now my dad stubbornly refuses to...
That told me everything I needed to know: those two were a topic I would avoid at this very public, very full restaurant. He and I had been doing well for Collin's sake.
I was shook to my core that he hadn't been out further away from the main cities in Texas. My family's home was where I spent my summers, as a kid growing up, and now was where I spent the holidays. I'd be heading back down for thanksgiving this year, and I almost mentioned something to Don about inviting him down...
