Chapter 25: Party Preparations – Kate III .1 – Saturday

The Saturday before the Super Bowl party, at our regular brunch, Daphne told everyone to dress for kitchen work. So no one showed up in the usual slutty brunch outfits. When the crew rolled in—Jane and Rachel together, Janice and Sydney together—Daphne greeted them with a firm hug and a kiss on the cheek, then inspected their clothes like a drill sergeant and declared them all acceptable.

The apartment was already spotless—Daphne’s doing. I work late most nights, either at the office or in my home office, so cleaning has quietly become her job. She never complains, and I try to remember to thank and compliment her.

She announced the day was dedicated to food prep. That’s what we did. Minimal actual cooking—just planning the menu, making lists, checking supplies. Daphne insisted on everything fresh, nothing reheated, teasing that our guests didn’t deserve yesterday’s leftovers.

Then came the store runs. Daphne treated these like military campaigns. She was the commanding general and anyone accompanying her was a lowly private. First it was me and Daphne, then Daphne and Janice, then Daphne and Rachel, then me and Daphne again. Jane and Sydney flat-out refused after hearing the horror stories. Janice and Rachel refused a second trip; they compared it to dental work without anesthesia. That left me as the unwilling volunteer.

She ordered me all over the store looking for one thing or another. But when it came to the store employees, she charmed the produce guys into making multiple trips to the back room for “really fresh” carrots, then celery, then whatever. She’s so sweet about it that half the store was practically fighting to help her—I’m pretty sure one of the men didn’t even work there. I stood there ready to pull a plastic produce bag over my head while she interrogated a poor kid about the exact harvest date of the romaine.