CHAPTER 28

"Six months, huh?" Lili asked, unfolding her napkin and carefully placing the white linen on her lap.

We were at Morton's, about to dig into our orders of lasagne and linguine marinara. She was having the lasagne, I the linguine.

"Yup, six months," I said, twisting an elusive strand of pasta around my fork.

"Amazing, your patience."

"We've had at least 14 resignations over the past four months."

Lili shook her head, her mouth busy chewing.

"I'm staying not because I'm patient, but because I haven't been able to find another job yet," I explained.

"Have you tried similar other agencies?"

"Some. But they don't have any suitable vacancies. Besides, the timing is rather bad."

"Yeah."

We were both quiet now, only the clicking of stainless steel against porcelain breaking the silence.

"Oh, look who's here!" Lili said suddenly, waving her arm. I turned around following her gaze. It was Jean-Claude, walking towards our table and politely refusing the attention of a waitress.

"Bon soir, mes amis," he said, his face breaking into a grin. "Comme d'habitude ... ah, les amoureux..." He pulled a chair and sat across Lili on my left, cupping his chin in his hands.

"Jean-Claude, we are not 'les amoureux'," Lili protested, "we are just good friends. Besides, I'm not exactly Gabriel's type."

"Ah oui? So, what is your type?" he turned to face me, one eyebrow raised, ready to tease.

A waitress glided by to take his order, saving me from his wrath.

"Coffee, and a piece of gateau du chocolat, please," he said in his heavily accented English.

"Uhmm, yum. Can we share?" Lili asked.