Getting Rich (A Chef Landry Mystery) by Monique Domovitch Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes lit up. “So what you’re telling us is that all you’re doing differently this time is eating from your Skinny menu?”
    I avoided a direct answer. “We’ve created a full menu offering three-course meals, most of which are lower than five hundred calories.”
    “Unfortunately, that’s not including the wine,” Toni added laughing.
    “But, for those who do want a drink,” I said, “they can order white-wine spritzers. One spritzer has only forty-eight calories.”
    “Only forty-eight calories?” Lauren echoed, sounding impressed. “I didn’t know that. I think spritzers will be my new favorite drink.” The audience laughed. “You know what my weakness is? Bread. Please tell me you serve bread in your restaurant.”
    I nodded. “Oh, absolutely. Bread is my personal weakness too. We’ve come up with a few recipes for high-fiber bread, one of which is flavored with rosemary. It is so tasty you may never want to eat plain bread again.”
    “Rosemary-flavored bread—sounds divine.” Lauren was so engaging that I found myself forgetting about the cameras. I even forgot about my twitch. “Tell us about the most popular items on your menu.”
    I told her about our Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo, and about one of our latest hits, a low-fat mulligatawny.
    She was asking. I was answering. At one point I caught Toni’s eye and she nodded imperceptibly.
    Before I knew it, Lauren was thanking us for coming and then said something about being back after the break. The red lights above the cameras turned off. The floor manager took off our microphones and guided Toni and me off the stage.
    “Nicky, you did great.” She sounded sincere.
    “I did? I can’t remember a word I said.”
    “Yes. I loved what you said about hating to diet.”
    “I said that? I was scared half to death, but I have to admit, this TV thing wasn’t so difficult after all.”
    Toni quirked an eyebrow. “Well, make sure you never get scared half to death twice, or God knows what will happen.”
     

i’d seen that fake surprised look before

    Back in the makeup room, Toni grabbed her coat. “We’d better get to work. Hopefully we’ll have the phone ringing off the hook all day.”
    “I have to stop by the house first. I want to check on Jackie and the puppies.”
    She gave me an amused smile. “You lie like a rug. You can’t wait to find out if Mitchell caught your interview.”
    “I’m serious. I really have to check on the dogs,” I protested weakly. More important, I was dying to get out of my bodysuit. “Besides, I didn’t tell Mitchell about the interview.”
    She chuckled knowingly. “Go. Go. And if he did happen to be watching, let me know what he thought.”
    I didn’t bother answering.
    In the two and a half hours I’d been in the Global studios, a blizzard had started and the parking lot was now blanketed in white. My smart car was covered with a half foot of fluffy snow.
    “Oh, hell. I hate winter,” I cried, marching off toward my car with Toni on my heels. Using the sleeve of her alpaca coat, she brushed the snow off my windshield.
    “What are you doing? You’ll wreck your coat,” I exclaimed, shocked. Taking in the fine overstitch around the collar and down the front, I said, “It looks expensive. How much did that lovely little number set you back?”
    “You don’t want to know.” She snapped one of the wipers against the windshield. Chips of ice went flying.
    She was probably right. Toni could spend more on one garment than I did on my mortgage every month. That was another thing Toni had, that I didn’t—money—which was why she’d been able to bankroll our restaurant when we first opened. My contribution had been what she called sweat equity. Without her money, I would most likely be a sous-chef somewhere at best, and years away from running my own kitchen. I owed my friend a huge debt of gratitude for the opportunity she had offered me.
    Toni brushed the snow off her sleeve. “See you at