Page 19 of Frat House Fling
Hailey went straight to the wine cabinet. “I don’t know which foods go with white, and which ones with red. And then I panicked—what if I accidentally picked an expensive one that costs a hundred bucks or something?”
I wondered what she’d say if she knew that most of the guys here would consider that the bare minimum for a bottle of wine. I knelt down and scanned the selection. “Chardonnay goes well with salmon.”
“It’s not salmon, though.”
I twisted my head to look up at her. “It’s not?”
“No, it’s trout. Bennett sent me to that fancy grocery store, the one on East Street, and everything was so expensive.”
“He made you pay for it?” I asked sharply.
“No, he gave me money, but I didn’t want to waste it. And there were so many kinds of fish I’d never even heard of, but then I saw the trout. It was local, and you know how hard it is to get fresh fish in northern Georgia. And it’s something I actually know how to cook.” Her eyes grew distant with memory.
I thought it over and then grabbed two pinot noirs instead, which I preferred over chardonnay. It really didn’t matter at this point—once Bennett heard that she’d cooked trout, the wine pairing would be the last thing on his mind.
Shit. But what had he expected? He’d hired an inexperienced young woman to do the work of a professional chef. And it wasn’t hard to figure out why he’d hired her. I’d seen that French maid costume he’d jokingly held out for her. It wasn’t hard to imagine how hot she’d look in it.
But I didn’t care if Bennett was disappointed. He’d probably be disappointed at a Michelin-starred restaurant. It was Hailey I was worried about.
I straightened up and handed her the bottle. “This will do.”
“Thank you.” She managed to put a lot of intensity in those two little words.
Back in the kitchen, I located a corkscrew while Hailey stretched up on her toes to reach the wine glasses. When she started back toward the dining room, I stopped her. “Let’s pour them out here.”
She nodded, as if that made sense, but I wasn’t sure it did. Yes, it was her job, but letting Bennett treat her like a serf didn’t sit well with me.
She deserved better than that.
We each balanced three glasses. The others looked up as we approached.
“You didn’t like the salads?” Hailey asked.
“They’re great,” Ian said, and Matt echoed his words. But it didn’t look like any of them had eaten much of it.
“I can make something else.”
“It’s fine,” I said firmly, handing out glasses. Bennett downed his without proposing a toast, and Grant followed suit.
“I’ll go get the other bottle,” Hailey said, sounding worried.
The moment she left the room, I spoke in a low voice. “She made trout, and I’m sure she did the best she could. She didn’t grow up the same way we did. She’s not used to the kind of food we eat.”
“Obviously,” Bennett said. “I guess we’re lucky we didn’t get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
Matt took the lid off the mashed potatoes and scooped some onto his plate. “These look good.”
Bennett merely raised an eyebrow at them. He was such a stuck up, arrogant jerk. Unlike Hailey, he’d been eating the best quality food his whole life, but if you put him in a kitchen and told him to cook something, he wouldn’t have the first clue how to do that.
Ian used the tongs to push aside the foil over the trout. It actually smelled pretty good, with notes of lemon and herbs.
We’d all served ourselves—another concept Bennett was unfamiliar with—by the time Hailey came back. If I had to guess, I’d bet she had trouble opening the other bottle.
I discreetly indicated an open spot on the table, and she set it down, looking rather anxiously at Bennett.
“Would you care to join us?” I asked. The table was only set for six, but she’d obviously worked hard on this meal.
“What?” she said, at the same time as Bennett. Then she shook her head. “Thanks, but I made dessert, too. I need to go check on that.”