Yes Chef A Greenville Story

YES CHEF A GREENVILLE STORY

Preamble Ramble: Even though its mentioned several times, East Carolina University is in several stories and based in Greenville. If you love purple and yellow you'll love the real Greenville. Why do I use ECU, because I visited Greenville and thought it was a cool school and one of the bigger ones in the state. Even though they suck in most sports.

I was thinking I should use more HBCU's in my stories since most of my characters are Black which I feel bad about not doing. So I changed the school Adam went to from East Carolina in Trashman to North Carolina AT&T, Go Aggies!

The Greenville stories are connected yet independent. The first in the series if you can call it that would be Double Fault, followed by Trash Man. The Mouse that Roared, Plus One 1 & 2 and Cancer 1 & 2. So I decided to date the upcoming stories.

I don't have an editor which you can tell by the mistakes. I consider myself well educated but I'm finding English is my 2nd language and bad English is my 1st. I read these stories several times. Even letting it sit and going back 1 or 2 days later to see of I can spot mistakes.

I hope you enjoy the story.

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March 2002

"2 FISH, 1 STEAK, 1 SHRIMP"

"Yes Chef" everyone in the kitchen yelled. Even if they weren't involved in making those dishes.

"Fire one special" the head chef barks.

"Yes Chef" we all responded, especially the Sous Chef who had to make the special because somehow it was either missed or a late substitution.

Our popular midtown restaurant, Capers and Lemons, on a typical Friday night would do 250 to 300 covers. A cover is a meal. That's what we call it in the business. Cover includes appetizer, entree and desert. One seating is a cover. We have a 90 seat dining room so its important to not only have the food ready and on time but we have to have different meals for the same table ready at the same time. Fish cooks faster than a steak. God forbid some Neanderthal orders a steak well done. So there's always communications between stations. Fish is talking to meat, Sauces are talking to everyone. Whoever is on deserts has it easy. You never, ever want one meal coming out before the others are ready and second worst thing is having food sitting at the pass waiting for the other meals to be ready.

We need to turn each table 2 to 3 times a night. We open at 5pm and close at 11pm. But some kitchen staff have been here starting at 5am. People don't see the back end and behind the scenes of what it takes to make a restaurant successful. We get fresh product everyday. So we need 1 or 2 porters with a Garde Manager who checks each and everything that comes in to make sure it meets the Executive Chefs standards. He might be the second most important person in the restaurant besides the EC. Can you imagine the chaos of having bad fish or rotten vegetables during service or prep!

A Saucier or sauce chef who's one job it to make sauces and that can take all day to prepared and nothing is held over night. Whatever is left is thrown away. And when you have from 8 to 12 sauces, well that's a lot of work. Other prep usually includes preparing the fish which comes in whole. Various meats that need to be butchered.

Let me introduce myself, I'm Nishan Desta, 26 years old classically trained chef from the Culinary Institute of America. I'm proud of that accomplishment considering where I cam from. I'm originally from a small city in Ethiopia called Harar in the central part of the country with only 100,000 people. Because of the false narrative propagated by western media people think of Africa as people running around barefoot living in mud built huts with no running water. Yes some places are like that but not all. Harar is a modern city with 5 to 6 story buildings. Its almost like any western city. Imagine a city like, I don't know, Newark NJ without the crime, or a small Albany NY without the cold. Don't believe the narrative Africa. We have a saying, If Africa is so poor why does it support so many countries.

My culinary journey was a little different than most. I started cooking with my mother, Menan which means Grace, at her roadside stand. She was a great cook. The place was always busy so she provided a good standard of living for not only me but my brother and 2 little sisters. My father died when I was 12 in an oil field accident. His small insurance policy let my mother be able to start her restaurant stand. Being the oldest I helped my mom the most. My sisters Selam 13, Raey 10 and brother Bekele 16 helped after school and doing their homework. It helped that the stand was in our front yard.              

My mother wanted more not just for me but all her children. She sent me to live with her brother Abel and his family in Liverpool England when I turned 18. I went to secondary school, which is like High School in America for my last year. I worked part time at different restaurants and landed a full time job at The Black Horse restaurant after I graduated. I thought I knew how to cook but found out cooking traditional foods in Ethiopia was different than cooking other foods. The Black Horse specialized in transitional English food. Fish & Chips, Meat pies with Mushy peas, Full English breakfast on Sundays and Roast dinners on the weekends. I made a mean brown sauce and of course curry. I started as a dishwasher but soon worked my way up to prep cook and finally line cook. The head chef, Ethan, liked my work ethic. I was always on time and volunteering for any job that needed to be done. He taught me so much in the 2 years I was there.

I loved living in England. There is a large African population all over the country. Unlike America there is no Black English culture. We have culture from out countries. Its hard to explain if you're not Black or African-English. The social life was vibrant and at times wild. I was never a party person but I got out every once in a while. Usually going to the local Pub, The Hook and Horn. Watching Liverpool FC beat Arsenal or especially Manchester U. Whenever that happened it was Carnival in the streets. I thought football was big in Africa. England takes it to another level. I met my share of lasses during my time there. Never anything serious. I was just trying to live life. At 20 I wasn't looking to settle down.

Unbeknownst to me Ethan submitted an application on my behalf to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He had several friends there on staff and I was accepted for the next term. He was also in communication with my mother and Uncle. Between the the three of them I would be able to not only go but not have to pay anything out of pocket. At 21 I was making my second big move to another country. This time with no support system except myself.

After the two years I was at the CIA I thought again I had learned everything you needed to be a successful chef. That was until I took my first job in New York City at Queen City Grill. The grill part of name did not convey the true depth of the menu. It was more modern French than a typical American style grill. I was 24 living in one of the biggest cities in the world doing what I loved to do. My work life was great but my social life was non-existent. I was living with three other blokes in a small 3 story walk up apartment. I worked 10 to 12 hours a day with one day off. I was usually to tired to do anything except laundry and lay around watching TV. 18 months later Queen City was closing. I got lucky and got a job at Lemons and Capers as a Chef de Partie, a fancy term for line chef. L&C was a classical Italian place. So I've been cooking traditional Ethiopian, traditional English, Classical French in England and now modern Italian in America.

I had been there for 6 months when we hired a new pastry chef. When the Ryan the Sous Chef introduced her around I was speechless. She was tall at 5 foot 9 inches, beautiful clear sepia colored skin, somewhat thin without being skinny. She had the most interesting accent. And she was Ethiopian! We were told her name was Harriet. Most Africans have taken English names because their regular names sometimes are hard for English speakers to say. Her real name was Haset I later learned. Her name meant Joy or happiness. I could tell she was Oromo. It had been a while since I met someone from my homeland.

I just had a second to say hello and welcome as she was shown around the kitchen by her assistant pastry chef. I was surprised she was hired from the outside. Many times restaurants like to promote from within. I wondered if there would be any friction between the staff. So far we all got along pretty well.

Over the months the restaurants reputation continued to grow. Harriett proved to be a valuable asset. Her pastries and deserts were widely recognized and had received great reviews. We had been nominated for a James Beard Award and where hoping for a Michelin Star. We went from 100 covers a night to 200-250 a night. The kitchen was firing on all cylinders.

In the restaurant business a woman is definitely a minority. A minority woman is a unicorn. I wasn't interested in Harriet because a lack of choices. I was attracted because she was beautiful. We didn't have much interaction. She worked from 6am to 4pm most days preparing the deserts for night service. When we did work the same time I would catch her looking my way every now and she never spoke to me besides asking a question related to business. I noticed that she would come by my station and "accidentally" bump into me. I say accidentally because its very rare in the business. You hear people yelling "corner", "behind" "Sharp" as they walk through the kitchen. There are lots of opportunity for accidents to happen. I knew she had to much experience for that to happen.

I hadn't much of a chance to talk to Harriet. One day before our shift about 6 months after she started I decided to throw caution to the wind and ask her out. Thankfully she said yes. We both were working 6 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day. So we decided to have breakfast before one of our shifts. Dating was difficult with our schedules. But we made it work somehow.

I found out she was from Manchester England which is only 41 minutes from Liverpool. It really is a small world. She was first generation British. Her father and mother are from Ethiopia in the capital Addis Ababa, having moved right after they were married. She also had 2 sisters and a brother. Her oldest sister lives in North Carolina working for an investment bank after she graduated from University of Penn with a degree in business. She married a guy who owns a trash company there. The rest of the family still lives in England.

She wanted a change so decided to move to Canada after studying at the French Bakery School in Paris. After she graduated she worked at several restaurants in Montreal before finally coming to New York. After 2 years in France and 2 more in Canada she spoke fluent French. French became the unofficial language of the pastry department. She and the Saucier would have conversations in French. Its funny that most of Africa speaks French except in Eastern Africa. Ethiopia was one of the only countries that wasn't colonized. So with her Manchester accent along with picking up a french accent combined it made her cute and sometimes hard to understand. Manchester is known for its slang terms. Hanging means Disgusting, Gaggin means thirsty and on and on. You could hear the staff laughing because its usually something she said that no one understood. Besides English and French she also spoke Spanish which is a must in the industry nowadays.

And if you're wondering we did argue over who was better, Liverpool FC or Manchester United. Years later the argument is still ongoing.

She was a year younger than me. She funny with a quick whit and easy laugh. She didn't have that dry British sense of humor thankfully. She's not the most outgoing person. If she comfortable with you she opens up and her true self comes out. She can be very passionate about more than baking. I found she had a strange interest in old American western movies. She loved John Wayne and knew every word to most of his movies. And best of all she's a girly girl. She loves to wear dresses when not working. She has great legs by the way.

We found we had a lot in common especially the no social life aspect of the business. That first date led to several others over time. Because of our schedule we usually had breakfast or a late dinner after work. Going out after work usually included most of the staff letting off steam. We sat together during family meal at the restaurant. Family meal is served before the restaurant opens and cooked by one of the lower tier staff. We talk about specials and what to expect during service, like special request from diners, anything that effect service. If someone is having a birthday or anniversary so we can do something special for them.

Co-workers knew we were dating. It never caused any issues because we didn't have much interaction during our shift. She was in a totally different part of the kitchen and I was busy trying to keep up with service. Savory never messed with the sweet side. Two totally different cooking styles. Savory we used recipes but didn't use recipes. We flavored as we needed. The sweet side was very strict in their recipes. Each and every measurement had to be the same. If it said a cup you used a cup, no more no less. They say baking is a science and cooking is an art.

The restaurant got its Michelin Star the next year and service got crazier. There was a 2 month wait for reservations. The busier we got the more we were scrutinized. Every reviewer came several times to see if the quality keep up with the reputation. Even customers were becoming more demanding and sending food back just because they could, usually with senseless request. The pressure was beginning to get to the Executive Chef. He became more demanding. Sometimes reasonably and sometimes not. The stress was starting to wear on people. The work became work and had taken the passion out of the job.

By than Harriet and I had moved in together in a little one bedroom apartment paying $1800 a month. Outrageous. I would say it was a fairy tale relationship but I would be lying. We had our ups and downs. Working long hours and always being together without having a chance to enjoy life was making the relationship difficult. While I enjoyed the job I hated the city life. My hometown was more slow paced. Even Liverpool was nicer. You felt at home even if you weren't born there. Even the CIA was peaceful. Situated along the Hudson River you could go to Poughkeepsie and have fun or sit along the water. I was getting tired of the hustle and bustle of the city.

Harriet felt the same way and wanted to make a change. The only thing we both knew was the restaurant business. Any thought of opening one in the city was far fetched. Sure we probably could get financing from investors based on our reputation from Lemons and Capers. Harriet had made the biggest splash with her pastries. That would put us back where we were, working even longer hours as owners and still be in the city we hated.

Harriet's sister Geveda had married a guy who lived in Greenville North Carolina. Her sister had said how much she loved the city and its people. Its small but close enough to the big city not to feel like your living in the country.

I knew I loved Harriet and she loved me so I proposed. She wanted to have a serious talk before she answered. I knew some of her past but she let me know I didn't know it all. She seemed so serious I was starting to worry.

"Nishan, I love you but there's something you need to know before you think about your proposal. You knew I worked in Montreal for 2 years."

"Yes, we talked about it" I answered "you worked at Farmer and the Cow and then Dorcea right?'

"Yes but there's more to it than that. When I was at school in Paris I met a guy. We dated for most of the time we were there. We were in love. I moved to Canada to be with him.' As she spoke she was getting very emotional. 'I thought we would get married eventually. Six months after moving there I got pregnant. While I wasn't looking at being a mother I was still happy. I had the man I loved and now having his baby.' tears started to fall as she told her story. 'I thought he loved me, until I told him I was pregnant. He didn't share the same happiness as I did. He said he wasn't ready to be a father, he still had so much to do before that happened. He even accused me of trying to trap him."

I moved over to hold her as she told her story. I didn't say anything as not to interrupt her story so she could get everything out. That and my mind was racing finding all this out. As she talked I was more and more surprised.

"I had waited a month before telling him just to make sure there wasn't a mistake. After I told him his attitude started changing towards me. He wasn't affectionate, we weren't having those important conversations. We worked in different parts of the restaurant like you and I but it affected what was happening on the job. People were talking. Later I realized he was emotionally drifting away from me. Three months later he actually did move. I came home one night and all his stuff was gone. I was devastated. He even quit the job without any notice. Now I found myself in a country where I didn't know anyone except coworkers and pregnant.

The stress caused me to lose the baby 2 months later. I didn't go back to work for another 3 months. I left Farmer and the Cow because of the memories and went to work Dorcea. He was still in the city working at another restaurant and I would hear bits and pieces about him. I couldn't deal with it so I left and came here." By the time she finished her tale it seemed she had regained her inner strength. I held her for a while. Not saying anything because nothing needed to be said. She just needed to feel that I understood and loved her.

She was looking for my reaction. She gave me a lot to think about. In the end it didn't make a difference to me. I loved her. We all have our past. I held her hand, got down on one knee again and asked her to marry me. This time she said yes.

A month later we both gave our notice at the restaurant. They were upset to see us go, Harriet more than me. Her staff could take up the slack.

We married at City Hall before we left town. She said her sister had a big wedding in Greenville. Her husband Barry owned one of the largest trash companies in the southeast and Geveda was making 6 figures. They had flown everyone to Carolina for the wedding. I was an unemployed line cook. Flying anyone anywhere wasn't in the cards. So city hall was the best I could do. I promised her a nice honeymoon sometimes soon. She told me she was happy to have found the man of her dreams. I felt good about that. She didn't put money above other things. I knew she would have my back.

We weren't scared of not finding work. Something about working at a restaurant with a Michelin Star does wonders for your reputation. People were always trying to recruit you to start your own place.

We had been saving money to buy a house since we have been talking about getting married. So we decided for a visit to Greenville. She let her sister know we would be visiting in a couple of weeks. She hadn't seen her in almost 8 years since she got married.

We flew down on a Wednesday, landing at Charlotte International at 8pm and taking an Uber the 30 minutes to the hotel in Greenville. We were going to meet her sister and brother in law tomorrow so we walked next door to the Golden Corral and than relaxed in the room. Don't judge us over going to the Golden Corral. Just because we both worked in fancy restaurants doesn't mean we're food snobs. And it was our first time going there. Very interesting. Not the best food but the best for the value. Its funny the more people pay for food the smaller the portions. For $15.99 at Lemons and Capers would get you a roll and glass of water. I had a huge salad, 2 plates of ribs, shrimp, carved beef and veggies plus desert.

The next day Geveda came at 9 to pick us up. Living in New York you don't think about driving. You can get anywhere at anytime on public transit. That would be something we would have to take into consideration if we moved. We both drove on the wrong side of the road most of our lives.

It was my first time meeting her. She was an older version of the Harriet except for her braided hair. She did not look like she had 2 kids, a 5 year old daughter and a 7 year old son. Harriet and her hugged each other cried after being separate for so long. They were talking over each other. Me, I just stood by bidding my time. After several minutes Harriet remember she had a husband and introduced me. Geveda still had a slight Manchester accent but more refined. She greeted me with a hug and we where off.

We stopped at her husband Barry's job. He worked in a 6 story office building. Their company had a whole floor. It was very impressive. I found out they had been in business for 10 years. Started with one truck with him and his partner Darren and built it up over the years to have offices 3 cities in Carolina, as well as offices in Georgia and Virginia.

Barry and Harriet had another reunion since they also hadn't seen each other since the wedding. Barry seemed like a stand up guy. He wasn't arrogant like some business owners could be. He was down to earth. You could tell he would always remember where he came from. We shook hands and he gave me the bro hug.

He showed us around the office introducing us to everyone. We had the pleasure of meeting his partner Darren who was on his way out to look at another company they were thinking of buying in Tennessee. He knew Harriet from the wedding so there was another reunion. Barry's son Adam was in his first year of college, North Carolina AT&T from what I understood. He had early enrollment. His sister Yvette was there. She had just become the Chief Financial Officer of the company the year before. I caught some unspoken communication between her and Harriet.

Barry and Geveda, Gee Gee for short, took us to lunch at Route 74 Diner. The food was good. Conversation was relaxed and easy.

Barry asked, "how did you like the big city compared to Manchester or Liverpool?"

"It was good for the first couple of years. The standard of living is way to high and unjustified. I had to live with 3 blokes when I first moved there. The apartment Harriet and I shared was on the 4th floor with no elevator and rent at $1800 a month. For that price I could get a nice council flat in Liverpool and still have money left in my check. One of the good things is the night life. If you had time to enjoy it."

Harriet added, "It reminded me a little of Paris. People see the tourist side but never the real part of the city. Its a totally different place. More crime, dirtier and crowded. Montreal was a beautiful city with friendly people." Harriet stopped for a minute remembering what really happened in Canada. I didn't know if Gee Gee knew what happened back then.

"New York is the place you want to go to build a reputation in the restaurant industry. If you can get into the right place you can be set. We both got lucky with the place we were at getting better and earning a Michelin Star and being nominated with a James Beard Award several times. But the more popular you are the more stress your under. I don't know if you knew Harriet was recognized as one the best pastry chefs in the city." I said looking at her with pride.

She added, "You need to be built for the city. The people aren't very friendly. Its dirty and crowded. They have this attitude that the world revolves NYC instead of the sun. The upside is there is always something to do. And its close to other cities, Philadelphia, Boston. And the mountains are an hour away. But I'm ready to get out of there."

After lunch we went to Barry and Gee Gee's home. It was a beautiful 5 bedroom house. Almost a mansion off a country club. Barry told us about how he and Darren started the business and the trials and tribulations they went through. Being able to expand and buy into different industries. I think the thing he was most proud of was helping other people realize their potential. They offer scholarships to employees to attend the local community college.

Gee Gee talked about her job at Bear Stearns. It wasn't as interesting as Barry's story but I didn't say anything. Harriet knew how she and Barry met so I was let in on the tail. How she was fixed up with Barry by the lady who happened to be the one who helped them get started. All because they stopped to help a stranger change her tire. Carolyn's husband Jason has been giving them advice ever since that week. Jason became Chairmen of the Board of Directors and Carolyn also sits on the Board.

I got to meet the kids, Danica and Jason. They were so cute, polite and smart. Danica looked like a mini Gee Gee and Jason looked like a mix of both parents. I hope Barry has a gun ready for when Danica gets older because he's going to need it if she's going to look like her mother. They were happy to met their Aunt and new Uncle for the first time. It was new for me also. These were my first niece and nephew. Like kids do we heard about everything that happened during their day at school and they had a thousands questions about England, Canada and New York City. They made me promise to take them to England one day. I've been waiting for my brother to settle down but my mom says its never going to happen. We gave them the gifts we bought from New York. I don't know if they liked them but they seemed appreciative.

Barry ordered take away, some pizza and wings. After we ate they took us back to the hotel, we made arrangements to met tomorrow. They both had taken a week off.

Relaxing in the room after a fun and exciting day we both found it hard to sleep. Harriet was happy to see her sister after so long and meet her niece and nephew. We planned on seeing more of the city the next couple of days. I had a surprise for Harriet next week that Barry helped me plan. The more we talked the more we were coming to an unspoken agreement to move to the city. While we were excited we were also too tired to make love. But we had the rest of our lives for that.

The next morning we were supposed to be picked up at 9 but Barry had an emergency meeting at the job. Something about fighting a mouse? So we had breakfast at, yes, Golden Corral. Don't knock it until you tried it.

We were picked up around 11 and shown the rest of the city. At 100,000 it didn't seem big but everywhere we went we saw apartment complexes and new housing developments being built. Barry proudly pointed out all the Blue and White ACS port a potties. They had bought the company a couple of years ago right before the building boom hit. It didn't hurt that we also saw dozens of Blue and White ACR trucks all over the city. To say they were really do well was an understatement.

While driving around we talked about the possibility of opening an restaurant down here. Most of the restaurants were Classic American, Soul Food or BBQ. Several Mexican places have opened in the last 4 or 5 years. Gee Gee thought an Ethiopian restaurant would do great. Only thing is Harriet ate it but never cooked it and it had been years since I did even though you never forget. Plus having staff who knew how to make was another matter altogether. Would we be able to find the right ingredients. We talked about how we had given it some consideration to opening our own place. It cost a lot of money. We have been saving but had no where near enough to do it.

They took us around the area, Belmont, Maplewood, Charlotte, even Rock Hill South Carolina. The talk of opening a restaurant and finding a place to live continued the whole time.

At dinner we explained what goes on into opening a restaurant that people don't realize. Finding space that is accessible and possibly good drive by traffic. Determining how much footage we would need. Style of decor, how big the bar would be or if you will have a bar. Footage determines how much staff you will need to have. The bigger the place the more people you need the more food you have to sell. And the list went on and on.

Barry and Gee Gee understood business. Probably better than we did. It helped that Barry had gone through buyouts and mergers. We ended dinner saying we would think about it.

That Saturday they had a huge BBQ for us. I mean huge, maybe 100 to 150 people. I think every employee and friend, maybe some strangers were there. I met the famous Jason and Carolyn Richards who Barry had such high praise for. They were really nice down to earth people. Barry's son Adam had made it down from college. Darren's wife Roxanne and so many other people I couldn't keep up. Gee Gee, Darren and the Richards all lived in the same development which was next to a country club. One thing I noticed is that you couldn't tell an executive from a regular employee by the way people interacted. Usually there is an unspoken hierarchy during these types of events. Not with this group. It was really good to see. It tells a lot about a boss or company that promote something like this.

One surprise treat is that Harriet had made several cakes and deserts for the party the day before. To say they were a hit is a massive understatement. Everyone asked for the recipe for this or that. GeeGee, Roxanne, Carolyn, Harriet and some others from the ACR office had made plans to get together Sunday evening for a ladies night out out. Carolyn was the oldest but I wondered if she would be the wildest of the bunch. She seemed so much fun and open.

I noticed Harriet and Yvette were hanging out and talking quite a bit. I asked her what they talked about because I noticed the look they shared earlier. Harriet surprised when she told me Yvette was gay but hasn't come out yet. She didn't realize a lot of people either knew or suspected. And most importantly no one cared. Yvette said she would probably talk to Barry about it.

Since the ladies were getting together the guys decided to do the same. We all were going to go bowling since everyone didn't golf. The BBQ broke up around 8. There was no food left. The cakes disappeared shortly after they were put out. Harriet made promises to make more for people. We both had a great time. Everyone was so friendly and nice. You could tell it wasn't because they were at the bosses house. Its just who they were and the business climate Barry and Darren promote.

As we went back to the hotel I thought more and more how much this place was growing on me. The people, the weather. The air seemed so much cleaner and fresher than almost any place I've been except home. Harriet felt the same way. After showering we both fell asleep very content.

Waking up early I was feeling the lack of "relief" if you know what I mean. We had been here 3 days and keep so busy we were always to tired to make love when we got back to the room.

I looked over at Harriet and noticed the bed cover had slipped down exposing her breast. I took one of her nipples in my mouth and gently sucked on it. At first she didn't stir until I took her other nipple between my fingers and twirled it around slowly. I heard her softly moan and she reached up and grabbed my head pushing it into her breast harder.

I positioned myself so I could push the cover all the way off her body. I switched to sucking the other nipple for a minute while I searched for her clit. She loves it when I suck a nipple and diddle her clit. I guess because it had been a while since she also had she release she climaxed quickly after only 3 minutes of me touching her clit. One thing I love about her is that she's very vocal during sex. Lot's of Oh God's and Yes baby Yes. I wasn't done with giving her one orgasm. I worked my way down her belly licking her belly button making promises of more. I reached her shaven mound, another thing I loved about her, And jammed my tongue as far into her as possible. Her legs shot straight out and up as she screamed out her pleasure. I reached up resumed tweaking her nipples giving her a third orgasm in less than 5 minutes. I tortured her clit with my mouth for another couple of minutes.

I rose up on her body and stabbed my cock into her with one stroke bringing on another orgasm. It looked like she was losing her mind, Her head was whipping back and forth. She wasn't speaking but not human words. The more I sawed in and out of her the harder she held me with her legs. I could feel the scratches on my back and she hung on like her life was in peril. I loved the way she looked as she came and I wanted to see it some more.

She started to beg me to cum. As any man knows when you hear your woman yelling, "oh God, please baby, cum I want you to cum in me. I need your cum." You're going to cum and I came hard. Harder than I've cum before or since. It was magical. My eyes were shut so hard I saw stars. I heard some man in our room yelling "yes baby yes, take my nut, its all your" until I realized it was me. My orgasm bought on another orgasm for her. It was the one that put her over the top and she passed out. She's never done that before. You know how you get that feeling after the perfect nut and you can't move but you don't want to fall onto your woman. I was at that point. Somehow I made myself roll to the side. I sounded like I had run a marathon I was breathing so hard.

Harriet was starting to stir. She looked over at me with a smile and said "9-9-9 I like to report an assault. A man just tried to kill me." And started laughing. (England uses 999 for emergencies, Canada uses 911 and France uses 112 which is just weird)

I looked back towards her and said I can only plead guilty of loving you to death as I kiss her on her sweaty forehead. This was the first day we didn't have to get straight out of bed and have people to meet in the morning. So we lay in bed for a while just relaxing.

We didn't go to Golden Corral for breakfast. I thought they might call in a missing persons report since we didn't show up. We ordered take away from Bojangles. Their biscuits seemed highly recommended.

As we ate we talked about what our future might hold. We had several options. We could stay in New York and go back to work for another restaurant. That would put right back where we started which is not where we wanted to be. We could look into finding investors and opening our own place there. Which is even more work and stress. Neither one of us had been an owner before. There was so much that goes into owning a business. The other option is opening a small place down here in Carolina. The cost of living was a third or less than NYC. But what kind of food would we sell. I was familiar with the classic, Italian and French. We could do a fusion of Ethiopian and French or Italian. Maybe Strictly Ethiopian. Possibly a bakery, especially with Harriet's talents. We would have to do some market research.

We had to make a list of pro's and con's for each concept. Before that happened I told Harriet I had made arrangements for a 3 day get away. Call it a delayed Honeymoon. We were going to Charleston South Carolina to a nice little inn called the Knightsbridge. It was a beautiful place. I arranged for Harriet to have a spa day. We went jet skiing which was a first for both of us. Went on a tour of the area and learned its history. We visited several restaurants. 3 of the highest rated Black owned restaurants in the city. Breakfast at B's Soul Creations, Lunch at Hannibal's Kitchen and dinner at Bintu Atelier African inspired cuisine. We had the chance to meet the owners of Bintu, Bintu and Tracey. Their food is inspired by different parts of the continent. We ended up meeting them the next day for breakfast and talked about our culinary journeys and of course opening up their own restaurant. They felt like we did, wondered if there was a demand for the type of food they wanted to serve. So instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on opening a restaurant they bought a food truck and ran that for 3 years. It helped build them a good reputation in the area. Harriet and I looked at each other and realized we had answers to most of our questions. It was a very enjoyable time.

We spent more time exploring the area. We went to the Gullah Museum on Hilton Head Island. And does it go without saying we made love each night. I mean, its was a honeymoon.

Our plan was to get the rest of belongings out of the apartment and move to Greenville. We had found a nice 2 bedroom house off New Hope Rd and called the landlord to reserve it until we got back.

Leaving the city was bittersweet. I had my biggest success here and had learned so much. I met the love of my life here. Did I have any hesitation about leaving, HELL NO! We were ready to face a new challenge, except for both of us, we weren't alone when we moved.

Every body was back at work when we returned to Greenville. We went signed the lease to the house. We had a couple of says until we could move in. We went and bought a nice used car. Public transit in Greenville is nowhere near what it is in NYC. The buses stopped running at 9pm and it took hours to get somewhere. Bought some furniture from Rooms to Go and other things we needed at Target. We had dinner at Eddie's Place in Charlotte. We found it when we took a ride around to get more acquainted with the area.

The main focus on many of our talks were opening a restaurant but since we talked to Bintu and Tracy a food truck idea was looking better and better. No decision is easy. Do we buy new, build one ourselves or buy used. Again, they all had their pros and cons. We looked at some websites and decided to buy used. That would reduce our financial exposure and give us more money for marketing. We had saved about $27,000 between so we would have to get a loan of at least $100,000. Its quite a bit of money but beats the $400-600,000 to build out a restaurant.

The next day when we had dinner with the in-laws we told them our plans to buy a food truck. Barry made us a business offer that was hard to refuse. He would loan us the money at 1 point under what the bank would on a 10 year note. They say never do business with family but this was a deal that was too good to pass up, so we accepted.

Another way he helped was while we were looking for the right truck we were able to set up some pop up around the city. Barry in his business dealings had a lot of connections in the food business. They made up 37% of ACR's commercial business. We were able to do 10 pop ups before the truck arrived. By the time we took delivery we had secured 4 locations to set up around Greenville as well as Charlotte.

One unanticipated occurrence was that Harriet's pastries were in high demand. She sold some at Farmers Markets around the area under the name Desta's Deserts. So we decided that I would run the food truck and Harriet would sell pastries wholesale out of a rented commercial kitchen. She was selling to quite a few restaurants and even other food trucks within the first year.

The food truck was called African Delites was a huge success. Things grew very quickly. Harriet had 12 people working with her within the year. I had another 7 people plus 3 part timers working for me. The truck was open 5 days a week and we did catering. So basically it was a 7 day operations.

Were we working harder than we were in New York, yes. Was it more rewarding? Without a doubt. We hired good people who we didn't have to babysit. I had Miller Scales as a chef and once he learned the menu and methods I used to cook he became my number 2 guy and ran the truck when I wasn't there.

Harriet had hired some people from Johnson and Wales school that had a campus in Charlotte. They were quite capable which is a good thing. When she got pregnant with our 2 sons, Meleak now 8 and Aaron now 7 she stepped up and ran the bakery for 2 months each time.

4 years after we open the businesses we finally bit the bullet and opened our restaurant. We called it Almez, after Harriet's daughter that she lost while living in Canada. Our reputation carried over from the food truck and bakery. I sold the truck to Miller with a good discount for all his hard work. We had been able to pay back Barry earlier. He along with Darren and his wife Tasha, Jason and Carolyn Richards all invested in the new place.

I tried to get my mother to move to America but she's loves her hometown to much to leave. She has visited several times to met her so far, only grandchildren. My sister Salem (pronounced Saa' Leem) lives in England with Uncle Abel. Raey is a mothers girl and doesn't want to move either.

Life has gotten easier in the intervening years. Harriet's bakery has grown to 50 people and selling all over the southeast. Who would have thought mixing French with African flavors would be such a hit.

I'm the Executive Chef but my Sous Chef, Bekele runs the kitchen most days. Yes, my brother moved from African to come work for us and he's doing a great job. He still hasn't settled down but I catch him spending a lot of time with Gretchen a nice German girl who is a pastry chef. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Us Desta men can't stay away from the sweets.

The End

Barry/Geveda (Gee Gee)/Jason & Carolyn Richards/Darren & Tasha Shaepard/Yvette all appeared in Trash man (Romance)

Miller Scales will be in the upcoming Beat down but Beat up in Loving Wives.