Free california christmas dreams by J. M. Jeffries Page B

into a glass for Merry to sip and approve. He served them and left again.
    “Why did you bring me here?” Jake asked, eyeing the glass of wine. He’d never dined before where the waiter didn’t ask his wine preference.
    “Two reasons,” Merry replied. “The food is awesome, and I wanted to show you another child star who isn’t on drugs or broke.”
    Jake had to admit that his job was to deal with spiraling-out-of-control has-beens or newcomers. He knew his view of the industry was jaundiced and Merry wanted to show him another side.
    “The media tends to concentrate on the worst that can happen to a child actor and seldom covers the best that can happen. Being a successful adult isn’t news.”
    “So Andy’s a success story,” she said. “Are you familiar with the Barbarossa Brewery?”
    “I eat there on occasion,” Jake admitted. The food was excellent, but the real achievement was the thousand different brews it offered from all over the world.
    “Andy opened the first one and built it into a national chain. I invested in his restaurants and when he sold them, I bought a house. Not only is he a terrific chef, but he’s also not insane.”
    “I know there are a lot of sane former child stars out in the world. I even have a number of them as clients. I really don’t think all of you are crazy.”
    “But you thought I was going to fleece your dad out of his money,” she said in a sugary-sweet tone. “Have you changed your mind yet?”
    “I’m on a date with you,” he said.
    “This is a date?” She laughed. “I didn’t think you liked me enough to want to date me. I thought I was just introducing you to cheap, terrific food.”
    “Is this a trick question?” Maybe date wasn’t the right word. He wanted to get to know her better.
    “And here I hoped you just wanted to get to know me better, to see I wasn’t crazy.”
    “I know you’re not crazy.” In the space of a few hours he’d learned a lot about her and was surprised at how normal she was. “But I think your childhood was kind of crazy.”
    “Yeah, but it was fun.” She leaned an elbow on the table and cupped her chin with her palm. “I met a lot of celebrities and I could tell you Mel Gibson was a whole bucket full of different when I met him.”
    “That’s very diplomatic,” he said, considering his own dealings with the actor.
    “And I had the most embarrassing moment of my life when I met LL Cool J. I went totally fan girl on the poor man. And, ironically, the few times I’ve run into him in the past fifteen years, he remembers and really likes to tease me about it.”
    “What happened?” he asked curiously.
    She held up a hand. “Not a chance.” She took a sip of her wine and then cut the bread, slathering butter all over it.
    He liked the fact that she didn’t protest the calories or make comments about her figure. She liked to eat.
    Andy came out carrying a large pot. He was followed by a young girl, about twelve years old, holding extra napkins.
    “Hi, Cora,” Merry said.
    The little girl dimpled. “Hi, Merry. I’m working today.”
    “I can see that. Don’t let your dad work you too hard.”
    Cora giggled.
    “Ready,” Andy said.
    “Lean back,” Merry told Jake.
    In the next instant, Andy upended the pot on the table and mussels, small lobster tails, crab claws, shrimp and clams intermingled with half ears of corn, red potatoes and chunks of sausage came out. Steam rose from the food as it settled on the brown butcher paper.
    “This is called Pirate’s Fare,” Andy explained, one hand gesturing outward. “It’s my interpretation of a southern seafood boil.”
    Jake didn’t know what a southern seafood boil was, but he could imagine. He leaned over the food, breathing in the tantalizing aromas.
    Cora handed Jake a bib with a huge red lobster printed on it, a lobster cracker and a long narrow, two-pronged seafood fork. She set a bowl of melted butter in front of him and a pile of the extra