Personal Chef

Chapter 41

By mid-September, the festival tour was over. We were back in Toronto full-time and both had huge things in our lives we were focused on.

Shawn was still working towards completing his album. This wasn't going exactly smoothly. Despite a full month of writing and recording in Malibu, he wasn't satisfied with what he'd produced. He'd written a couple new songs and wanted to record them before making any decisions about what would go on the album. I respected his perfectionism, but I knew he was stressed that this was pushing the release back a bit. Initially he wanted the album out in November; it now looked like it would come out in January.

I was forging ahead with my restaurant plans. I'd found the perfect location and was putting half of my savings into renovations to transform it into my vision. It was a fairly small space, but it had an outdoor patio to the side that would double the seating during warmer months. It was situated on a corner and the exterior was brick. There were floor to ceiling Georgian windows which made the space light and airy. I was thrilled that it had room for a coffee/wine bar, and the existing kitchen was more than big enough for my needs. I had contractors lined up to start the work once all the permits were in order.

"So...your birthday is in a month," Shawn said one lazy Sunday morning.

We were in bed after having just had a lovely unhurried round of wake-up sex. My head was on his shoulder and my fingers were running back and forth from just above his belly button to his chest hair.

"I'll be 23. Older than you."

"I want to do something special for you, Chels. Maybe a weekend trip? Can you get away with the restaurant stuff going on?"

I lifted my head to look at him. I could tell this meant a lot to him by his tone of voice.

"Where were you thinking?" I asked.

"Puerto Rico. It's an easy flight and I know a place where we can have almost complete privacy. We'd even have our own pool."

He'd apparently been doing his research.

"How can I say no to that?" I said with a smile. "But there's just one caveat."

"And that is?"

"This is my present. No gifts on top of the trip. Deal?"

He frowned. "Seriously? You're my girl. I have to give you a present! Come on!"

I sighed. "Fine! One present and it can't be expensive."

"Your definition of expensive or mine?"

"Mine! Under fifty dollars. I mean it!"

"Why did I have to fall in love with such a difficult woman?" he asked in exasperation.

"I'm not difficult. I'm strong and independent and am not concerned with material things," I countered.

"I guess that's better than you being a gold digger."

After we got up, had coffee, and took a shower together, we went online and Shawn booked my birthday trip through his travel agent. The resort looked beautiful, and I felt excitement about our upcoming mini-vacation. It was actually really good timing since it would be hard for me to escape once my restaurant opened.

The following week, the renovations started and I visited the site each day to monitor the progress. I had a huge storage unit full of the all the things from my parents' catering company, as well as the furniture and other things I'd bought. I still needed to buy all-weather café tables and chairs for the outdoor area, but that could wait until the spring. No one would want to sit outside in Toronto over the winter.