93: Replacement

Josh and I took Cassie and Mary into Indianapolis Friday night to celebrate Mary's twenty-second birthday. So much of our lives was focused on the ranch that we didn't go out often. It was a major production to take the casa to dinner someplace. Much easier to just cook at home. Josh and I had a few minutes to talk last weekend and decided we needed to treat our women to more outings. After all, the original intent of the agreement was so we could be free to date.

Josh and Cassie had been putting off the idea of getting married, too. Cassie wore her engagement ring, but never mentioned planning a date. When I asked Josh, he said vaguely, "After I finish school." At the rate he was having to attend at night while working in the daytime, that could take years.

We had a nice table and were seated immediately by the maître d'. A waiter immediately brought a tray of appetizers, compliments of the chef. We ordered a bottle of champagne. Josh was the designated driver tonight, so I planned to fully relax and enjoy myself. He was in for a surprise, though. Soon after we'd been seated, the chef came to our table. That was a little unusual.

"Chef Brian, I am honored to have you dine with us this evening," the chef said. I smiled and shook his hand. "I am Chef Paul. It would be my pleasure to prepare an assortment of house specialties for your party this evening. Is there a special occasion?"

"Chef Paul, what a pleasure," I said. "We've heard about the reputation of Le Palais and simply had to sample your art. We would be delighted to enjoy whatever you deem fit to prepare. This evening we are celebrating our cónyuge Mary's twenty-second birthday."

"Splendid!" he said. "I would not presume to guess your appetites. Would you like a light meal, as if you were going to the theatre? A pleasant family dinner? A feast?"

"We would like a leisurely and companionable dinner from which we can walk away sated but not bloated. While theatre is not on our agenda, we may go dancing and would not wish to be unable to move. Thank you for inquiring as to our desires before simply presenting dishes. It shows already how Le Palais has earned its reputation and you yours," I said. I looked at him and his mouth twitched. Josh, Cassie, and Mary were simply staring at us with their mouths open. We couldn't hold it together any longer. Both Paul and I burst out laughing. I stood up and hugged him as he slapped my back.

"What?" Mary said.

"Mary, Cassie, and Josh, I'd like you to meet Paul Moreau, Chef here at Le Palais. Paul and I met back at the Tally Ho when I was doing my internship."

"I am delighted, ladies and gentlemen," Paul said. "The one dish I will not serve this evening is Chateau Brian. But I think I have enough other items in my repertoire that I can satisfy your appetites. Enjoy your hors d'oeuvres and champagne. On the table, you will find amuse bouche of escargot en croute. This will be followed by Coquilles St. Jacques, which are gratineed scallops. Relax and enjoy at the leisurely pace you wish. When you are ready, we will serve a light Waldorf-style salad with buttermilk dressing. For your entrée this evening, I will be delighted to prepare Blanquette de Veau, this veal dish is served in cream sauce with carrots, pearl onions, and rice. I highly recommend sampling our Macon Pouilly Fuisse with this dish. Finally, to celebrate the mademoiselle's birthday, we will conclude with poire belle Helene and espresso. Will this be satisfactory, Chef Brian?"

"We are in your hands, Chef Paul. Thank you for making this special occasion even more special," I said. He turned and left.

"Did you set this up in advance?" Mary asked. "Look at this room. No one else has had the chef come to their table and suggest an entire menu to them!"

"Paul told me once that when I was ready to sample true continental cuisine, I should look him up. When I discovered he was here, I made the reservation and asked that they tell Chef Paul that Chef Brian was joining him for dinner with a small party and would like to see what true continental cuisine was. He took it from there," I laughed. We raised our champagne glasses in a toast and started sampling the cheeses. I reminded everyone not to fill up on the delicious French bread!

"What was this about dancing?" Mary asked as we received the main course and our bottle of wine.

"I just thought that with the four of us together, we should take the opportunity to celebrate as completely as we can," I said. "Josh, go ahead and have a glass of wine. You won't be driving tonight."

"I won't?"

"It seems to me that we owe our cónyuge a full night of attention instead of a few hours. We've got a room at the new Sheraton. I hope you all don't mind, but I'm afraid all they had was a room with one king bed."

"We didn't bring any of our personal overnight things with us!" Cassie said. "We might have to go naked!"

"That would be fine, but Rose also packed a small bag with fresh clothes for each of us to put on in the morning with our personal toiletries," I said. "I'm pretty sure, however, that she forgot to pack your nightgowns."

"I hope so!" Mary said giggling. "I never thought I'd be able to eat veal, but this is so scrumptious."

We enjoyed the rest of the meal and went to the hotel, stopping at the car long enough to pick up the bag Rose had packed for us. The meal was close to $300, but it was worth it just to see my cónyuge enjoying Mary's birthday. The king suite in the Sheraton was great, but I dragged them all back out of it before they could start undressing.

"I promised dancing!" I said. The hotel had a lounge and live music on Friday night. We were able to get a table and order nightcaps before Josh and I were dragged out on the dance floor. We had a blast, and when we got back to our room, we continued to dance. But much more slowly and with no clothes.

"Bri, what's my share of the expenses for last night?" Josh asked me after we'd returned to the ranch. "I'm not complaining. Whatever it cost, it was worth it. I just have to budget my income carefully. My car really needs to be replaced and I've got insurance to cover, as well." I put my arm over Josh's shoulders, which was a bit of a strain since he's five inches taller than me. I guided him out to the silo. When I stepped inside, I started undressing to do my forms.

"Josh, you and I share a family. You take care of Mary and Cassie much more and much better than I do. I just got the numbers for how much I'm going to make from my new show. It's obscene. If I can't spend it on the people I love, there's no reason to have it. Don't take on expenses you can't afford, my friend."

"I feel bad about it. I don't want to be a leech."

"Ha! What are you being paid to help Samantha with the physical therapy on her shoulder every day? How much did I pay you last summer to help me with my physical rehab? How many massages did you give me? How much time did you spend with Whitney when she was injured? Josh, think back. Even in high school, you were the only one who understood the physical therapy Rhonda was going through and could help her," I said. "That's not being a leech. I don't contribute half what you do for our family. Let me do the little I can with money."

"You're something else, Brian," Josh laughed as I began my forms. "No wonder we all love you." If he said anything else, it was lost on me as I sank into the sacred space.

The money really was obscene. I was to be paid $1,000 per episode of XX/XY. The first twelve weeks we were live, I'd earn $60,000. Maybe that wasn't in the league of what Lionel was making in the NBA, but the only other person who equaled that was Elaine. And those were our salaries. We still shared in the ownership of the programs and residuals.

It would be easy to get lost in thinking we were worth all that.

Lionel had actually helped get my head straight. He'd played two exhibition games with the Bucks and was traded to Charlotte in a four-way deal that was hard to understand. He was home for the weekend of Halloween on his way between the two.

"Brian, they don't pay us what we're worth," he said.

"Choo-Choo, they pay us much more than we're worth," I said, using the high school nickname.

"Exactly," he agreed. "The money thing is what the owners use to keep track of the score. The score isn't who wins or loses a ballgame. It's who makes the most money. In this last trade, the Bucks ended up with the point guard they've spent three months maneuvering for. It's taken that long to get a deal in place that would result in what they wanted. That guard could have cost them a bundle. I mean to get his contract, not his salary, which is about four times what mine is. By manipulating the four-way trade, all they had to pay was me. That made me worth a whole lot more in the eyes of the Hornets. They actually say I'm going to get some court time."

"I guess we learned a bit about that in our creative management course," I admitted. "The talent is an asset and has a value. That value isn't how much we pay them, but how much we can make from them. So technically, Elaine and I make the same amount, five grand a week. The difference is that I do five shows a week and she does three. And the company makes more off her in the long run because she's been on the air longer."

"Now you are getting the idea," Lionel said. "We're chits in a game that isn't played on the court. We want to be the most valuable chit on the table. But our big problem—and I'm seeing this with the players I meet all the time—is that the player starts figuring that if he's worth a million in table chits, then he should get paid a million. But that drops his value as an asset because he costs too much to maintain. You've got to never believe that you are actually worth what they pay you. Just take the money and plan for the future when there won't be any."

"How'd you get so smart about this stuff so fast, Lionel?"

"My brother's been pounding it into my head from the first time we walked onto the court together. I'm not the smartest one in the family by a long shot."

Rhonda and I sat in the meeting with Rees's principal. We looked like an ordinary young couple. Dani had pushed Xan into my arms and told me she needed to go work with her sisters in the café to start preparing for Thanksgiving. I happily took the baby to the high school with me. Of course, Rhonda had to have baby time as well, but as the producer, she was the main negotiator with the principal.

Rees and her father were at the meeting, as well. The whole purpose was to get her released from class one day a week until the end of the semester so she could be on set as guest chef. I was reminded of the trades Lionel had described where the talent were chits on the table. The negotiations were three-way. There was getting the school to release Rees. In order to do that, her father had to agree to her new schedule. Before he would do that, he had to agree to the terms of her contract with Hearthstone. Hearthstone couldn't sign a contract until we knew she was released from school.

Rees and I pushed back away from the group and she made little cooing noises at Xan who responded with giggles.

"This all hinges on one thing, Rees," I whispered. "Do you want to be the new chef for Young Cooking? It's a great gig, but don't let anyone kid you about how much work it is. It's tough."

"You've done it since you were sixteen, haven't you?"

"Yes, but I started with one fifteen-minute segment a week. We'd film two of them every Saturday until basketball season so I could play ball. It was a different world back then. Now it's twenty minutes daily. It's a full time job," I said.

"I don't have the advantage of having, like, fifty boyfriends like you had girlfriends," she giggled. "But I love to cook and I love to perform. I can't think of a better job for me. And the amount of income will help me start college. My dad's smart and will protect my interests, but we aren't rich. I'd have had to work for a couple years before I start college at any rate. Now I can imagine going to an actual culinary arts school. I've attended classes at the school in Bloomington. It's what I want to do with my life."

"Rhonda will make it happen. Trust your director. You'll become a star."

When the meeting was over, she was on her way.

Rees showed up Friday and slid into her role as guest chef smoothly and easily. It turned out that the principal was pretty enthused that two of his graduates were doing gigs for Hearthstone Entertainment. Even though Amber had only been at West Monroe for one year and had hardly known anyone, the fact that she was Elaine's regular guest host was not lost on him. He immediately contacted Rose to discuss possible internships either during the summer or as work release when classes started again in the fall.

One of our goals had always been to give something back to the community and being able to provide some sort of work experience for kids in the community was one way to give back. We'd tried to include and influence younger kids in our productions and even though we were targeted toward upper teen and early twenties, generally speaking, Elaine's content was acceptable for younger kids. We were going out over broadcast airwaves, after all. We'd had Job's Daughters and DeMolay, 4H Food groups, high school honor societies, Young Rotarians, and such on the show as guests and audiences. That got me thinking. I walked into Stall One and asked everyone generally:

"Say. If I wanted to look up a specific episode of Young Cooking and knew who the guests were, how would I get the video tape so I could watch it?" The room went quiet.

"Database," Jen said. "If it's too long ago, it's on the Macs and Courtney might have to get a backup disk out. All the shows from the first summer camp on are in the general database." I had to think.