Unknown Diners

Chapter Two

Lorne smiled at Catherine and nodded. After nosing his wine again, he shook the glass and stared at the rising bubbles. Good God! Where do I go from here? That was a big show stopper. What hells she must have gone through. Still going through them. Need a subject change. To what? He ran his gaze around the room and back to his glass. "Five years now — where's the time gone? Can you believe it's been five years since Lumière closed?"

"Can't be five." Catherine took another sip of wine, then slowly nodded. "But I guess it is. That was while we were on the media junket through Chile and Argentina, wasn't it? God, how shocked we were when we returned."

For most of its sixteen years of existence, Lumière had been the hot spot. It was Zagat's top restaurant in Vancouver, consistent winner as Best French Restaurant in Western Canada, always at the top of the wine list awards. Then it failed.

Catherine and Lorne were sitting at a four-top set for two in the focal window during a promotional pre-opening of La Luce, a new Italian-themed restaurant taking over the space of the recently bankrupt Roberto. Five years previously this prime West Broadway location had housed Lumière.

She examined the details of the room. "Little change. Roberto had continued with Lumière's decor, and now so is La Luce. Odd, isn't it? They were doing so well, then bang! Closed. Both of them, so sudden, so unexpected. Both big surprises."

"But now we should be much less surprised. So many wonderful places have closed since Lumière. Too many, and it's increasing." He paused to pop a stuzzichino into his mouth, followed by a sip of wine. "I'm thinking there's something behind this. There are just too many of them."

"What do you mean, too many?" She looked up from her glass.

"Think of the past five years, the places that have closed. Good places. Great places. Places like Nu and C — Harry was at the top, he had helped create Northwest Cuisine back in the eighties with his Raincity Grill, and he was a leader in the Eat Local movement. His three restaurants were innovative, creative and always pushing the boundaries of fine dining. They were bustling, buzzing, then poof."

"That octopus bacon at C was inspired. I see what you mean. His places went from hot to not — physically not — so quick."

Lorne again studied the fine mousse in his glass. "Others, like gli Conti, Bistro du Midi, Cosecha. Appears now Nuance is about to close their doors. Great cuisine and ambience, well-run and thriving. But other places, hot places, like —"

"Like Roberto here. The food and service were both far beyond just good, and the place was buzzing. Why did it spiral down so fast? It seemed to be doing so well."

"There's something even stranger, though. When I started analysing this a few days ago, I realised the places which had..." Lorne paused mid-sentence and watched Catherine's face light up as they heard Cynthia's familiar voice.

"I'm so pleased you've both come. But you, Catherine, we've not seen you in months. God, when was the last?" Cynthia did a quick inhale. "Such a shock with Nathan. How are you doing?"

"Yes. Fine, I guess. Coming to grips with it. The shock, then the emptiness and..." She turned her head to gaze into Lorne's eyes. Strength. Thank you. Turning back to Cynthia, she continued, "Sorry, I've been ignoring you. Your invitations. I've been terribly unsocial." She winced a smile. "But I've been playing hermit too long now; I need to get on with living."

"I'll be back a little later, after I've finished my welcoming rounds." Cynthia turned and strode across the room, raising her arms in a greeting.

"She's always bubbling with energy and enthusiasm. A great marketer." Lorne shook his glass and nosed it, then took a sip to savour as he watched servers arrive with two dishes for each of them.