Free Crepe Factor by Laura Childs

pâté.
    â€œAva, my little flower,” Harrison said when he noticed Ava hadn’t helped herself to any food. “How come you’re not eating?”
    Ava grimaced. “If I take so much as a mouse nibble I’m liable to split my dress seams wide open. I don’t know how I’m going to make it past the soup course tonight.”
    â€œVery carefully,” Carmela said.
    Harrison took Ava’s hand and raised it to his lips. “Ah, but your figure is such a delight to the eye, my dear.”
    Carmela glanced around so she wouldn’t break out inhysterical laughter. “Have you seen Gabby and Stuart yet?” she asked.
    â€œRan into ’em in the lobby,” Ava said. She was still gazing starry-eyed at Harrison, who was suddenly waving like mad at another couple. Then she turned to look, to see what all the fuss was about. “Harrison, who are those people?”
    â€œThe Jewels,” Harrison said as a well-dressed couple suddenly swooped in.
    â€œHarrison, it’s been ages. Lovely to see you.” An older man with gray caterpillar eyebrows and hooded brown eyes extended his right hand to Harrison while he beamed happily at the entire group. Then he turned to his wife, a pinched-faced, ultrathin woman with a white pixie haircut. “Didn’t I say, not more than ten minutes ago, that we’d probably run into some old friends?”
    The woman fingered a thick gold choker at the base of her skinny throat. “You most certainly did.”
    Harrison took over the introductions. “Carmela Bertrand and Ava Gruiex, may I present Harvey and Jenny Jewel, proprietors extraordinaire of the Jewel Caviar Company.”
    Ava was suitably impressed. “Ooh, I just adore fish eggs.”
    â€œYou’re from right here?” Carmela asked. “New Orleans?”
    â€œThat’s right,” Jenny Jewel said.
    â€œI’m guessing you’re a relatively new company,” Carmela said. She’d never heard of them before.
    Harvey smiled. “Did you enjoy the caviar you had on toast points earlier?”
    â€œIt was delicious,” Carmela said.
    â€œThat was our caviar,” Harvey said proudly.
    â€œWell, this is fascinating,” Carmela said. “I thought the caviar industry had been completely decimated. That all the beluga sturgeon in the Black and Caspian seas had been fished to extinction.”
    â€œThey pretty much have,” Harvey Jewel explained. “But that disaster was a long time coming, so some very clever people involved in aquaculture took matters into their own hands. Beluga sturgeons have been crossed with different types of sturgeon, such as shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon, to create hybrid fish that produce fabulous eggs. Now caviar is being farmed in a dozen different countries around the globe.”
    â€œThat’s amazing,” Carmela said. “And where do you source your product from?”
    â€œWe buy bulk sturgeon caviar from a farm in Finland,” Harvey Jewel said. “We ship the caviar here in refrigerated containers and package it ourselves in a repurposed shrimp factory that went bust after the BP oil spill.”
    â€œYou probably use those teeny-tiny little jars,” Ava said.
    Harvey Jewel smiled. “Well, an ounce of caviar is still rather expensive.”
    â€œBut there’s a good-sized market for caviar?” Carmela asked.
    Both Jenny and Harvey Jewel beamed.
    â€œYou have no idea,” Harvey said, just as a bell tinkled to call everyone to dinner.
    *   *   *
    Babcock finally joined their group just as they were all sitting down at their table. Carmela was none too pleased with his behavior, but decided to give him a pass. His mind was occupied, after all.
    â€œLook,” Carmela said, reaching through a forest of wineglasses to pick up a small menu printed on elegant parchment paper. “They’re serving duck gumbo as the first