Beautiful Things – Russ Doherty

“Smells like Paris,” Renee says.

“When I was studying at Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, I always overcooked the fish, especially shellfish. The head chef would yell at me in French; he was from Burgundy. I didn’t know what he was saying. I just knew I was doing something wrong. Finally I got it right.”

“Isn’t that kind of nerdy, French cooking school?” She squints at him.

“Yeah, but you gotta start somewhere, whether it’s school or a relationship.” Gordon decides now’s the time to tell Renee about Laura.

“Hey, look, I need to say something. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sort of in a relationship already, and I know I should’ve told you sooner, but things happened pretty fast yesterday. So I just wanted to make sure you knew everything about me.” Well, not everything.

“That’s convenient, leaving your current relationship out of our conversation yesterday. You wanted to see my dragon tattoo and have sex with me, but you didn’t necessarily want to tell me the truth about your availability. It might have interrupted the flow.”

“I apologize.” Gordon feels uncomfortable, but he keeps cooking. “Over champagne and scallops.”

“Something like that.” “Could Thunder have anything to do with this apology?”

“He does seem to keep showing up.”

The front door opens and Laura walks in. Dressed in shorts, sandals, and a T-shirt, she’s blonde, shorter, and nowhere near as exotic as Renee. “Gordon, what are you doing here? I saw your Lexus in the parking lot, and you didn’t call me back…” Her voice trails off as she clocks Renee.

“It’s not what it seems,” Gordon says.

“He was just telling me the same thing,” Renee says to Laura.

Laura looks from Renee back to Gordon, and her eyes start to tear. The door opens behind her, and Thunder walks in with a cigar in his hand.

“You’re sure taking your sweet time,” he says to Renee.

“Who are you?” Laura says to him. Then she turns. “Gordon, what’s going on?”

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