Another joint effort story with a fellow literotica member, littlemissy05.
As the other ladies laughed, Sile looked in defeat at the charred attempt she had made on the grilled cheese sandwiches. The smoke detector on her dining room ceiling hanging open with the battery still in her hand Sile turned on the stove fan and headed over to open the window thinking to herself, "why did I even try."
Sile had moved to California recently from her native home of Dublin, Ireland. It was a very bold move for her, but she felt she needed to get her life back in order after the disaster of a marriage she had just ended. At 36 Sile felt she needed a drastic change, she had married a man whom she had met while finishing her Nursing degree, hard to fathom, but, he was the first and only man she had ever slept with, they dated for a couple years and finally decided to marry. After 8 years of misery Sile finally decided that she had about all of his childishness she could handle and filed for divorce. The betrayal she felt from his constant affairs had finally sunk in enough that she made the decision to end her mental torture and move on with her life. A month after the divorce was final she received a letter from a Veteran's Hospital in California accepting her resume and asking her out for phone interview. Though she had also put out resumes to many local facilities, this California job was something she thought would really work at getting her life on a better track.
The interview went very well, an offer was accepted and in just two weeks Sile thought, "my life will change."
Sile really enjoyed her new job, and she was learning to navigate the new city, she had gotten a small apartment a couple blocks from the hospital and had made some casual friendships with many of her fellow nurses. Three of whom were her closest friends; Brenda, Gracie and Angie, who had adopted her into their tight circle with open arms. The four were like a sisterhood, and the ladies had taken the role of guides for Sile's Americanization. They had a rotating weekend dinner at each of their homes, and so it was this that had brought them all to Sile's tiny apartment that fateful evening.
"Oh shit!" Exclaimed Sile as she turned to her laughing friends. "I really thought this would be one food I could cook without burning, at least I have plenty of wine and cheese still."
With that the ladies opened the third bottle of wine and giggled while they waited for the pizza delivery.
Filling the glasses with wine, Brenda said, "We gather for friendship not food." Raising her glass in a toast, as they all join in and laugh.
"Well lucky thing we have our friendship, because the food was a big disaster." Sile piped in, with agreeing nods for all.
As the ladies enjoy the pizza and start the fourth bottle of wine, Brenda speaks up, "hey, there is a fund raiser at the hospital tonight, why don't we go and check it out?"
"Oh ya," said Angie, "I hear that there will also be a silent auction for some wonderful items as well as a band with a dance floor."
"Not to mention a hot Doctor or two," said Gracie with a sigh.
"And food," added Sile.
"I'll call a cab," Gracie stated, "let's get ourselves primped up a bit."
The cab dropped the four somewhat giddy if not quite inebriated ladies off at the hospital entrance, as they made their way up the walk Brenda noticed a catering truck parked in the loading zone. "Look ladies," she exclaimed, "they went all out for this event, no hospital food tonight!"
As the four of them made their way through the lobby to the large conference room that was set up for the event, they laughed and giggled at each other's attempts at jokes, all of them feeling a bit over relaxed and bawdy from the wine. Stepping through the doors to the conference room, Gracie said, "Wow, some of these Doctors really clean up pretty good."
"Calm your hormones Gracie," Brenda whispered, "we have to work with them every day. We aren't here for a hookup, and you know Sile is still very fragile emotionally."
As they entered a waiter came up to them with a tray of champagne, each taking a glass they headed toward the buffet table.
"Wow, this is some spread," Sile said. "I don't know where to start."
As they picked up some plates an older man came up to them from the other side of the table. "Good evening ladies, please feel free to enjoy as much as you want, I or my staff will gladly answer any question you have, my name is David, I am the owner of the restaurant that prepared tonight's feast."
Looking over the spread, Brenda told him, "thank you David, it all looks wonderful, but if anyone has any questions it will be our friend Sile here, she is rather new to the country, and in truth a God awful cook."
The ladies all turned toward Sile with a smile, nodding in unison.
"Yes I admit it," said Sile, "I do have the ability to make many foods inedible, thank God for microwaves or I would probably starve."
"Well dear ladies," David said, "my Chef is here tonight, he is responsible for all of these dishes, and if you ladies would like, at the silent auction tables we have donated both meal vouchers for our restaurant and you Sile may have an interest in the private cooking lesson from Chef Paul that is also offered, please enjoy the food and music, and have a wonderful evening." He then slid back behind the curtain to the prep area.
"Really David, do you have to advertise that cooking class?" Paul asked him as he put down his coffee cup. "You know I am still upset with your little trick." At 57 Paul really did not feel like starting a teaching career.
"Oh come now Paul, you are a damn good chef, look at how well you have taught your crew," David said, placing a hand on Paul's shoulder.
"Different situations call for different actions," Paul huffed as he placed his chef's hat on his head. "I feel very comfortable teaching professional cooks, not teaching some silly housewife how to peel a damn potato."
Stepping from behind the curtain, Paul put on a smile to greet the guests as they were filling their plates.
"Sile," Brenda whispered, "look it is the chef. Let's go talk to him, maybe he will give you some pointers."
As Paul walks the buffet line, nodding and greeting the guests, he notices the four women looking his way and makes his way towards them.
"Good evening ladies," Paul says with a smile, "do you have any questions about the food?"
"Oh no, not at all," said Brenda, "we all work here and were just discussing the nice change from the normal hospital food we have each day. You have such a beautiful display, it is hard to choose what to try."
